Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid was voted only the second unanimous Hart Trophy winner in league history. The only other was a fellow Oiler...Wayne Gretzky in 1982.
This marks back-to-back seasons where an Oiler has won the award, with McDavid’s linemate Leon Draisaitl winning the award in 2020.
McDavid, 24, put up an astonishing 107 points in the 56-game Covid-shortened 2020-21 season. His 33 goals were second to Toronto’s Auston Matthews (41), but his 72 assists were 19 clear of Draisaitl for tops in the league. Of those 33 goals, 11 were game-winners.
There was a period of about four or five weeks where something McDavid did ended up on Sportsnet’s weekly “Steve’s Hat Picks” YouTube segment, hosted by Steve “Dangle” Glynn. Hell, getting to the century mark was its own Hat Pick, and the play was certainly not eye-opening or jaw-dropping.
McDavid earned all 100 first-place votes, with Matthews garnering 69 second-place votes. This marks the first time in his young, yet spectacular career that McDavid has earned the league’s top individual regular season honor. I say that as the highest individual honor a player can receive during a season is hoisting the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
McDavid has only been out of the first round once (2017) in three trips to the playoffs, which includes flat-out collapsing in back-to-back years. The Oilers lost three games to one in the bubble last year to the 12th-seeded Chicago Blackhawks, playing in their own building nonetheless. Then a few weeks ago they were swept by the Winnipeg Jets in the first round. McDavid was actually seen laughing on his own bench after the Jets scored midway through the third period of Game Four to tie the game at three.
The Jets then proceeded to get swept by Montreal in the next round.
For all the first-round talent Edmonton boasts, you would think they should be on their second or third trip to the Finals since McDavid’s arrival in 2015. Jesse Puljujarvi bounced between the AHL, the Oilers and playing in Finland since being taken fourth overall in 2016. Philip Broberg and Evan Bouchard have not matured enough to play full seasons at the NHL level, although Bouchard did play 14 games this past season.
Ahead of next season, the Oilers are projected to be $17.425 million under the salary cap, peaked by “McDraisaitl" (McDavid $12.5M and Draisaitl $8.5M). Yet, both Oiler goaltenders are over 33 years old (Alex Stalock 33 and Mikko Koskinen 34). Perhaps it might be time to shore up some of the talent responsible for stopping pucks, rather than guys who do nothing but score it seems.
The sheer fact is what McDavid did this year is nothing short of astounding. Had the league played a full 82-game slate, McDavid would have scored 153 points. The last time the league played a full season in 2018-19, Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov led the league with 128 points.
Kucherov is going for his second-straight Stanley Cup with the Lightning as we speak. Let that sink in for a minute. The Stanley Cup could possibly be presented on Canadian soil in back-to-back years, but one of their seven franchises will not be the ones lifting it.
At least consecutive Hart Trophies can make Edmonton brass forget that when Gretzky won them five Cups, it was because they were smart enough to build a team around him...not make him do it all himself.
-JC24