What are the greatest Hart Trophy races in NHL history? How does 2023-2024 compare, in terms of multiple 'historic' seasons in contention?

[bobholly39]

I feel like we're in the midst of a historic season in 2023-2024. Four forwards are all having what seems to be an all-time great season, which got me to thinking, what are some historic comparisons? Which seasons are better, from a top end competition in-season, with multiple players involved?

We've had a lot of great seasons in NHL history - but what stands out about 2023-2024 so far is that all 4 top seasons seem to be historic in performance, while also being close to each other.

1992-1993 came to mind with many seasons that stand out, but Lemieux wasn't really close to anyone so it wasn't much of a hart race. 1988-1989 also, though I also think Lemieux was technically not close even though he lost. There have been close votes before (2018, 1990 to name a couple) but without necessarily being historic seasons involved.

This year, I feel as though all of McDavid, MacKinnon, Matthews, and Kucherov are having historic seasons. 130+ points for 3 of them in this era would be amazing (let alone 140+), 100+ assists for McDavid maybe, 75+ goals possibly for Matthews...if they all see those seasons through, it'll be truly amazing.

Any other instance where there were at least 3, let alone 4+ seasons of players you can deem truly historic all-time while also being close to each other from an MVP/hart perspective?

Click to read more...

 

[Matsun]

I like 79. Trottier wins the Hart and Ross with 134 points. Lafleur is 2nd in voting and has 129 points, Dionne is 3rd and has 130 and Potvin is 4th with 101. All 4 got over 10% of the vote%.

 

[daver]

I feel like we're in the midst of a historic season in 2023-2024. Four forwards are all having what seems to be an all-time great season, which got me to thinking, what are some historic comparisons? Which seasons are better, from a top end competition in-season, with multiple players involved?

We've had a lot of great seasons in NHL history - but what stands out about 2023-2024 so far is that all 4 top seasons seem to be historic in performance, while also being close to each other.

1992-1993 came to mind with many seasons that stand out, but Lemieux wasn't really close to anyone so it wasn't much of a hart race. 1988-1989 also, though I also think Lemieux was technically not close even though he lost. There have been close votes before (2018, 1990 to name a couple) but without necessarily being historic seasons involved.

This year, I feel as though all of McDavid, MacKinnon, Matthews, and Kucherov are having historic seasons. 130+ points for 3 of them in this era would be amazing (let alone 140+), 100+ assists for McDavid maybe, 75+ goals possibly for Matthews...if they all see those seasons through, it'll be truly amazing.

Any other instance where there were at least 3, let alone 4+ seasons of players you can deem truly historic all-time while also being close to each other from an MVP/hart perspective?

It will be an interesting discussion as to how to rate their seasons all-time.

I know you are a supporter of favoring raw point totals over % gap over the other players/the pack. I see a higher scoring league as being more enabling for the superstars to create a gap vs. lower scoring seasons which creates parity.

That being said, it does appear that Matthews, Mac and Kucherov are all having peak seasons along with McDavid being close to peak.

How would a peak OV, peak Crosby and peak Malkin do in a league with a scoring level that harkens back to 95/96?

Which is a reminder of perhaps the last season we saw the league's best forwards firing on all (or close to all) cylinders (Mario, Jagr, Lindros, Sakic and Forsberg) in the same season.

Maybe 08/09 is up there too (OV, Malkin, Crosby and Datysuk).

 

[Busher]

With 4 established top players in their primes, all with track records (awards, cup or both) having career years or close to it, and all pacing to post monster numbers not normally seen in 30 years, this is shaping up to be the best race of all time.

In 1971, Esposito and Orr posted monster years and contended with each other, but they were on the same team.

In 1979, Trottier, Dionne, Lafleur and Bossy were close in scoring, but two were teammates.

In 1990, the top players in the game (Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Messier, Hull) were all at the top of the scoring race and all close to each other in points, but Gretzky and Mario were nowhere near having their best seasons.

In 2024, in addition to all of the above, all of McDavid, Matthews, Mackinnon and Kucherov are on different teams.

And even beyond the top 4 candidates, all of the other players you would expect to see at the top of the scoring race are all there (Pastrnak, Panarin, Marner, Rantanen, Draisaitl, Tkachuk). Basically, all of the players in their primes who have already established themselves with years of track records. If these players all finish in the top 10 in scoring, you could have a season where all top 10 scorers might eventually end up in the Hall of Fame (and were already on track).

As someone mentioned above, 1995-96 is the last time I can think of a season where most the top players were at the top of the scoring race, and all posted great numbers.

