Sorry, that wasn't clear. I was referring to the 1990 Hart trophy. The two favourites were Edmonton's Mark Messier, and Boston's Ray Bourque. Here's an
article from the Edmonton Journal in May 1990 describing Bourque as "no worse than 50-50 to win the Hart".
Messier's win is controversial because he was named on all 63 ballots, but Bourque was only named on 57. They had the same number of first place votes (29 each), and Bourque actually had more second place votes (26-24). Messier took the Hart because he had more third place votes (10-2).
The rumour is three Edmonton voters intentionally left Bourque off their Hart ballot, in order to ensure that Messier won. There's no direct evidence of this (the ballots weren't public back then). But the argument goes that Bourque's season was so strong, there's no way to justify excluding him from the top three. His 1990 season wasn't just a normal Norris win - he became only the second defenseman in NHL history (after Bobby Orr) to win the award unanimously.
I want to be clear - there's no direct evidence that this was a conspiracy by Edmonton writers to keep Bourque off their ballots. But it's been a persistent rumour for 30+ years now. (I was contrasting this with 1989. The voters probably made the wrong decision, but I've never heard any allegations of there being vote manipulation).