In the perfect world he should be a front runner with Kuch for the Hart. “The Hart Memorial Trophy, originally known as the Hart Trophy, is an annual award for the most valuable player to his team in the National Hockey League (NHL)”. It’s not for the best player in the league.
So Oilers is still a playoff team without McDavid, they have Draisaitl.
Colorado is still a playoff team without MacKinnon (Makar, Rantanen).
Toronto is still a playoff team without Matthews (Marner, Nylander, Tavares).
And then we have Kuch with 142 pts, 53 more than next teammate and TB would miss this year playoffs without him.
And Panarin 120 pts, 43 more than next teammate on President Trophy winning team.
So Hart ranking in the perfect world should be
1-2 Kuch&Panarin
3 MacKinnon
4 McDavid
5 Matthews