Hart Trophy Watch: Week 1

Story posted October 14, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Christian Holtzapple

The 2022-2023 NHL season is underway which means it’s time to think about who will take home the most prestigious award in the league, the Hart trophy.

The Hart Memorial Trophy is named in honor of Canadian Dr. David Hart. Dr. Hart, who donated the original trophy to the NHL, was the father of Cecil Hart, a former Coach and General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens. The Hart is awarded to the NHL player who is considered the most valuable player for their team on and off the ice, or in layman's terms the NHL's MVP award.

Last season the award was won by Auston Matthews, Center of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Matthews won the award by a very large margin, where he had 1630 points in the final voting poll. Connor McDavid finished second with 1111 points, while Igor Shesterkin came in third with 738 points.

Matthews had a remarkable season last year bringing home not only the Hart trophy but the Rocket Richard and Ted Lindsay awards as well. It was very evident to the players that he was the most dominant player in the league all year long as he racked up 60 goals and 46 assists in 73 games played.

Matthews looks to win the award again this season as he has the second-best odds according to Vegas sports betting heading into the 2022-2023 season. The last player to win this award in back-to-back seasons was Alex Ovechkin in 2008 and 2009.

Here are three Hart Trophy favorites for the NHL 2022-2023 season:

1. Kirill Kaprizov

Kaprizov is one of the brightest young stars in today’s game and finished 7th last year in voting for the Hart trophy. He is on a very talented and improved Minnesota Wild team this year. That is a huge opportunity to rack up even more points than he did last season.

Kirill Kaprizov racked up 47 goals and made 61 assists during the 2021–2022 regular season, and that’s enough to keep him sitting in the top three Hart Trophy favorites heading into this season. He also scored 7 goals and 1 assist in the Wild’s short playoff run.

Kaprizov would be the first player in Wild history to record 50 goals in one season and that is very likely to happen this season.

2. Connor McDavid

Connor Mcdavid is always a favorite to win this award because of his offensive abilities and the talent that he is surrounded by on offense. Mcdavid won the Hart trophy already twice in his career, winning the award in In 2017 and 2021.

Mcdavid has been the leading point scorer in the NHL for the past two seasons and is a very obvious choice to win the award for the third time just based on the stats he puts up every season.

Connor McDavid’s had a tremendous playoff performance during the 2021–2022 season, which will give him even more of an edge heading into this upcoming season. The only downside for Mcdavid is he can stay healthy the entire season, which has been an issue for him in the past.

3. Nathan MacKinnon

Nathan Mackinnon is one of the biggest reasons why the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup during the 2021–2022 NHL season. Mackinnon has been a late bloomer in the NHL, but in the past 3 seasons has taken a big jump to one of the top players in the NHL.

Mackinnon is averaging more than a point per game when he is in the starting lineup, but that has been a problem the past two seasons. If Mackinnon can stay healthy he will be one of the top goal-scorers in the NHL this season

Last season he only played 65 games, but he had a total of 88 points at the end of the season. This is a very remarkable stat line for a guy that missed 17 games last season.

Christian Holtzapple is a third-year majoring in journalism. To contact him, email @cmh7064@psu.edu.