Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, Igor Shesterkin named 2021-22 Hart Trophy finalists

The 2021-22 NHL season featured the most feverish debate over the Hart Trophy in recent memory. Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association could only name five players to their ballots, but there were probably as many as 10 viable candidates.

So who made the highly competitive cut as a finalist for the Hart, which is awarded annually to the NHL player judged to be most valuable to his team?

The finalists: Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid and New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, per the NHL's announcement.

Matthews, 24, became the first NHL player in 10 years to score 60 goals in a season. Doing so in just 73 games, he averaged 0.82 goals per game, the highest mark of any player since Mario Lemieux’s 0.99 in 1995-96. Matthews also shattered the Maple Leafs’ franchise record for goals in a season of 54, which Rick Vaive held since 1981-82. Making a major defensive impact as well, Matthews was second only to Mark Stone in 5-on-5 takeaways per 60 minutes this season (min. 500 minutes played). Matthews was the driving force behind a Leafs team that set franchise records for wins (54) and points (115) in a season.

McDavid, 25, led the NHL in scoring with a career-high 123 points this season. He won the Art Ross Trophy for the fourth time in his career and joins Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe as the only players in league history to have four scoring titles by age 25. He tilted the ice in the Oilers’ favor whenever he was on it. With McDavid playing at 5-on-5, the Oilers outshot opponents 880-665, outchanced them 763-629 and outscored them 73-50. In November he became the sixth-fastest player in NHL history to reach 600 career points.

Shesterkin, 26, delivered a dominant season in net for the Rangers. His 2.07 goals-against average and .935 save percentage led the NHL and are particularly staggering considering the NHL averaged its most goals per game since 1995-96 this season and had its lowest league-wide save percentage (.907) since 2006-07. Per naturalstattrick.com, among 55 goalies who played at least 1,000 minutes at 5-on-5, Shesterkin ranked second in goals saved above average per 60 and third in high-danger save percentage. That was despite ranking in the top third of the league in the difficulty of his workload in terms of expected goals against per 60.

The winner of the Hart, and other major NHL awards, will be awarded during the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final, with exact dates, times and formats of the presentations not yet announced.