MacKinnon of Avalanche wins Hart Trophy as NHL MVP

LAS VEGAS -- Nathan MacKinnon swept the vote of the writers and his peers to win the Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award at the 2024 NHL Awards at Fontainebleau Las Vegas on Thursday.

This was MacKinnon's fourth time as a finalist for the Hart Trophy, which goes to the player voted most valuable to his team by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

MacKinnon was a runner-up for the Hart Trophy in 2017-18 to Taylor Hall of the New Jersey Devils, and again in 2019-20 to Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers. In 2020-21, he finished third in the voting behind Oilers center Connor McDavid, the winner, and Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, the runner-up.

It was also his third time as a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award, which is given annually to the most outstanding player in the League as voted by fellow members of the NHL Players' Association.

MacKinnon finished the regular season second in the NHL with 140 points (51 goals, 89 assists) -- each a League career high -- in 82 games.

"Like I said in my speech, every player I grew up idolizing has their name on these things, so to be a part of that company is surreal," MacKinnon said. "It hasn't really sunk in. It's definitely a special thing. All the boys helped me a lot and so many people to thank, but it's definitely cool to be a part of it. I know it's an individual award, but you feel like you're connected to these all-time greats."

Two of those all-time greats, Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky, called him after the show.

"I got a call from Sid and Wayne called me," MacKinnon said. "That's always pretty cool seeing Wayne Gretzky pop up on your phone, and seeing his name like a hundred times on this thing too [pointing at Ted Lindsay Award]. It's cool to have all the support I have. I couldn't do this alone."

Gretzky swept the two trophies five times, doing so in four straight seasons from 1981-85 and again in 1986-87. Crosby won both the Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award in 2006-07 and again in back-to-back seasons, 2012-13 and 2013-14.

MacKinnon is the 24th player to sweep the Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award in the same season. It has happened 37 times since the Ted Lindsay Award was first handed out in 1970-71.

"The awards should speak for themselves," said Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who won the Vezina Trophy on Thursday. "He's a phenomenal player. He does have a strong hold on the game. He continues to get better, and that's what you want to see out of your elite guys."

MacKinnon won the vote for the Hart Trophy in a landslide, receiving 137 of the 194 first-place votes and 1,740 voting points. He was first or second on 184 of the 194 ballots submitted.

Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov was the runner-up with 50 first-place votes and 1,269 voting points. McDavid finished third with 845 voting points. He received one first-place vote.

New York Rangers left wing Artemi Panarin (three), Matthews (two) and Hellebuyck (one) also received first-place votes.

"I thought I had a chance in 2018 and I thought I had a chance tonight," MacKinnon said. "The other year I think Connor had like 50 more points than me, so it wasn't that close. Yeah, I thought I had a chance. Didn't know. 'Kuch' and Connor had unbelievable seasons, a hundred assists each, so I really didn't know. Definitely cool to win it."

This season was MacKinnon's second straight and second time in his NHL career with at least 100 points after he had 111 (42 goals, 69 assists) in 71 games last season.

He led the NHL with 405 shots on goal and had a home point streak of 35 games (77 points; 29 goals, 48 assists) to start the season, the second longest in NHL history behind Gretzky, who had a 40-game run for the Los Angeles Kings in 1988-89.

The Avalanche (50-25-7) finished third in the Central Division.

"All these different players over my 11 years have helped me to be who I am today," MacKinnon said, talking about current and former teammates. "It just didn't happen this year. It wasn't like anything just magically happened. A lot of people I can thank. It would take a while."

MacKinnon is the third Avalanche player to win the Hart Trophy; Peter Forsberg won in 2002-03, and current team president Joe Sakic won in 2000-01.

Sakic also won the Ted Lindsay Award in 2000-01.

Until MacKinnon, Sakic was the only Avalanche player to win the Ted Lindsay Award.

"Whenever you're in the same company as Joe it's cool," MacKinnon said. "He's here tonight. It's fun to experience a lot of things in my career with him. He's just such a legend and one of my favorite players growing up. It's really special."

2023-24 Hart Memorial Trophy Voting

Points (1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)
1. Nathan MacKinnon, COL 1740 (137-47-8-0-1)
2. Nikita Kucherov, TBL 1269 (50-77-30-23-11)
3. Connor McDavid, EDM 845 (1-28-86-67-8)
4. Auston Matthews, TOR 756 (2-33-53-73-21)
5. Artemi Panarin, NYR 175 (3-1-7-15-58)
6. Connor Hellebuyck, WPG 104 (1-4-3-7-30)
7. Quinn Hughes, VAN 62 (0-1-4-3-26)
8. David Pastrnak, BOS 41 (0-2-0-4-15)
9. Sidney Crosby, PIT 38 (0-1-3-1-13)
10. Roman Josi, NSH 8 (0-0-0-0-8)
11. J.T. Miller, VAN 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-12. Sebastian Aho, CAR 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
Charlie Lindgren, WSH 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
Sam Reinhart, FLA 1 (0-0-0-0-1)