McDavid named Hart finalist

In a season that saw the second year phenom Connor McDavid win the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s highest scoring player, he has now been named a finalist for the Hart Trophy.

Alongside him, Sidney Crosby and Sergei Bobrovsky were named the other two finalists.

Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association submitted their ballots at the conclusion of the regular season. The top three vote-getters are designated as finalists.

The award has been around since 1924, when Dr. David A. Hart, father of former manager-coach of the Montreal Canadiens donated the award to the league.

McDavid finished the season with 100 points, scoring 30 goals and adding 70 assists. Connor captained the Oilers to the team’s first playoff birth since 2005-2006 to go along with their 103 standings points, the most in 30 years.

Closing the regular season with 25 points in 14 games helped put a stamp on his mark on this NHL season. His 30 multi-point performances were the most in the league this year, and registered points in 59 of 82 games this season.

Sidney Crosby was named as one of the other finalists. He helped the Penguins reach their best regular-season record since 1992-1993. Crosby scored 44 goals which gave him his second career Rocket Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal scorer.

Crosby was second in the league in scoring to McDavid scoring 89 points in 75 games. This is Crosby’s sixth-Hart nomination over his career and has won the award twice previously in 2006-2007 and 2013-2014.

Sergei Bobrovsky led the NHL with a 2.06 goals against average and a .931 save percentage taking the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 50-24-8 record. Bobrovsky ranked in the top-five in wins, shutouts, saves and starts.

He also led the team to 14 and 16 game win streaks. Bobrovsky is also a finalist for the Vezina Trophy.

The winner will be announced on Wednesday. June 21 during the 2017 NHL Awards at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.