Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, left, collects the puck as Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon

07/05/2024 17:01

The three highest-scoring players in the regular season are also all finalists for the Hart Trophy.

The NHL announced Tuesday that Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche are the finalists for the Hart, which is awarded annually to “the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.”

Tampa's Kucherov led all players in scoring with 144 points this season, 54 points ahead of his second-closest teammate. The 30-year-old finished with 100 assists, a feat matched by McDavid but only ever done by three other players: Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr. Kucherov has won the Hart Trophy once before: the last time he led the league in scoring in 2018-19.

McDavid, 27, is a three-time Hart Trophy winner who led the Oilers in scoring and willed them back to the playoffs after the team briefly sat in 32nd place in the standings one month into the season. He finished the season with 100 assists and 132 points, crossing the 100-point mark for the seventh time in nine seasons.

MacKinnon, 28, has never won a Hart Trophy but has been a finalist three previous times. This season, MacKinnon set new career highs in Colorado with 51 goals and 140 points, and posted a 35-game home point streak that was the second-longest in NHL history.

The debate around the Hart Trophy at the end of the season was loud with plenty of other players making cases to be included among the finalists. Some players who didn't make the cut include the Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews, who set a salary-cap era record with 69 goals, the Rangers’ Artemi Panarin, who finished fourth in scoring with 120 points, and Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, the favourite to win the Vezina Trophy.