The Hart Trophy is a very prestigious award, given annually to the NHL’s Most Valuable Player. The Hart Memorial Trophy is named in honour of Canadian Dr. David Hart. He donated the original trophy to the NHL, and was the father of Cecil Hart who was the head coach and general manager of the Montreal Canadiens from 1926–27 until 1938–39.
This playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers have a line of Connor McDavid who’s a three time Hart Trophy winner; Leon Draisaitl who’s won it once, and is nominated again this season; Corey Perry, who won the Hart in the 2010–11 season.
It’s rare enough that teams would have more than one Hart winner in their lineup. The Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1990s with Mario Lemieux, and Jarimor Jagr. Montreal in the original six era at one point had four Hart winners on their roster. Maurice Richard, Jean Believeau, Jacques Plante, and Bernie Geoffrion. The Original Six era was insane.
The amount of NHL legends in the league at that time is crazy, every team had multiple MVPs essentially. You had the longevity king in Gordie Howe who played until he was 51. And you had Richard casually scoring 50 goals in 50 games in 1945.
How rare it is
The last time a team had three Hart Trophy winners in their lineup was the 2003–04 New York Rangers. With Mark Messier, Jaromir Jagr, and Eric Lindros. However, it was short-lived. Jagr played 31 games, and Lindros played 39 games.
Many fans feel that Detroit versus Colorado is the best rivalry in NHL history, from 1996 until 2002 they were the most dominant teams in the league and it wasn’t even close. Both teams had tremendous talent with Hall of Famers, and Hart Trophy winners everywhere. The Colorado Avalanche had Peter Foresberg and Joe Sakic, who led Colorado to two Stanley Cups in six years.
The Detroit Red Wings had Brett Hull, Sergei Federov, and Dominik Hasek and those three helped Detroit win three cups in six years. However, having that much talent on one team was less rare because the salary cap wasn’t introduced until the 2005–06 season. 19 years later, the Oilers have three Hart Trophy winners in their lineup. Not only that, they also play together on a line.
What about the Oilers?
We got Connor McDavid who has been the best player in the NHL for the last few years. McDavid always seems to be in a league of his own, he’s able to do things that are unbelievable to watch. He’s a prime Tiger Woods type of athlete, because he’s so much better than the person who is the second best in the world at his job. He’s won three Hart trophies in the 2016–17, 2020–21, and 2022–23 seasons.
Secondly we have Leon Draisaitl who has also cemented himself as one of the best players in the NHL. McDavid and Draisaitl are the hockey equivalent Batman and Robin, but at times they both could be Batman. Draisaitl led the league in goals this season, with 52 earning himself the Rocket Richard Trophy, and a Hart Trophy nomination for 2024–25. Draisaitl has one Hart Trophy under his belt in the 2019–20 season.
Lastly, we got Corey Perry, this guy has won almost everything you can imagine in his career. Which includes a Hart Trophy in the 2010–11 season with the Anaheim Ducks. Even though Perry is 39-years-old, this playoffs he’s producing like he’s in his mid-20s. So far this playoffs, Perry has seven points in 10 games. He has a reputation as a playoff performer, he’s currently tied for 36th all time in playoff goals with Paul Coffey, and Stan Mikita at 59.
The success this line has brought
These three complement each other very well. Not only are they on the Oilers first line together, but they also play together on the first power play unit. McDavid and Draisaitl are one of the best duos in the league and very dominant individuality. When they play together it’s a match up nightmare for the opponent. And when you add Perry to that mix with his tendency to get under your skin and his hand eye coordination in front of the net, this line causes problems.
In today’s hockey it’s rare you see multiple award winners on a line together. The Florida Panthers have two players up for the Frank J. Selke Trophy given to the league’s best defensive forward in Sam Reinhart, and Aleksander Barkov. Team Canada had three Hart winners on the power play at the 4 Nations Face Off. They had Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Sidney Crosby.
It’s even rarer to see three Hart winners on the line in the NHL. Through 10 games, this line has combined for 39 points. Don’t expect them to slow down because Head Coach Kris Knoblauch will likely continue to feed the hot hand. We’ll need them if we want to make a deep run again this year. You know what they say: ” If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”
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