Tavares Named Finalist For Hart

The National Hockey League named John Tavares a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy today.  The Hart is awarded to the player judged as most valuable to his particular team over the course of the regular season. Its the 2^nd such nomination for Tavares over the past 3 seasons.  John Tavares played all 89 games for New York this season and was named to the NHL All-Star team where he scored 4 goals, good enough to tie ASG record as one of only 6 players to be recognized for that distinction.

Tavares had 38 & 48 for 86 pts this season & finished 1 point behind Jamie Benn in the final hours of eligibility for the NHL scoring title.  It was a career high in goals and total points for JT, who helped your New York Islanders reach a 101 point season (franchise best since 83-84) at 47-28-7and a 2015 NHL playoff berth.  Although the Isles were eliminated in 7 games by the Washington Capitals, Tavares led his team with 2 & 4 for 6 pts during the first round post-season competition. 

 

John Tavares was named along with Goaltender, Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens & Forward, Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals as a finalist for the Hart.

 

 

 

 

Isles Notes:

 

 

Anders Lee (USA), Nikolay Kulemin (Russia) & Frans Nielsen (Denmark) have accepted invitations to represent their countries at this years World Championships in Prague this summer.  It is Lee's first opportunity to represent the United States in the tournament.

 

 

Travis Hamonic, Calvin de Haan & Lubo Visnovsky say their recovery is on schedule & they may have been able to play for the Isles if they were able to make the 2nd round of the NHL playoffs.