But he ended up 24 back of Espo with 13 less games played. He'd have to increase his PPG in those missed games in order to beat Espo for the Art.
That said, I really don't know how Orr doesn't win the thing, even if Ratelle plays a full year and outpoints him. As I said earlier, how does Orr only win one Pearson in his career?
1970
MVP Orr missed out in 70 since there was no Pearson.
1971
Hart: Orr
Pearson: Espo
In 1971, Espo had 76 goals and 152 points, so he had records going for him, even if writers liked Orr a little better (155-127 according to
http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=145895&page=5) This was a reasonable difference of opinion between players and writers.
1972
Hart: Orr
Pearson: Ratelle
In 1972, I would have voted for Orr over Ratelle, but the players went for Ratelle who finished 4th in the Hart voting.
1973
Both: Bobby Clarke
Assuming every Hart vote for Espo and Orr was combined, they would only edge out Clarke 159-158, which isn't enough to think vote splitting cost a Bruin the Hart. So I would think that both writers and the PA were impressed by Clarke that year.
1974
Both: Espo
Espo wins both awards, and the Hart by a clear, though not dominating margin. Orr finishes 3rd for the Hart, behind Espo and Bernie Parent.
1975
Hart: Bobby Clarke
Pearson: Bobby Orr
Orr finished 3rd in the Hart race, behind Clarke and Rogie Vachon. This was a Hart-Pearson split that makes sense, going by Hart = most valuable and Pearson = most outstanding.
It's perfectly reasonable for Orr to lose out in 1970, since there was no award.
Most of the other losses were reasonable as the winning player was also the Hart winner or in one case, a close runner up.
Orr did win in 1975, in a sensible Hart-Pearson split.
So basically, Orr could have won in 1972, but didn't, so he has 1 award instead of 2. He still has 3 Harts, and those count more.