Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin captured his first career Art Ross Trophy as the League scoring champion, Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin won his second consecutive Maurice Richard Trophy for being the League’s top goal scorer, while Boston Bruins goaltenders Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez earned the William Jennings Trophy as the goaltenders for the club finishing the season having surrendered the fewest goals.
 
Malkin finished the 2008-09 regular season with a League-leading and career-high 113 points (35 goals, 78 assists) to edge Ovechkin, last year's champion, who had 110 points (56 goals, 54 assists). Malkin becomes the eighth player in the past eight seasons to capture the Art Ross, joining Jaromir Jagr in 2001, Jarome Iginla in 2002, Peter Forsberg in 2003, Martin St. Louis in 2004, Joe Thornton in 2006, Sidney Crosby in 2007 and Ovechkin in 2008.
 
Ovechkin -- whose Washington Capitals will face the New York Rangers in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs -- tallied 56 goals, 10 more than second-place finisher Jeff Carter of the Philadelphia Flyers, and became the first NHL goal-scoring leader in consecutive seasons since Pavel Bure of the Florida Panthers in 2000 and 2001.

Ovechkin, 23, reached the 50-goal milestone for the third time in his career and became the second active player to record three 50-goal seasons (joining Teemu Selanne). Ovechkin also became the third player all-time to post three 50-goal seasons in his first four years in the NHL, joining Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky.
 
Thomas appeared in 54 games as the Bruins finished with the NHL's fewest goals against (196), edging the second-place Minnesota Wild (200). Thomas captured his first career Jennings Trophy and Fernandez notched his second, having teamed with Niklas Backstrom to win as members of the Wild in 2006-07.
 
All three trophies will be presented at the 2009 NHL Awards, to be held for the first time in Las Vegas on Thursday, June 18. The NHL Awards will be broadcast live from the Pearl Concert Theater inside the Palms Hotel Las Vegas on VERSUS in the United States and CBC in Canada.