NHL Announces Nominees For Hart Trophy
The NHL announced Anze Kopitar, Taylor Hall and Nathan MacKinnon as the three finalists for the Hart Trophy on Friday, the first time all three players have been nominated.
The Hart Trophy is presented to the player that is "judged most valuable to his team," and it's been awarded since 1924. All three players led their respective teams to the playoffs, so the race is wide open.
MacKinnon finished fifth in league scoring with 39 goals and 97 points, taking the Colorado Avalanche to the playoffs just one year after they finished last in the NHL. The Avs were eliminated in the first round by the Nashville Predators in six games. Joe Sakic (2001), and Peter Forsberg (2003), are the only players in Avalanche history to win it.
Hall helped the New Jersey Devils end their six-year playoff drought, leading the team in scoring with 39 goals and 93 points. They were dispatched by the top-seeded Tampa Bay Lightning in Round 1, though. No player in New Jersey history has won the award, so Hall has a chance to make history.
As for Kopitar, he was seventh in NHL scoring with 35 goals and 92 points, helping the Los Angeles Kings qualify for the postseason after missing it in 2017. He could be the second player in franchise history to win the Hart Trophy, with Wayne Gretzky being the only one to win it back in 1989.
One interesting snub from the award was Connor McDavid, who led the league in scoring with 41 goals and 108 points. Of course, the fact his Edmonton Oilers missed the postseason probably played a factor in the voters not putting him on the ballot. There were plenty of worthy nominees, but somehow and someway voters were able to narrow it down to three.
The 2018 NHL Awards ceremony will take place on June 20, 2018 in Las Vegas.
