Who has won the Best NHL Player ESPY Award? Complete list of past honorees for hockey award

While the NHL is done handing out all of its awards and trophies, there is still one more player that will be honored with some hardware. 

The 2022 ESPYs are set to take place tonight, where a multitude of sports awards will be handed out. One of those will be the Best NHL Player Award. 

It’s an honor that has been given out since 1993, and this year, the finalists for the award are Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, Igor Shesterkin and Roman Josi. 

Matthew is coming off a season where he won the Rocket Richard Trophy for most goals in the league, as well as the Ted Lindsay Award and Hart Trophy as league MVP. McDavid earned the Art Ross Trophy, leading the NHL in points. 

Shesterkin earned his first Vezina Trophy as the goaltender of the year and Josi was a Norris Trophy finalist for defenseman of the year after leading all blue liners in points. 

MORE: What channel is the ESPY Awards on?

Here are all of the past winners of the award. 

What is the Best NHL Player Award?

The honor is one of a multitude of awards given out at the annual ESPY Awards, short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award. Accolades are presented by ABC network and ESPN to recognize individual and team athletic achievements.

The Best NHL Player ESPY Award is given to the player deemed to be the best player in the NHL for that season. While the finalists are determined by a panel of sportswriters, broadcasters, sports executives, collective experts and ESPN personalities, the fans vote for the winner from the four finalists.

Who has won the most Best NHL Player Awards?

There have only been five players to win the award multiple times: Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux, Jarome Igina, Dominik Hasek and Alex Ovechkin. 

Crosby has the most wins ever with eight. He won his first in 2007, the start of a run of four years in a row being handed the honors. He followed that up by going back-to-back in 2013 and 2014, and then again in 2016 and 2017. 

Lemieux earned the honors three times during his career. He was the inaugural winner of the award in 1993 and took it home again the following year. He then won it again in 1998. 

Iginla, Hasek and Ovechkin all have won it twice. Iginla earned the award in 2002 and 2004, Hasek went back-to-back in 1999 and 2000, and Ovechkin was handed the award in 2018 and 2019. 

Who has won the Best NHL Player Award?

The award has been handed out ever since the ESPYs became a tradition back in 1993. In total, the trophy has been handed out 28 times. 

Patrick Kane is the most recent winner, receiving the honors at the 2021 ESPYs.