Connor McDavid is a finalist at the Hart, but not Leon Draisaitl

Minutes before the start of Game 5 between the Maple Leafs and Panthers, the NHL announced its three finalists for the Hart Trophy.

While Connor McDavid was obviously expected to be nominated, after an exceptional offensive season, he is joined on the podium by David Pastrnak and Matthew Tkachuk.

It’s well deserved for Pastrnak, who led the NHL’s best team with 61 goals and 52 assists, and for Tkachuk, who was the main contributor to the Panthers’ late-campaign resurgence.

Is Tkachuk’s nomination influenced by the Panthers’ smoldering start to the playoffs? Voting takes place after the season, so no – still peculiar, since he wasn’t among the post-season favorites.

Connor McDavid is seen as the favorite, almost unanimously. He completed the campaign with 64 goals and 89 assists (153 points). But…

MVP, really?

But excuse me… Isn’t the Hart Trophy the trophy awarded to the player most useful to his team?

But Leon Draisaitl, with 128 points, was extremely important for the Oilers this season, and proved time and again that he wasn’t just “keeping up with McDavid”.

Despite outperforming Pastrnak and Tkachuk, Draisaitl was unsurprisingly not nominated for the Hart Trophy. He was the league’s second-highest scorer, and won the Hart in 2020.

The explanation we’ll be given is that you can’t have two MVPs in the top 3 as a matter of principle. And that’s true. McDavid’s importance is somewhat diluted by Draisaitl’s, so to speak.

But if the gap is so small… Why can we name just one, when his “importance” is not unique within the club? Why do Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who together lead the Oilers, have a representative?

If you define importance by the action of carrying a club on your shoulders, it should be zero.

If you define importance by individual contribution, regardless of his entourage, it should be two.

But one? That makes no sense to me.

The debate is interesting. But there’s clearly a problem with the definition of the trophy.

In a gust

– After 20 minutes.

– Brière confident.

– Big game!