Trophy Tracker: MacKinnon of Avalanche choice for Hart as most valuable player

To mark the conclusion of the 2024-25 regular season, NHL.com is running its fifth and final installment of the Trophy Tracker series this week. Today, we look at the race for the Hart Trophy, given annually to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team as selected in a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Nathan MacKinnon didn't play the last three games of the regular season because of a minor injury. Had he, maybe the Colorado Avalanche center would have won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's scoring leader for the first time in his career.

Instead, it again went to Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov, who finished with 121 points to MacKinnon's 116 after topping MacKinnon 144-140 to win it last season.

"He would have won the scoring championship if it was a goal of his," former NHL coach Bruce Boudreau said.

MacKinnon has repeatedly said the only trophy he cares about is the Stanley Cup.

He said that before winning it in 2022, and certainly after he won the Hart Trophy voted as the League's most valuable player last season, more than a month after a six-game loss to the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Second Round.

So, it makes sense that if MacKinnon were to hear he has been voted as NHL.com's favorite to win the Hart again this season, he probably would accept the compliment and quickly, as in one second later, move on to preparing to play the Stars in the first round.

"I think he's energized and poised for perhaps a Conn Smythe and Cup run," TNT broadcaster and retired NHL goalie Brian Boucher said.

MacKinnon was the choice in a tight race among the 16 voters. He received 66 out of a possible 240 voting points and six out of a possible 16 first-place votes. He edged Kucherov, who earned 48 voting points and four first-place votes. Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck was third with 47 voting points and three first-place votes.

"I argued 'Kuch' (for the Hart Trophy) last year and thought he got a raw deal," NHL Network analyst and retired forward Brian Boyle said. "I'd argue MacKinnon this year. People see Colorado and think it's some super team. It wasn't. Their start was horrific, but when he's on, he can't be stopped."

To Boyle's point, MacKinnon's dominance through the changing Avalanche this season is the biggest reason why he is the Hart favorite ahead of Kucherov and Hellebuyck. The Avalanche started 0-4-0 while getting outscored 25-13, struggling to keep the puck out of the net early in the season with Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen as the goalies. But MacKinnon kept driving the team.

Colorado played 29 games before totally overhauling its goaltending, trading Georgiev to the San Jose Sharks for Mackenzie Blackwood and Annunen to the Nashville Predators for Scott Wedgewood. MacKinnon still had 41 points in the first 29 games. Colorado was 16-13-0 despite allowing 3.55 goals per game.

"I think he's so good and he does the same thing every game," Boudreau said. "Nothing fazes him."

Colorado went 12-6-2 in its next 20 games. MacKinnon had 34 points (10 goals, 24 assists) in that stretch.

Then the whopper came Jan. 24, when the Avalanche traded MacKinnon's longtime linemate and close friend Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes in a three-team deal involving the Chicago Blackhawks. Rantanen was their second leading scorer at the time with 64 points, including a team-high 25 goals.

Colorado got Martin Necas as part of the return. No offense to Necas, but at the time that seemed like a consolation prize considering how much Rantanen meant to MacKinnon and the team.

"It shocks the dressing room, I think," MacKinnon said two days later, following a two-assist game in a 5-4 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. "It's sad, it [stinks] and it's just different."

It did not, however, mean worse for the Avalanche or MacKinnon.

They went 21-10-2 in their last 33 games after the trade and MacKinnon, playing the first 30 of those games, led them with 41 points (13 goals, 28 assists) while helping Necas make the adjustment. Necas had 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists) in 30 games for Colorado.

The Avalanche finished third in the Central Division with 49 wins and 102 points.

"He's my Hart guy," NHL Network's Mike Rupp, a retired NHL forward, told NHL.com. "There has been a lot of change and adversity, and he has dominated wire to wire, no matter who is there and who isn't."

Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1- basis): Nathan MacKinnon, Avalanche, 66 points (six first-place votes); Nikita Kucherov, Lightning, 48 (four first-place votes); Connor Hellebuyck, Jets, 47 (three first-place votes); Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers, 41 (two first-place votes); Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights, 15; Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals, 7 (one first-place vote); Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs, 6; Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets, 4; Cale Makar, Avalanche, 3; Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens, 1; David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins, 1; Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks, 1