The almost 3/4 of the season Hart talk.

[snag]

Panarin should win it but he won't because it's somehow his fault the Rangers will miss the playoffs. The PHWA is really stupid.

Sorry...as an Oiler fan my give-a-damn no longer works for such grievances.

 

[Web In Front]

Draisaitl has provided the most value to his team from an offensive standpoint. He has also been terrible defensively. When there are other players like Panarin and MacKinnon who A) haven't been far off Draisaitl's offensive pace B) have done so despite not having the luxury of skating with anyone even close to McDavid-caliber and C) have been about average defensively instead of downright awful, I don't see any reason Draisaitl should be ranked any higher than 3rd in Hart voting. Honestly if Kucherov continues on his torrid pace I would have Draisaitl 4th.

 

[Three On Zero]

Mackinnon

 

[Mez]

Draisaitl has provided the most value to his team from an offensive standpoint. He has also been terrible defensively. When there are other players like Panarin and MacKinnon who A) haven't been far off Draisaitl's offensive pace B) have done so despite not having the luxury of skating with anyone even close to McDavid-caliber and C) have been about average defensively instead of downright awful, I don't see any reason Draisaitl should be ranked any higher than 3rd in Hart voting. Honestly if Kucherov continues on his torrid pace I would have Draisaitl 4th.

Panarin: wont make the playoffs...disqualified. If they make the playoffs then he deserves the win.
Kucherov: 1.26 ppg on a stacked team? not even top 5. unless he goes 3 or 4 ppg the rest of the season.

Its between Mac and Drai (if Oil make the playoffs)

 

[22FUTON9]

I just feel like Draisaitl is gonna win. That alone doesn’t bug me at all but if that happens the fact that Mackinnon lost the hart to Hall bugs the crap out of me.
That’s the prime example of having a double standard.

 

[daver]

I just feel like Draisaitl is gonna win. That alone doesn’t bug me at all but if that happens the fact that Mackinnon lost the hart to Hall bugs the crap out of me.
That’s the prime example of having a double standard.

Why?

First and foremost, Hall and Mac were much closer in points than Drai and Mac are projected to be.

2nd, Hall had less support than Mac in terms of linemates/teammates, something that can be argued is a wash with Mac and Drai as the Avs are a much better offensive team than the Oilers but Drai has the better linemate/teammate in McDavid.

 

[Bank Shot]

I just feel like Draisaitl is gonna win. That alone doesn’t bug me at all but if that happens the fact that Mackinnon lost the hart to Hall bugs the crap out of me.
That’s the prime example of having a double standard.

Why would you expect the NHL writers association that voted Ovechkin on both the first and second all star teams to make sound and logical decisions?

 

[Video Nasty]

I just feel like Draisaitl is gonna win. That alone doesn’t bug me at all but if that happens the fact that Mackinnon lost the hart to Hall bugs the crap out of me.
That’s the prime example of having a double standard.

I honestly don’t even get the comparison.

And this MacKinnon was robbed campaign that is now leaking into future seasons where people feel like he is owed one is tiresome.

Firstly, the voting was very close. Their final raw numbers were also close.

Hall led what is probably a worse overall team to a better overall record. His closest teammate was 41 points behind him and was a rookie.

Did we already forget Hall had a very lengthy point streak of 26 games that started January 2, 2018 and didn’t end until March 8, 2018?

MacKinnon missed his 8 games from the end of January through mid February during this point. Hall’s 6 games missed were a game or two peppered through the season and less noticeable.

And like it or not, the teams and both players performed very differently down the stretch. The Avs finished cold and the Devils were red hot. Hall was great, MacKinnon was not.

Devils finished 7-0-1 with Hall getting 7 goals and 8 assist for 15 points in those 8 games.

MacKinnon had 1 goal in his final 10 games. They went 4-5-1.

You can dig deeper into the stats and the narrative even deeper if you want.

The Avs has their 10 game winning streak that got them to 27-16-3. MacKinnon had 59 points.

They finished 16-14-6 over the final 36 games of the season. MacKinnon had 38 points (while missing 8 consecutive games). They treaded water without him (4-4 record).

Hall put up 57 points over his final 40 games played. The Avs and MacKinnon just had a very blah feeling about them once 2018 started that season and it continued through to the end of the season.

MacKinnon isn’t owed jack and nor should it be a factor that is sitting in the back of voters minds this year.

If Drai wins the Art Ross and leads a team as bad these Oilers to the playoffs, a place the franchise has been just once in 14 seasons, with McDavid missing about 8-10 games, that is about as definitive a winner as you can get. MacKinnon can be a finalist but he’ll hardly be robbed again, seeing as how he was never really robbed once to begin with.