Andy Devlin/NHLI through Getty Photographs
Three of the highest gamers within the NHL had been voted because the finalists for this season’s Hart Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the league’s MVP.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that the Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid, Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov and Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon are within the operating for this 12 months’s {hardware}:
Frank Seravalli @frank_seravalli
2024 Hart Trophy finalists, as voted by @ThePHWA: Nikita Kucherov (TBL), Nathan MacKinnon (COL) and Connor McDavid (EDM). pic.twitter.com/DjRqReARw1
McDavid is the defending Hart Trophy winner and a three-time recipient of the award. Kucherov additionally gained the award in the course of the 2018-19 season. MacKinnon is in search of his first win after incomes a spot as a finalist for the fourth time, per ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski.
McDavid is trying to turn into the primary back-to-back winner since Alex Ovechkin in 2008 and 2009. He led Edmonton with 100 assists and 132 factors, the latter of which ranked third within the league. He overcame a sluggish begin to the season and recorded 122 factors over the ultimate 65 video games after the Oilers parted methods with head coach Jay Woodcroft and changed him with Kris Knoblauch.
Kucherov joined McDavid in recording 100 assists this season, making them the one gamers in addition to Corridor of Famers Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr to attain the feat. Kucherov additionally added a career-high 44 objectives, and his league-high 144 factors earned him his second Artwork Ross Trophy because the NHL’s main scorer.
MacKinnon was proper behind Kucherov with 140 factors, recording profession highs of 51 objectives and 89 assists this season. He had a streak of 35 straight residence video games with some extent, the second-longest residence factors streak in NHL historical past behind Gretzky’s file 40-game streak. He additionally had a 19-game factors streak later within the season, making him the primary participant in NHL historical past to have two separate factors streaks of at the least 19 video games in a single season.
MacKinnon is hoping that will likely be sufficient to interrupt by way of this 12 months after he completed second within the voting for the Hart Trophy in 2018 and 2020 and third in 2021.
