Jagr Is Named MVP By Writers, Players

Jaromir Jagr won the NHL’s most-valuable-player award and Wayne Gretzky added to his trophy collection at the league’s annual awards banquet Thursday night.

The league scoring champion with 127 points, including 44 goals, Jagr edged out Buffalo goalie Dominik Hasek and Ottawa center Alexei Yashin in voting by members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Assn. for the Hart Memorial Trophy.

Earlier, Jagr was named MVP in balloting by the players, receiving the Lester B. Pearson award.

“It’s very special to me,” Jagr said after accepting the Pearson award. “It’s a trophy voted on by the players--the players you play against, the players you face every night. That’s why it’s special.”

Jagr won out over Hasek, Yashin, the Mighty Ducks’ Teemu Selanne and Toronto’s Curtis Joseph.

The 27-year-old Czech also received his third Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s scoring champion.

The new Maurice Richard Trophy for most goals was presented by The Rocket himself to Selanne, who scored 47 times.

Gretzky won the Lady Byng Trophy as the NHL’s most gentlemanly player for the fifth time. It was the last league award for Gretzky, 38, who will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the autumn after announcing his retirement from the New York Rangers after 20 NHL seasons.

Al MacInnis of the St. Louis Blues won the Norris Memorial Trophy as best defenseman in a landslide. Hasek won the Vezina Trophy as top goalie in the eyes of the league’s general managers for the third consecutive year and fifth time in six years.

Jacques Martin of the Ottawa Senators won coach-of-the-year honors, besting Toronto’s Pat Quinn and Dallas’ Ken Hitchcock. Chris Drury of the Colorado Avalanche was an overwhelming pick for the Calder Trophy as top rookie, and Jere Lehtinen of Dallas won the Frank J. Selke Trophy as top defensive forward for the second year in a row.