 

[solidmotion]

this year is better but 2009-10 was fun to watch: crosby's emergence as a top goal-scorer, near-peak ovechkin at the head of by far the best offensive team of the era, peak sedins. it came right down to the wire too, iirc sedin, crosby and stamkos all had big finishes and jumped ovechkin who was leading in goals and points most of the year but kept getting suspended. not historic like this year though.

 

[Matsun]

this year is better but 2009-10 was fun to watch: crosby's emergence as a top goal-scorer, near-peak ovechkin at the head of by far the best offensive team of the era, peak sedins. it came right down to the wire too, iirc sedin, crosby and stamkos all had big finishes and jumped ovechkin who was leading in goals and points most of the year but kept getting suspended. not historic like this year though.

At 20th of March with 10 games left Ovechkin was still in the lead in both goals and points.

But from that point Sedin, Crosby and Stamkos all went crazy towards the end.

Ovechkin still had 12 points and 5 goals down the stretch so he wasn't really that bad. The others were insane and he had obviously missed too many games. Also saw that Erik Karlsson finished the season with 12 points in the last 10 games so looks like he was breaking out near the end of his rookie season.

 

[Calderon]

The Sedin/Crosby/Ovi race came to my mind as well. Then you've got the Jagr/Lindros in 94-95 where tie breaks came into play. Jagr vs Thornton just after the lockout was exciting as well and kind of a heartbreaker for Jagr if you will — though he obviously already had five Rosses.

Why are people calling Kucherov and MacKinnon's pursuits historic, though (I think someone did on the main board)? Both are pacing in the 130-140 point range. Had this been 2022 you'd have a case but after McDavid's 153 last season I can't see what's historic about them. They are both very likely to record new personal and franchise bests but that alone isn't enough if you ask me.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

The last Hart race that was so close was probably 2018. But in that case, it felt like it was a question of which candidate was less flawed (rather than truly great):

• McDavid: kind of like Jarome Iginla in 2002, he didn't win the Art Ross by a big margin (both won by 6 points, coincidentally), and neither dominated until the final quarter of the season, when it was pretty clear their team had nothing to play for.
• Hall: I never felt like I was watching a Hart calibre player. He had a hot streak at the end of the season (15 points in 8 games). It reminded me of 2011 when you also had a player who was never played at an MVP level before or after, win the award because he had a good couple of weeks.
• MacKinnon: he was probably the 2nd best player in the league this year. He lost the Hart because he missed 8 games, and because he faded down the stretch (just five points in his final eight games, as Colorado almost missed the playoffs - the opposite of what happened with Hall).
• Kopitar: a great season, but it didn't feel Hart worthy. To me, this felt like he was on the level of peak Mike Modano (which although great, isn't good enough for the MVP).
• Giroux: I've never been impressed by Giroux. It was a good season but there were five forwards within ten points of him, most of whom had less help or were better two-way players.
• Kucherov: 3rd in scoring and reached the (arbitrary but impressive) 100 points milestone - but he was one dimensional and scored less than McDavid while having a much stronger supporting cast. (True, Kucherov's team made the playoffs, but I'm pretty sure the Oilers would have, if they also had the Norris winner and a Vezina finalist).
• Malkin: a very good season but you're not going to rank very high in Hart voting when you have two teammates within 9 points.

For what it's worth, I would have voted for McDavid at the time. With hindsight, I probably would have picked Kopitar.

This season is more interesting because you have several truly great performances (rather than a bunch of forwards trying to stand out from a flawed group).

 

[solidmotion]

The Sedin/Crosby/Ovi race came to my mind as well. Then you've got the Jagr/Lindros in 94-95 where tie breaks came into play. Jagr vs Thornton just after the lockout was exciting as well and kind of a heartbreaker for Jagr if you will — though he obviously already had five Rosses.

Why are people calling Kucherov and MacKinnon's pursuits historic, though (I think someone did on the main board)? Both are pacing in the 130-140 point range. Had this been 2022 you'd have a case but after McDavid's 153 last season I can't see what's historic about them. They are both very likely to record new personal and franchise bests but that alone isn't enough if you ask me.

for me it's that matthews (70 goals?) and mcdavid (100 assists?) are historic and it's very impressive that kucherov and mackinnon are not only right there in the mix with them, but in fact in front of them right now.

(fwiw i guess it depends what your definition of historic is but only 10 players have ever hit 140 so it would be extremely impressive to hit it, which kucherov is on pace for. also somebody showed a stat the other day that only a handful of players, i think under 10, have ever led their team by 50+ points, which kucherov is also on pace for.)

