The NHL recently announced Taylor Hall, Nathan MacKinnon, and Anze Kopitar as the three finalists for the Hart Trophy.
In this edition of the hotstove, we discuss which player is most deserving of the hardware.
Todd Cordell
I think it's pretty much a toss up between Taylor Hall and Nathan MacKinnon but I give the slight edge to the former. He just did more with less.
Hall led the Devils in scoring by 41 points and was one of the league's most productive players while skating alongside two rookies, one of which was a recent 6th round pick, for most of the season.
Hall also finished 1st among finalists in Goals Above Replacement, where only Connor McDavid ranked higher.
I've created graphs for @CMhockey66 ' work (inspired by @DTMAboutHeart's GAR model).
— Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) May 5, 2018
You can have a look here: https://t.co/9oxks2LTzM pic.twitter.com/hjpVt5jEDN
Though Hall is my choice, I don't think he'd be 'robbed' by any stretch if the award goes to MacKinnon. He had a truly special year and was certainly the driving force in the Colorado Avalanche shocking the hockey world and getting back into the playoffs.
Mark Paul This year the Hart trophy has lost a lot of it's meaning. It's shocking that not one player in the Hart conversation were on teams that finished top three in their divisions. I understand, they made the playoffs. I understand that each one of these players were in on a high percentage of their teams goals.
The technical definition is the most valuable player to his team, but at this point, we might as well just give the award to the player with the highest percentage of his respective teams goals out of the teams that made the playoffs.
Out of three, the winner will be Taylor Hall. Canadian writers feel bad for him for what happened in Edmonton so his connection there will help him win. It's not to say that Hall isn't deserving, or that he didn't have a fantastic season, it's just a shame that great players on great teams don't get recognized because of the direction the NHL writers have decided to go.
For the record, my Hart nominees would've been Taylor Hall, Nikita Kucherov, and Blake Wheeler.
James Tanner
The Hart Trophy should go to the unnominated Connor McDavid.
But the people who pick this award are stupidly obsessed with the Playoffs, and despite that making no logical sense for an individual award in a team game, they have elected to leave McDavid off the ballot.
If the guy who led the league by almost 20 even-strength points isn't going to win the award, there should be no award. No player on this list is even close to as good as McDavid and so what we have here is an award that will embarrass whoever wins it.
If McDavid's season wasn't enough to drag his team into the playoffs then that just proves how much of a team game hockey is. It wouldn't be possible for any single player - who isn't a goalie - to have dragged the carcass of the Oilers into the playoffs.
But by not giving the award to the player who is by far the MVP of the league, all that has happened is that the PHWA has disgraced itself, and ruined their most prestigious award.
What an embarrassment.
Peter Tessier It's Hall squeaking by Mackinnon and it's not even really that big a debate in my opinion. Taylor Hall did everything for his team and here's the kicker, he was 41 points ahead of the next highest scorer a rookie on New Jersey. MacKinnon led 13 and then 35 over Landeskog. Kopitar had 31 point lead over the next player.
No Hall and no nothing in New Jersey his past season. He's deserving.
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