The Hart Memorial Trophy is awarded each year to the person who is considered to be the NHL’s most valuable player to his team during the regular season before the beginning of the Playoffs.
This is not an easy nor clear cut evaluation and the selection is often considered controversial. It is usually awarded to the player who is the most offensively skilled player on his team. This is because it is only slightly more important to put the puck in the opponent’s net then it is to keep the puck out of your own net.
No team is going to have a successful season without a solid defense corps and no team is going to make a run at the President’s Trophy, awarded to the best team in the regular season, nor get very deep into the Stanley Cup Playoffs without a talented and durable Goalie tandem.
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The top candidates for the NHL’s 22-23 season are:
Conor McDavid (-600) – Edmonton Oilers
McDavid, generally accepted to be the most talented Offensive player of this generation, is again having himself a banner year and has won the award 2 times in the last 6 years.
The Oilers also have the gifted and shifty Leon Draisaitl but they have failed to surround McDavid with a solid coterie of well balanced players. Although Edmonton has not been able to mount a championship regular season nor a successful run at the Stanly Cup, this is also a testament to McDavid’s ability.
Edmonton’s opponents can focus their attention on the speedster but he is still unstoppable. McDavid is without any doubt the most formidable threat on the ice to score points on any given night. He is a wonder to watch and never disappoints to cause shock and awe to even the most hardened hockey critics with his skating and stick handling skills. He can score goals against any team and goal tender or he can pass and create scoring chances for his teammates with amazing skill.
As of the writing of the article he is the top scoring player once again in the NHL.
David Pasternak (+1600) – Boston Bruins
This highly talented and wily veteran is having a stellar year as an offensive wizard but the back story is even more incredible. Several of the older veterans, including Pasternak, who could have signed with other teams and extended their careers by several more years, instead opted to take a pay cut and sign for one more year together with the Bruins in an attempt to mount a last campaign for a Stanley Cup Championship.
The chemistry therefore provided by this core of veterans seems to have inspired the Bruins who are now the top team in the league leading all other team by 12 points.
This is an inspiring story and even though this band of vets includes the much despised Brad Marchand any fan can only wish the Bruins well on this probable last chance for this group of older players to gain hockey’s most coveted award.
Mikko Rantanen (+3000) & Nikita Kucherov (+1800)
The last selection would be a tie between Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen and Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov. Both players are having successful seasons leading their versatile and talent heavy teams in scoring.
Rantanen is at the head of the charge for the defending Stanly Cup champs, Colorado Avalanche, as is Kucherov for the powerful Tampa Bay Lightning. Besides the regular season both players are expected to play a significant role in their teams bid for a beneficial post season.
Long-shot Sidney Crosby (+4000) – Pittsburgh Penguins
When considering the intangible of the intangibles an outside chance at the Hart Trophy would have to be the Penguins’ legend, Sidney Crosby. Though the Pens will struggle even to make the playoffs the Hart trophy goes to the player who is of the most value to his team. Though Crosby is in the twilight of his career to be able to take the ice each night with one of the greatest players who ever strapped on skates, which describes Crosby, is an honor, privilege and inspiration for the rest of his team.
Conor McDavid For the Win
In the end the player this year to win the Hart Trophy will probably be the one who displays the greatest offensive skills period and you can forget the intangibles or any back story. That player in anyone’s estimation would have to
be Conor McDavid.
McDavid is still at the beginning of what will be, baring any injuries, a career that will be the rival of anyone including “The Great One.” Gretzky himself would second that claim.