 

[Boxscore]

This is a great Hart year for sure, and we're not even factoring in Quinn Hughes who deserves consideration for both the Hart and Norris. He is on pace for 95 points, plays 27-29 minutes many nights, and as newly-appointed captain, he's arguably the most valuable player to his team this year.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Yeah, I'm not sure MacKinnon is #2 for me right now...

 

[Offtheboard412]

this year is better but 2009-10 was fun to watch: crosby's emergence as a top goal-scorer, near-peak ovechkin at the head of by far the best offensive team of the era, peak sedins. it came right down to the wire too, iirc sedin, crosby and stamkos all had big finishes and jumped ovechkin who was leading in goals and points most of the year but kept getting suspended. not historic like this year though.

I've always been disappointed by Ovechkin's suspension that season. Hitting 120+ during that era would have been extremely impressive. I'm betting adjusted to 23/24 averages that season would come out looking very impressive. In fact, we were kind of robbed of one of the best 3 year stretches of play from Ovechkin, Crosby and Malkin due to injuries and suspensions. Ovechkin 09/10, Crosby 10/11, and Malkin 11/12 all where shortened by injuries and suspensions with all 3 pacing for 120+ points in a very low scoring era.

 

[bobholly39]

This is a great Hart year for sure, and we're not even factoring in Quinn Hughes who deserves consideration for both the Hart and Norris. He is on pace for 95 points, plays 27-29 minutes many nights, and as newly-appointed captain, he's arguably the most valuable player to his team this year.

I know - Hughes has been outstanding. And more than any of the other 4 - he's taking a team no one expected to do good to top of standings since day 1 - very "hart-worthy" stuff. But he'll still be completely overlooked in the hart voting, and rightfully so, because of how great the other 4 are doing. He likely finishes 5th.

I think the most apt comparable season I can think of might actually be 1992-1993. Lots of very historic seasons - from the 76 goals of Selanne & Mogilny, to insane seasons by Lafontaine and Gilmour....just a great overall year that made the race to the hart trophy fascinating. Until of course Lemieux decided to return in-season, and cap off his year by a 53 points/29 goals in 17 games run. I suppose with more than 17 games to go in 2023-2024, it's still possible for someone (McDavid?) to distance the other 3 by season's end, though i doubt that happens.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

09-10 was pretty good. Malkin breaking out. Ovechkin arguably more dominant than 08-09 but then he missed 10 games (still scored 50+). Crosby was still rising. Sedins were hitting their top stride.

If OV had played all 82, his case for a back-to-back win might have been solid.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i think you guys all can guess i don’t think there’s been a more valuable player than quinn hughes this year despite all the gaudy statistical thresholds

years i thought a dman should have won the hart:

1995 coffey
2003 macinnis
this year

if he heats back up down the stretch and hits 100, while climbing back to the top of the +/- race (i don’t think anybody this season has spent close to as much time as he has leading the league), i actually think the voters could get on board too.

 

[WingsFan95]

It would be up there, throw in a goaltender that's having a top year though.

It's funny to look at Hasek's pretty big wins in 97-98 but there were other contenders and in 1998 specifically you had Brodeur, Selanne, Jagr all net above 20%. Previous season you replace Jagr with Lemieux and add Kariya and LeClair.

But yeah this season is something else, Connor Hellebuyck is also having a top end season is he not?

 

[Calderon]

I've always been disappointed by Ovechkin's suspension that season. Hitting 120+ during that era would have been extremely impressive. I'm betting adjusted to 23/24 averages that season would come out looking very impressive. In fact, we were kind of robbed of one of the best 3 year stretches of play from Ovechkin, Crosby and Malkin due to injuries and suspensions. Ovechkin 09/10, Crosby 10/11, and Malkin 11/12 all where shortened by injuries and suspensions with all 3 pacing for 120+ points in a very low scoring era.

It was disappointing for me, too, but I don't think having Ovy win AR+Hart changes all that much really. An additional and third consecutive Hart does elevate him into a slightly more exclusive club but for me getting another 60+ goal season would've been more special as I consider Ovi's goal scoring peak a little lacking for a GOAT level goal scorer. Highly doubtful he'd've gotten extra ten goals in ten games, though. But otherwise it was arguably his best season.

 

[ChiTownPhilly]

It is said that authors enjoy quoting themselves. Well- wannabe authors enjoy quoting themselves, too- so I present to you the MVP-ish race of 1979-1980, where Gretzky won the Hart and Marcel Dionne took the Pearson.

