This year’s Hart Trophy race is something else.
With two weeks to go in the season, the MVP field still runs four deep. Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and Nikita Kucherov are all still making a case for themselves with nightly brilliance.
And let’s at least get an HM to Nashville’s Roman Josi, the defenceman who’s been playing at a 100-point pace since the calendar flipped to 2024.
Of course, that still leaves 27 teams without a real frontrunner in the Hart hunt. With that in mind, we’re devoting this week’s power rankings to highlighting a team MVP for all 32 squads. Whether it’s somebody like Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes — who’s seen his name in Hart talk at times this season — or a guy gutting it out on a bottom-feeder, every club has a 2023-24 hero and we’re here to offer up the much-deserved stick-taps.
1. Dallas Stars (48-19-9) It’s rare for a team this good to not have an obvious MVP, but nobody immediately jumps off the page on this incredibly balanced Dallas squad. The Stars have seven 20-goal scorers; the only other teams that have even five (not including trade deadline acquisitions) are the Rangers and Blues. Let’s give the nod to Wyatt Johnston for his awesome second half. The 20-year-old sophomore has 20 goals and 38 points in his past 36 outings. He is Dallas’ only 30-goal scorer.
2. New York Rangers (51-21-4) In a year three guys are going to hit 130 points and another is going to net 65 goals, some incredible seasons get lost in the mix. Artemi Panarin — who was a Hart finalist in 2018, his first year with the Rangers — has obliterated his previous PBs with 45 goals and 110 points already. The ‘Bread Man’ has risen to a whole new level.
3. Carolina Hurricanes (47-21-7) On Dec. 9, Carolina was 14-12-1 and sat outside the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Since then, Sebastian Aho has 25 goals and 63 points in 48 games and the Canes have the best points percentage in the league (.750). Aho’s totals in that timeframe represent a 43-goal, 108-point pace over 82 games.
4. Colorado Avalanche (47-22-6) Nathan MacKinnon has been unbelievable, but let’s carve out a moment to celebrate Cale Makar. The defenceman’s 1.16 points-per-game is tops among players at his position and he’s tied with Roman Josi for the most goals among blue-liners with 19.
5. Boston Bruins (44-17-15) It’s incredible the way David Pastrnak has just chugged along following the retirement of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, the two centres he’s spent most of his career beside. The 27-year-old Czech has 46 goals and — with 104 points — could equal the 113 he put up last year when he finished second in Hart voting to Connor McDavid.
6. Vancouver Canucks (47-21-8) Quinn Hughes just keeps getting better. The Canucks captain has been remarkably consistent all season, will surely be a Norris finalist and is Vancouver’s most valuable player.
7. Edmonton Oilers (45-24-5) If Connor McDavid wins the Hart — did we mention he’s averaging 2.1 points per game in his past 32 outings? — he’ll join Wayne Gretzky (nine), Gordie Howe (six) and Eddie Shore (four) as the only guys in league history to have more than three.
8. Toronto Maple Leafs (43-23-9) With his most recent surge (eight goals in eight games), Auston Matthews is on pace for 69 and could yet give us our first 70-goal campaign since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny both had 76 in 1992-93.
9. Vegas Golden Knights (42-25-8) Jonathan Marchessault has put together a 41-goal season — his previous best was 30 — and on a team that’s been decimated by injuries to its top guys, he’s played every single game. Did we mention the Original Misfit can become a UFA in a few months?
10. Tampa Bay Lighting (42-26-7) If Kucherov wins the Hart, he’ll become just the third winger since the 1967 expansion to claim more than one league MVP. (Alex Ovechkin has three, Guy Lafleur had two).
He’s got a three-point advantage in the Art Ross race and his 1.76 points-per-game barely nudges McDavid (1.75) for tops in the NHL.
11. Florida Panthers (47-24-5) We’d certainly hear the case for 50-goal man Sam Reinhart, but from a do-it-all perspective, there are just a few guys in the entire league — let alone just on the Panthers — who can compete with Aleksander Barkov.
12. Winnipeg Jets (45-24-6) As hard as the back half of the year has been for the Jets, Connor Hellebucyk still has a .911 save percentage since the all-star break. Before that — from early November to late January — he was at .938 over a 25-game stretch. The big American still has a chance to win a second career Vezina Trophy.
13. Nashville Predators (43-28-4) Roman Josi has been a huge factor in Nashville’s second-half surge, but let’s also get some recognition for Filip Forsberg. He’s already equalled his previous best of 84 points and his next goal will tie his PB there with No. 42. What a comeback for a guy whose season ended early and scarily last year with a concussion in February.
14. St. Louis Blues (40-31-4) This has been Jordan Binnington’s best season since his rookie, Cup-winning campaign in 2018-19. The big goalie has been the Blues backbone and likely positioned himself as Canada’s crease clubhouse leader for the international events coming in 2025 and ’26.
