P.E.I.'s own Gerard Gallant took home the top award for coaches at Wednesday night's NHL Awards, capping off a historic year for the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

His was one of many top honours the Golden Knights won at the award ceremony. Gallant garnered three times as many votes as the runner-up.

"I hate to say this, but congratulations to the Washington Capitals," Gallant said, accepting the trophy. "They beat a real good team in the final, but they played outstanding hockey so congratulations to Washington.

"To our players, from the first day they came to training camp we asked them to give 110 per cent every night every night — it wasn't about winning hockey games, it was about competing and playing hard and doing the best they could.

A successful first haul at the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NHLAwards?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NHLAwards</a> 👌 <a href="https://t.co/wqyZa9WitF">pic.twitter.com/wqyZa9WitF</a> —@GoldenKnights

"And sure enough we got off to an 8-1 start and they got a little cocky and they felt real good about themselves and they had an outstanding year."

Golden Knights forward William Karlsson won the Lady Byng Trophy as the player best combining sportsmanship and ability.

Defenceman Deryk Engelland was honoured with the Mark Messier Leadership Award for community leadership and George McPhee, the Knights' general manager, was named the NHL's GM of the year.

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