While it’s clear that Connor McDavid is the unanimous No. 1 overall pick for the Hart Trophy, Matt Larkin and Steven Ellis look around the league at other players who will find their names on the Hart Trophy Ballots.
Matt Larkin: Thinking about the Hart Trophy ballot, it’s been such a strange year because Connor McDavid locked it up so early that, to me the discussion for who is number two has almost become its own award. It’s been the subject of debate all year because there’s no contest with McDavid. In this magical number two MVP race, who do you have up there at the top?
Steven Ellis: Well, I think we got to give a lot of credit to Linus Ullmark and what he’s done in Boston, but we’ve talked about him a lot on this show. Two guys I want to focus on specifically is Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders and Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils. You look at Sorokin, and the Islanders were at one point falling down deep, and we were doing the Connor Bedard updates every single day on DailyFaceoff.com, and the Islanders kept putting themselves in a spot where they could’ve had a solid puck in this draft. But, ever since they’ve gone out and made the trade for Bo Horvat, and while Horvat hasn’t been as good as he was with Vancouver, it kind of seemed to send a message to that team that this group is serious about turning things around and being very competitive. I think the fact that Sorokin has been as good as he was my pre-season pick to win the Vezina Trophy; I think the Islanders would not be where they are right now looking for a playoff spot if it wasn’t for Sorokin.
Steven Ellis: Then you look at Jack Hughes with the Devils. I think it was just a matter of time till he really put this all together, we knew the talent was there, and we saw how good he was with the U. S. National Team. I think a couple of reasons why it didn’t turn out right off the bat were he was smaller, he was adjusting his game, and he was struggling to stay healthy. Last year we saw some big steps from him, and it was just kind of when he is able to turn it into something tangible and turn the Devils into what they really are. I think you look at the results this year and where the Devils are, and Hughes has been one of the biggest drivers on that team. Those are two guys I think that are truly deserving of some sort of love for it, even though neither will win it, but Sorokin and Hughes are two guys who’ve done so much for their respective teams.
Matt Larkin: I like those picks. It’s funny; I was on the Tage Thompson train for much of this year, but I’ve pivoted. I’m not going to name the team, but I’m going to give you some numbers first to avoid bias. This player is seventh in scoring in the league, first in takeaways, fifth in time on ice, the only player even anywhere near the top-50 scorers of the league but also top-20 in short-handed minutes played, first in the NHL in primary assists per 60, that’s Mitch Marner. It’s funny; I’m almost thinking it’s getting to the point where it would be overthinking to not put him second on the ballot. Also, shoutout to Matthew Tkachuk, who’s got 31 points ahead of his next teammate, so if Florida gets in, that’s shades of 2017-18 when Taylor Hall won the Hart Trophy with the Devils when he was way ahead of his teammates. So those are two more names I’ll be thinking of putting on my ballot.
You can watch the full episode here…
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