The contenders for the 2023–24 Hart Memorial Trophy are Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov, center Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, and center Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche. The award is given to the player “adjudged to be the most valuable to his team” during the regular season.
The Professional Hockey Writers Association chooses the winner.
Both Kucherov and McDavid have won league MVP awards before. Having made it to three finals, MacKinnon is vying for his first Hart Trophy.
The 28-year-old MacKinnon finished second in the league with 51 goals, 89 assists, and 140 points, behind Kucherov. In every one of those categories, MacKinnon led the Avalanche and set new personal bests. His total was 36 points more than that of the team’s second highest scorer, winger Mikko Rantanen (104). He led the NHL with 405 shots on goal as well.
During his season, MacKinnon recorded two remarkable scoring streaks: From October 19 to March 26, he scored points in 35 straight home games, which is the second-longest home points run in NHL history (the longest being Wayne Gretzky’s 40 games from the 1988–89 Los Angeles Kings season). With his 19-game point streak from February 13 to March 26, MacKinnon became the first player in NHL history to record two consecutive 19-game point streaks.
In the Hart Trophy competition, he placed second in 2018 and 2020 and third in 2021.
The 27-year-old McDavid is attempting to win his fourth Hart Trophy (2017, 2021, 2023) and make history by being the first MVP to win two straight years since Alex Ovechkin (2008–09).
He led Edmonton with 132 points and 100 assists, which was good for third place in the league. With 32 goals, he was third on the team after Leon Draisaitl (41) and Zach Hyman (54). Following Edmonton’s hiring of Kris Knoblauch as head coach in place of Jay Woodcroft, McDavid scored 122 points in 65 games despite the Oilers’ collective sluggish start to the season.
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