After getting snubbed for one award, one of the top players on the Edmonton Oilers is in the running for another.
On Thursday, the NHL announced the three finalists for the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player. Among the trio is Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl.
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov and Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck are the other candidates.
The announcement comes one day after the league revealed the three players up for the Ted Lindsay Award, the MVP as voted on by members of the NHLPA, which Draisaitl is not a finalist for. Kucherov is the only one who is a finalist for both the TLA and the Hart.
Draisaitl has undoubtedly had an MVP-calibre season. While he might not have posted 128 points as he did during the 2022-23 campaign, the German star was efficient at putting the puck in the back of the net. In 71 games, which saw him miss time late in the year due to injuries, Drasaitl led the league with 52 goals, finishing the regular season as the only player to hit the half-century mark, winning the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy for the first time.
The 29-year-old also finished tied for third in the NHL in points with 106, marking the fourth consecutive season he has registered over 100 points. It was the sixth time in Draisaitl’s 10-plus seasons that he notched the century mark.
Draisaitl is looking to win the Hart Trophy for the second time in his career. He first earned the honour in 2019-20, when he also won the Ted Lindsay Award after posting 110 points.
If Draisaitl or Hellebuyck were to win the Hart, or Colorado Avalanche teammates Nathan MacKinnon or Cale Makar take home the Ted Lindsay, it would mark the first time since the 2017-18 season that one player didn’t take home both the TLA and Hart. That year, former Oiler Taylor Hall, then with the New Jersey Devils, was given the Hart, while Oilers captain Connor McDavid won the Ted Lindsay.

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