Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid is this year’s recipient of the Hart Memorial Trophy awarded “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team,” at the 2022-23 NHL Awards in Nashville, TN.
It’s no surprise to anyone that McDavid was named the winner of the award after finishing yet another milestone year with 64 goals and 153 points in 82 games, scoring an additional eight goals and 20 points during the Oilers’ 12-game playoff run this season. McDavid’s 2022-23 season marks the highest-scoring season since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96.
He joined a legendary lineup of NHL players alongside Bernie Nicholl, Phil Esposito, Steve Yzerman, Lemieux, and Wayne Gretzky as the sixth player to score 150 points in a single NHL season.
McDavid has been nominated for the award four times in the past, but this year’s win marks the third time in his career he’s taken home the notorious award. He captured it for the first time in 2016-17 after hitting the 100-point mark in just his second season in the NHL, and he won again in 2020-21 after leading the league in even strength points at 68 and power play points at 37.
On Monday, the Edmonton Oilers superstar reclaimed his title as the league’s most valuable player, beating out David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins and Matthew Tkachuk from the Florida Panthers.
Pastrnak was the runner-up to McDavid in terms of goals scored this past season at 61 and finished third in points at 113. The Boston forward became the second player in almost 50 years in Bruins franchise history to have 60 goals since Esposito in 1974-75. Leading the Bruins with 20.3 percent of the team’s 301 goals and heavily relying on his goal-scoring abilities, Pastrnak would finish amongst the top performers in game-winning goals.
Tkachuk became the third Panthers player to be selected as a Hart finalist after posting a 40-goal year and 109 points, with the Panthers’ second-point leader Aleksander Barkov 31 points behind. Tkachuk’s 2022-23 season was his first in Florida after a shockwave trade from the Calgary Flames last July. The forward would contribute to Florida’s success, leading them to their fourth straight playoff berth, the first time in franchise history, and their first Stanley Cup Final. Tkachuk is the fourth player in history to have consecutive 100-point campaigns after relocating teams during the offseason.
Aleena Aksenchuk is an intern with Oilersnation and the Nation Network. She can be found on Twitter at @A_Aksenchuk8.
