LA Kings News: Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar win big at NHL Awards

The latest LA Kings news is all about the hardware.

It was a good evening at the 2016 NHL Awards in Las Vegas for the Los Angeles Kings, who saw two of its players receive three top honors among the NHL’s best.

Drew Doughty was deemed the league’s best defenseman after being awarded the James Norris Memorial Trophy; the 26-year-old had previously come up short for the title twice, most recently last year.

Doughty became the first Kings defenseman to win the award since Rob Blake in 1998.

The typically reserved Doughty accepted the award in humbling fashion, fighting back emotion as he thanked everyone from his family to his teammates, for whom he largely credited his success to.

Many had pegged Ottawa Senators defenseman and two-time Norris winner Erik Karlsson to take home the trophy once again for his historically high-scoring season.

In the final voting, however, it was revealed that Doughty came out on top by a landslide with more than twice as many first-place votes as the runner-up, Karlsson.

Meanwhile, Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin, frequent blue-line partner of Doughty, received some recognition of his own with one fifth-place vote.

Later in the ceremony, Kings star center Anze Kopitar found his own name called not once but twice as the recipient of the Frank J. Selke Trophy and Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.

The Selke Trophy is awarded to the league’s best defensive forward while the Lady Byng Trophy is given to the “player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability”, according to the league.

Kopitar lead the league in ice time among all forwards and posted a +34 rating, second on the Kings only to the league-leading Tyler Toffoli, who posted a +35 rating.

The 28-year-old Kopitar became the first Kings player ever to win the Selke Trophy and the first to win the Lady Byng Trophy since Wayne Gretzky in 1994.

In winning the Selke Trophy, Kopitar beat out Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron, who had previously dominated the category, winning the last three of four years.

With Kopitar in Europe and unable to attend the ceremony, the Kings’ President of Business Operations Luc Robitaille accepted the Selke Trophy on his behalf.

The other Kings player up for an award was goaltender Jonathan Quick, who was nominated for the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender.

His second career nomination came after a noteworthy season that saw him earn the second-highest number of wins (40) and break the record for most career shutouts by an American-born goaltender with his 42st.

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Quick ultimately lost out to heavy favorite Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals.