Nathan MacKinnon-Hart Trophy Watch

[Avs71]

Figured we could have a thread to talk about the media attention MacKinnon is getting, because there seems to be a lot of it.

-Bob McKenzie, a month ago, said MacKinnon is the best player in the league this season.
-Doughty says he panics a bit when MacKinnon and McDavid are carrying the puck towards him.




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If he gets it, he will join these two as the only Avalanche players to win it.

Click to read more...

 

[CobraAcesS]

Bourne: A closer look at the tools Nathan MacKinnon used to...

Nathan MacKinnon, the Avs' leading man, elevated his game...

Hart Trophy race comes down to wire

 

[Tommy Shelby]

Will he? No

Should he? Yes

 

[Avs71]

For what it is worth, Friedman had EJ listed in his "consideration" category for the Norris. Among like 10 other names, but still nice to see EJ get recognition. He seems to follow the Avs a fair amount, so hopefully he voted MacKinnon 1st.

 

[ArWKo]

For what it is worth, Friedman had EJ listed in his "consideration" category for the Norris. Among like 10 other names, but still nice to see EJ get recognition. He seems to follow the Avs a fair amount, so hopefully he voted MacKinnon 1st.

I mentioned this in another thread...I have to wonder if he meant to put Erik Karlsson and accidentally ended up with Johnson on there instead, Karlsson has an alright season by Karlsson standard but still good enough to be at least "considered" not that I wouldn't love to see EJ in that category but who knows.

As far as Hart goes, I have a feeling that it's gonna end up going to Hall but I'm hoping I'm wrong.

 

[shadow1]

This year is the craziest race in recent memory.

With so many top point scorers, I think the “he brought his team back from the dead” narrative will ultimately land either MacKinnon or Taylor Hall the award.

 

[McMetal]

EJ had a really good season, but nothing Norris worthy. I agree that it was probably a typo.

 

[klozge]

It all depends on when the relevant people made their vote but I think MacK will deservedly win the Hart this year. On the other hand I have to admit that I watched very little of Hall this season.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Here are my thoughts.

I watched Hall a ton this season and obviously watched every Av game that Mackinnon was in. ...I think the media will choose Mackinnon.

1. Nathan is a centreman who posted 97 points and had the second highest PPG. The media in Canada have a raging chubby for centreman....kinda like HF.
2. Everyone thought the Avs were gonna finish 30-31 just ahead of Vegas going into the season. Avs made the playoffs.
3. The media said we were done when we traded for futures in the Duchene deal.
4. The East is "easier" to score in . I heard that argument the other day from one of the talking heads and never even considered that. A lot of top 10 scorers come from the East which makes Nathans numbers that much better since the west is apparently harder to score in. I haven't looked into this but if true...


Me personally you cant go wrong with either guy but both teams made the playoffs and Nathan had more points than Hall. So the real MVP should be Giroux ahhaa.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Honestly it should be Hall or Mackinnon. The homer in me wants it to be Mack, but if Hall wins it I can 100% understand that. Regardless it's been an epic Hart race this year IMO.

 

[henchman21]

I think there might be just enough pissy sportswriters about Hall that MacK gets the Hart.

 

[Alex Jones]

I think it's going to be Hall based on how much Mackinnon faded down the final stretch.

 

[Goulet17]

Personally, I think it would be a mild upset if MacKinnon wins. It is not that he does not deserve it, but Hall and Giroux play in the heavily populated and media heavy NE and near NYC. As much as you might argue that it does not make a difference, it will. I'll go one step further and suggest that it may be less surprising to see Mack finish third or fourth in the voting than first, entirely based on where the other players are located (Hall, Giroux, Kopitar, McDavid).

I will say this, people have indicated that MacKinnon had more primary points than games played, which I believe makes him the only player in the NHL to accomplish that feat.

 

[The Kingslayer]

I think it's going to be Hall based on how much Mackinnon faded down the final stretch.

He faded sure but I think Nathan was still close a PPG in the final 10. Its just he wasn't going at nearly 1.5 ppg. Hard to fault him for that. Fact is Nathan was second only to Mcdavid for PPG and the sportswriters will take that into consideration imo.

 

[Goulet17]

He faded sure but I think Nathan was still close a PPG in the final 10. Its just he wasn't going at nearly 1.5 ppg. Hard to fault him for that. Fact is Nathan was second only to Mcdavid for PPG and the sportswriters will take that into consideration imo.

Second to McDavid, but I believe the difference is a statistically insignificant (at least in my mind) .006%.

 

[Alex Jones]

He faded sure but I think Nathan was still close a PPG in the final 10. Its just he wasn't going at nearly 1.5 ppg. Hard to fault him for that. Fact is Nathan was second only to Mcdavid for PPG and the sportswriters will take that into consideration imo.

That's true, but all I know is that there were multiple opportunities at the end of the season for the Avs to solidify their spot in the playoffs (ie games against Vegas, LA, SJ, Anaheim) and Mackinnon did basically nothing in them. To me that has to play on the voters mind, especially since the whole narrative is that Mackinnon lead the Avs to the playoffs. Also consider how Hall performed down the stretch.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I know this is a HART watch thread...but damn, I would love to see Nate maintain a PPG status through the playoffs however long or short they may be.

 

[CobraAcesS]

He faded sure but I think Nathan was still close a PPG in the final 10. Its just he wasn't going at nearly 1.5 ppg. Hard to fault him for that. Fact is Nathan was second only to Mcdavid for PPG and the sportswriters will take that into consideration imo.

You know what I noticed down the stretch? No one, absolutely no one noticed that MacK had hit a wall. All I could think to myself was... "Yeah, I guess that you media punks from the East never watch the Avs is working in our favor right now"

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

I think it's going to be Hall based on how much Mackinnon faded down the final stretch.

There's a case for both and it's down to those two. While it is easier to score in the East one should look at the gap point in between Hall/Mack and their teammates. There is definitely an Eastern bias, so this go down to the wire.

 

[The Kingslayer]

That's true, but all I know is that there were multiple opportunities at the end of the season for the Avs to solidify their spot in the playoffs (ie games against Vegas, LA, SJ, Anaheim) and Mackinnon did basically nothing in them. To me that has to play on the voters mind, especially since the whole narrative is that Mackinnon lead the Avs to the playoffs. Also consider how Hall performed down the stretch.

I think the only game the east coast media watched was the STL game and they would've been very impressed with Mack's performance in that game. I also believe many of them already had Nathan as Hart in their minds prior to the Cali trip.

 

[Balthazar]

I think Hall gets it because of the NY media push and the difference between him (93 pts) and the 2nd best scorer on the team (Hischer 52 pts). That's a very important stat when it comes to decide which player was the most important to his team.

 

[ASmileyFace]

Hall going on an absolute tear near the end of the season (while MacKinnon went through his roughest patch of the season) will help his case. I think the fact that Nate performed so well in game 82 will push him over the edge though. A ton of people watched that game and I think he will win it by a super close margin.

 

[Barklez]

That's true, but all I know is that there were multiple opportunities at the end of the season for the Avs to solidify their spot in the playoffs (ie games against Vegas, LA, SJ, Anaheim) and Mackinnon did basically nothing in them. To me that has to play on the voters mind, especially since the whole narrative is that Mackinnon lead the Avs to the playoffs. Also consider how Hall performed down the stretch.

I think that makes his case that much stronger. McKenzie kept rambling about the wording they're going by in picking - "judged to be the most valuable to his (individual) team". When Nate cooled off, the team played their worst stretch of hockey in months. In a season where we went significant stretches without our 2 top D and both goalies, I think that makes a pretty big statement. Obviously we were without him as well for a while and didn't completely collapse but I expect recency bias to come into it a bit and it's hard to argue against the fact that as Nate goes, so go the Avs.

As has been mentioned, if Hall wins I won't be upset about it, but from what I've been hearing Nate has to be as close to the favourite as anyone else. Now, while I fully trust the judgement of the Bob McKenzies and Elliotte Friedmans of the world, there are enough knobs in the PHWA that I'm not letting myself get my hopes up.

 

[The Kingslayer]

I think that makes his case that much stronger. McKenzie kept rambling about the wording they're going by in picking - "judged to be the most valuable to his (individual) team". When Nate cooled off, the team played their worst stretch of hockey in months. In a season where we went significant stretches without our 2 top D and both goalies, I think that makes a pretty big statement. Obviously we were without him as well for a while and didn't completely collapse but I expect recency bias to come into it a bit and it's hard to argue against the fact that as Nate goes, so go the Avs.

As has been mentioned, if Hall wins I won't be upset about it, but from what I've been hearing Nate has to be as close to the favourite as anyone else. Now, while I fully trust the judgement of the Bob McKenzies and Elliotte Friedmans of the world, there are enough knobs in the PHWA that I'm not letting myself get my hopes up.

Go on you can say it lol the Montreal media. The same media that didnt give Roy the Vezina in 02-03 because they still held a grudge against him for leaving the Habs.

 

[Barklez]

Go on you can say it lol the Montreal media. The same media that didnt give Roy the Vezina in 02-03 because they still held a grudge against him for leaving the Habs.

Can't argue with that.

I mean, not who I'm worried about but you don't have to look that far for examples. Not exactly a glowing endorsement of the level of hockey brain you need to be part of the club.