NHL Awards 2016: Patrick Kane wins the Hart Trophy as league's most valuable player

An American has finally won the NHL's biggest prize.

Patrick Kane became the first American-born player to win the Hart Memorial Trophy on Wednesday night at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas. The Chicago Blackhawks winger beat out finalists Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars to bring home his first Hart Trophy.

Voted on by the Pro Hockey Writers Association, the Hart Memorial Trophy is awarded each year to the player judged most valuable to his team. It's hard to argue against Kane's case for the honor.

The 27-year-old paced the league with 106 points, the only player to break the 100-point mark (or the 90-point mark, for that matter). He finished with 17 more points than Benn and 21 more than Crosby. Midway through the season, Kane went on a 26-game points streak, which was the longest for any player since the 1992-93 season.

Kane is the seventh Blackhawks player to win the Hart Trophy, and the first since Stan Mikita in 1968.

Here's how the voting sized up:

The voting for the Hart trophy as selected by @ThePHWA pic.twitter.com/GKTd1mAOjW

— PHWA (@ThePHWA) June 23, 2016

For more coverage of Kane's win, visit our Blackhawks blog.