If the NHL’s Hart Trophy for most valuable player was handed out today, Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche might have the inside track on becoming the award’s first repeat winner since Alex Ovechkin went back-to-back in 2008 and 2009.
Going into games on Sunday, Jan. 19, MacKinnon leads the league with 73 points in 47 games. He also leads all forwards in ice time, averaging a career-high 23:06 per game.
And while his 1.55 points per game are slightly below the pace of 1.71 points per game that earned him his first Hart last season, MacKinnon is currently enjoying a four-point cushion over second place Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL scoring race.
If MacKinnon finishes the 2024-25 NHL season the way he has started, he’ll be a worthy contender for his second-straight Hart.
But he’s facing some strong competition from other Western Conference players. Here are four other names to know:
Connor Hellebuyck – G – Winnipeg Jets
Comparing the contributions of forwards to goalies is a bit like judging whether Bob Dylan is a better artist than Vincent Van Gogh.
But with his Winnipeg Jets sitting first in the Western Conference and second in the NHL, their No. 1 netminder is making a case for Hart consideration based on the official definition of the award, “the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.”
After handily winning the Vezina Trophy last season as the NHL’s best goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck’s numbers are even better this year. His goals-against average sits at 1.97, his save percentage is .929 and he leads all goalies with 28 wins, six more than second-place Jake Oettinger of the Dallas Stars.
And while Hellebuyck has faced more shots than any other stopper in the league, he’s playing in a good environment — averaging 3.51 goals scored per game, the Jets are delivering plenty of run support. But Hellebuyck’s 28.2 goals saved above expected more than doubles all but a handful of other goalies around the league — a strong indicator of the elite performance level that he’s consistently delivering.
The Jets were good last season; this year, they’re even better. The same can be said for Hellebuyck, who earned a smattering of acclaim when he finished sixth in the 2024 Hart balloting.
Quinn Hughes – D – Vancouver Canucks
A goalie hasn’t won the Hart Trophy since Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens took home the prize in 2015.
To find the last defenseman, you have to go all the way back to 2000. That year, the award went to Chris Pronger of the St. Louis Blues at the height of the Dead Puck Era, when obstruction was tolerated and scoring was at a premium.
This year, with the Vancouver Canucks’ star forwards Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller are underperforming and goalie Thatcher Demko missing the first 24 games of the season with a knee injury, captain Quinn Hughes has become more important to his team than ever.
Last season, his sharp puck-moving, strong skating and ability to walk the line in the offensive zone earned him Norris Trophy honors as the NHL’s top defenseman. Amid his team’s challenges this year, Hughes has increased his production to 1.22 points per game, which is tops among defenseman. And even though he is dealing with a hand injury which recently caused him to miss four games and now has him wearing a brace, he has scored four of his 12 goals this season in his last four games.
As a team, the Canucks are struggling, but Hughes is almost single-handedly keeping them in the fight. That fits the definition of a Hart candidate, but voters tend to be reluctant to back players whose teams fall short of a playoff berth. As of Sunday, the Canucks are one point out of the second wild-card spot in the West.
Leon Draisaitl – C – Edmonton Oilers
He’s often overshadowed by his teammate and good friend Connor McDavid, but Leon Draisaitl is also one of the top players in the NHL. In 2020, he took home his first Hart Trophy after the pandemic-shortened season saw him lead the league with 110 points and 10 game-winning goals in just 71 games. This year, Draisaitl currently leads the NHL with 33 goals and is already at nine game-winners, in just 46 games.
For more evidence of Draisaitl’s elite status in the league, consider that he’s about to become the NHL’s top-paid player when his new contract extension kicks in next season. And after reaching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2024, the Edmonton Oilers are back near the top of the league standings and look poised to see if they can build off what they learned last year.
The biggest obstacle in Draisaitl’s candidacy, of course, is McDavid. A three-time Hart winner himself, he sits just four points behind Draisaitl in the league scoring race. The longer they play together, the harder it is to argue that they’re not both crucial cogs in the Oilers machine. That’s not optimal under the Hart Trophy criteria.
Kirill Kaprisov – RW – Minnesota Wild
An early Hart front-runner this season, Kaprizov’s candidacy has been hurt by a lower-body injury that has caused him to miss the last 11 games. He did return to practice last week, but isn’t with the team on their current road trip, which wraps up against MacKinnon and the Avalanche for a matinee in Denver on Monday (3 p.m. ET).
When he played his last game on Dec. 23, Kaprizov was tied for second in the league in goals (23) and tied for fourth in points (50), in just 34 games. More importantly, the Wild were sitting comfortably in second place in the Central Division with 46 points in 35 games — an impressive rebound after they missed the playoffs last year.
With a 6-5-0 record since Kaprizov went down, the Wild have held their ground — for now. But more injuries have decimated their depth chart and the team has lost its last three games, leaving them just one point ahead of the surging Avalanche and the Dallas Stars — who could leapfrog them with a win over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday (8 p.m. ET).
Arguably the most electric scorer in his team’s history, Kaprizov can’t get back in action fast enough for Wild fans. If he picks up where he left off, he could work his way back into Hart Trophy consideration.
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