Colorado's Forsberg wins his first league MVP title

TORONTO -- Peter Forsberg's stellar return to the NHL following an injury that forced him to miss an entire regular season culminated with him being chosen as the league's most valuable player on Thursday night.

Forsberg won the scoring title with 106 points and became the first Swedish player to capture the Hart Trophy. It was presented during the league's annual awards ceremonies.

"I've been very fortunate to play for a good team for a long time," said the two-time Stanley Cup winner from the Colorado Avalanche.

Forsberg, 29, earned a $100,000 bonus for the award.

The other finalists were New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur and Vancouver forward Markus Naslund.

Three days after leading the Devils to the Stanley Cup and being passed over as playoff MVP, Brodeur won his first Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie. The Vezina is chosen by the league's general managers. All other player awards were voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association.

"People always asked, 'You haven't won the Vezina?' Now I've finally got it," he said. "But I never felt overlooked."

Mighty Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere became just the fifth player from a non-Stanley Cup-winning team to capture the Conn Smythe.

Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom became the first player since Bobby Orr to be chosen as the NHL's top defenseman for three straight years. Orr won eight consecutive Norris Trophies from 1968-75.

Al MacInnis of the St. Louis Blues and Derian Hatcher of the Dallas Stars were the other finalists.

In other awards, St. Louis defenseman Barrett Jackman won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year; Toronto forward Alexander Mogilny earned the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the most gentlemanly player; Steve Yzerman, of Detroit, received the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey; Minnesota's Jacques Lemaire won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year; and Jere Lehtinen of Dallas Stars won the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the top defensive forward.