The NHL announced the nominations for the Hart Trophy on Friday. The league made the right decision with Taylor Hall, Anze Kopitar and Nathan MacKinnon as the nominees.
It’s actually happening. The New Jersey Devils‘ own Taylor Hall is a nominee for the NHL’s MVP. It’s such a great time to be a Devils fan, and we can soon have our first Hart Trophy winner in team history.
Let’s ignore that for just a moment. However hard that is. Let’s talk about who didn’t get nominated for the Hart Trophy.
This season didn’t provide a lockdown MVP candidate. This isn’t the year where Connor McDavid or Evgeni Malkin run away with the Hart Trophy. This season was one of the biggest arguments about who should be under consideration.
I see a lot of chatter on Twitter about McDavid, Patrice Bergeron and Claude Giroux getting “snubbed” for a nomination.
They misspelled Bergeron.
— Steve🇺🇸🇮🇹🇨🇦 (@sonofajoe) April 27, 2018
Where the hell is Giroux???
— J (@jberrrrr) April 27, 2018
Hockey is a team game. You need a good team to consistently win games and make the playoffs.
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) April 27, 2018
The Hart Trophy is an individual award. It recognizes an individual's contributions. No one individual contributed more to their team this season than Connor McDavid.
So as you see, there are arguments to be made for many players. Here’s the thing, while you can make the argument it’s not as good as an argument for Hall, Kopitar and MacKinnon.
McDavid was great this season, and his support cast was not. That’s definitely a reason to consider someone for the Hart Trophy. However, when your team is out of the playoff race in November, it’s really hard to think that player is an MVP. He definitely deserves his Ted Lindsay nomination. That’s pretty much it.
More from Pucks and Pitchforks
- Should New Jersey Devils Try Load Management With Vitek Vanecek?
- New Jersey Devils Will Prove That Last Year Wasn’t A Fluke
- New Jersey Devils: Luke Hughes’ Playmaking Will Outshine His Mistakes
- New Jersey Devils: Chase Stillman’s Performance Causes Concern
- Can Devils Fans Separate Zach Parise Heartbreak From Achievements?
Patrice Bergeron missed 18 games. While I think he was very good, he didn’t even lead his team in points, goals, time on ice or anything else.
Claude Giroux is an interest pick, but he’s not close. Kopitar is at least close to Hall and MacKinnon. Giroux was very good this season, but there’s one stat that stands out over the rest. He scored 34 goals over the season, and just one was a game-winning goal. Meanwhile, Hall had seven game winners, Kopitar had six and MacKinnon had 12.
It doesn’t matter anyway. The MVP is down to Taylor Hall and Nathan MacKinnon. All other arguments are invalid. Kopitar was very good, but he’s third in this equation. Hall and MacKinnon will battle it out for the most valuable player.