15. Los Angeles Kings (39-25-11) Drew Doughty averages more ice time per game (25:47) than any player in the NHL and basically five more minutes per game than any other King. He’s got 14 goals this year, two off the career high he set as a sophomore 14 years ago and the most he’s netted in nearly 10. At 34 for, he remains an incredibly vital player for L.A.
16. Washington Capitals (36-28-10) For starters, is this the first year of Alex Ovechkin’s career where he’s not the Caps’ MVP? Maybe 2015, when Braden Holtby won the Vezina?
Well, Charlie Lindgren isn’t going to win the Vezina this year, but you’ve got to think he’s Washington’s MVP. The Caps have pretty tough underlying numbers, but Lindgren — who took the top job from Darcy Kuemper — is 13th in goals-saved above expected among goalies with at least 35 games.
17. Minnesota Wild (36-29-9) Brock Faber is averaging 25 minutes of ice time per game. That’s the most by a rookie blueliner since the NHL began tracking per-game ice in 1997-98. In fact, the only other guy to finish above 24 minutes per game is Toby Enstrom with the Atlanta Thrashers in 2007-08.
18. Detroit Red Wings (37-30-8) A month ago, this was a slam-dunk win for Alex Lyon for saving Detroit’s bacon in the crease. But he’s 1-8-2 since Feb. 29 with an .888 save percentage, so there goes that. The winner has to be Dylan Larkin for his two-way, point-per-game production during an injury-marred year for the Wings captain.
19. New York Islanders (33-27-15) Noah Dobson plays more than every other Islander by nearly three minutes per night. His production has slowed, but he’s still tracking a 72-point season from the blueline.
20. Pittsburgh Penguins (34-30-11) It’s always a little strange to remember Sidney Crosby has collected just two Hart Trophies in his brilliant career. The 36-year-old really is still playing at an MVP level.
21. Philadelphia Flyers (36-29-11) Travis Konecny’s 65 points are nearly 20 more than the next-highest scorer on Philly, Owen Tippett at 49. The 27-year-old also plays nearly two minutes more per night than any other Flyers forward.
22. Buffalo Sabres (36-35-5) In another lost year, Rasmus Dahlin is leading the Sabres in scoring from the back end with 56 points, while being one of only six players in the league to average over 25 minutes per night.
23. Ottawa Senators (33-37-4) Since Feb. 1, no Senator is averaging more ice time per game than Jake Sanderson’s 23:18, thanks in large part to the huge, tough minutes he logs on the penalty-kill. The sophomore defenceman has already equalled his 32 points from last year and has good underlying numbers on a Sens team that’s been awful until very recently.
24. New Jersey Devils (36-36-4) Let’s give the nod to Jesper Bratt in this nightmare of a season because he’s the rare Devil who hasn’t missed a single game and is still producing precisely one point per game (76 in 76).
25. Seattle Kraken (31-31-13) Even with a 5-11-3 mark since mid-January, Joey Daccord has managed a .910 save percentage in that time and he’s at .918 overall for a team that scores just 2.61 goals per game (29th in the NHL).
26. Montreal Canadiens (29-33-12) It might sound strange to say of a guy who was already the Canadiens’ captain, but Nick Suzuki’s 32-39-71 year really feels like a breakout campaign.
27. Calgary Flames (34-35-5) In a sense, it’s been a trying year for Jacob Markstrom, who put the organization on blast when plans to move him to the Devils before the deadline fell through. Still, he’s been the Flames’ most valuable player and re-established himself as one of the better goalies around following a very difficult year last season.
28. Arizona Coyotes (31-39-5) Connor Ingram is eighth in goals saved above expected (9.9) among goalies who’ve played at least 45 games. He’s done all he can to save the Coyotes in yet another miserable campaign.
29. Columbus Blue Jackets (25-38-12) After missing nearly all of last season, Zach Werenski — despite enduring an ankle injury this year — has returned to play at a 62-point pace and see a team-high 24:28 of ice per game.
30. Chicago Blackhawks (22-48-5) When Connor Bedard missed a month with a fractured jaw, the Hawks averaged 1.43 goals per game. Since he’s returned, they’re scoring 2.50. He’s got a real shot to finish the year as just the sixth point-per-game rookie (Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Connor McDavid and Mathew Barzal) in the shootout era.
31. Anaheim Ducks (25-47-4) Cam Fowler still logs 24:31 a night for Anaheim and has managed a very respectable 34 points this year with a handful of games to go.
32. San Jose Sharks (17-49-8) Mikael Granlund has basically been a point-per-game player since the start of December (44 in 45) and — with 51 points overall — is the Sharks’ leading scorer by 12 points despite playing just 61 contests.
from Sportsnet.ca
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