Probably the most interesting set of data I'd uncovered concerning Dionne had to do with his 1979-80 campaign. In it, he appeared to fade in the second half- possibly resulting in the loss of the Hart Trophy to Gretzky. However, upon closer inspection, his loss of productivity could be more easily explained by injury loss to his Triple Crown linemates Simmer and (especially) Taylor [and not infrequently, both]. His scoring suffered while having to deal with stand-ins like Glenn Goldup and shit.

 

[Crosby2010]

I think it is a three horse race between Kucherov, MacKinnon and McDavid. Scoring race is like that too. I have no idea why they lump Matthews with the other three. 70 goals is sexy, but he isn't even outpointing Nylander on his own team this year, and if you watched the games this year I am not sure I even think Matthews has been the most valuable on the team. Quite frankly I think it has been Nylander. But either way this is a historically memorable Hart race that we haven't seen in a while.

I am trying to think of the last true three-horse race for one. 2010 maybe with Sedin, Ovechkin and Crosby comes to mind. All three of them had a strong case for the Hart, all three got a lot of 1st place votes too and they were clearly ahead of anyone else. Maybe 2007 with Crosby, Brodeur and Luongo. Although Crosby was generally considered the guy who was going to win.

Honestly, there are not a lot of three horse races. Other than 2007 I think you have to go back to 1961 to find another close one

 

[Michael Farkas]

I think not having Quinn Hughes on your shortlist is an error.

 

[The Panther]

Quinn Hughes is still the Norris frontrunner (I guess...?), but a Hart for defencemen is really tough. Also, with the Canucks currently on a 1-5-1 tough patch and Hughes going -7 in this stretch, it gets tougher. If the Canucks pull out of it right away, he maybe has an outside chance, but it's hard.

The most recent defence Hart winner was almost a quarter-century ago, and that guy played on the 1st overall club in a season when nobody in the entire League made it to 97 points.

 

[Michael Farkas]

I'm not saying win. I'm just saying shortlist.

Josi 6th in '22
Josi 7th in '20
Burns 4th in '17
Lidstrom 4th in '08
Lidstrom 6th in '07
Lidstrom 7th in '06

It's tough, but guys can get up there...

Also, screw some of these voters. Let me frame it another way...Quinn Hughes should be on the shortlist right now. If these sleepy bumpkins deprive themselves of Quinn Hughes because - for some reason - they have to get up before 11 am as a hockey writer, then fine...

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I think it is a three horse race between Kucherov, MacKinnon and McDavid. Scoring race is like that too. I have no idea why they lump Matthews with the other three. 70 goals is sexy, but he isn't even outpointing Nylander on his own team this year, and if you watched the games this year I am not sure I even think Matthews has been the most valuable on the team. Quite frankly I think it has been Nylander. But either way this is a historically memorable Hart race that we haven't seen in a while.

I am trying to think of the last true three-horse race for one. 2010 maybe with Sedin, Ovechkin and Crosby comes to mind. All three of them had a strong case for the Hart, all three got a lot of 1st place votes too and they were clearly ahead of anyone else. Maybe 2007 with Crosby, Brodeur and Luongo. Although Crosby was generally considered the guy who was going to win.

Honestly, there are not a lot of three horse races. Other than 2007 I think you have to go back to 1961 to find another close one

in 2000 i could have gone any of three ways on pronger, jagr, and bure

i think the last time there were four guys who legit could have won was 1995: lindros, jagr, hasek, and my pick, coffey

coffey that year reminds me of hughes this year: he was just the engine that the number one team in the league moved through, and backed it up by leading the team in +/- and all dmen in even strength pts, as well as killing it as the PP QB and running away with the dmen scoring race

 

[seventieslord]

I'm not saying win. I'm just saying shortlist.

Josi 6th in '22
Josi 7th in '20
Burns 4th in '17
Lidstrom 4th in '08
Lidstrom 6th in '07
Lidstrom 7th in '06

It's tough, but guys can get up there...

Also, screw some of these voters. Let me frame it another way...Quinn Hughes should be on the shortlist right now. If these sleepy bumpkins deprive themselves of Quinn Hughes because - for some reason - they have to get up before 11 am as a hockey writer, then fine...

I don't think it's even that. I think it's as simple as, he's a defensemen, and defensemen don't collect as many points as forwards.

If he could get 120 points, sure, he could be a finalist. But he can't.

 

[Michael Farkas]

I guess you're right. If Karlsson leading the NHL in assists didn't warrant a look, not much will...