The Athletic - NHL awards watch: Leon Draisaitl leads a fascinating MVP field

[McFlash97]

Draisaitl is making a mockery out of the MVP race right now. His career 2.5 ppg without McDavid if you simply exclude his rookie season is cartoonish. Is McDavid actually holding him back?

 

[Perfect_Drug]

I think Kooch has an unlikability factor greater than his adversaries. Not saying it should matter but it probably does.

I'm an Oiler fan and I freakin love Kuch.

I just think there was a mysticism about having a Vezina, a Rocket, and a Norris winner on his team that downplayed a lot of his past accomplishments.

Clearly the team is currently being completely driven by Kuch at this point. But narratives are hard to change.

 

[McFlyingV]

Mackinnon's odd could get better

If he wins the ross with no elite forward teammates now that Rantanen is gone it could help his case

Draisaitl is still the leader but losing Rantanen and if he continues to produce as he has will help Mack's narrative more than if he won a ross by a bit with rantanen as his linemate

Won't make a difference if he narrowly edges Drai in the Art Ross. His 2-way game has been significantly better than Mack's and he's on pace to score 28 more goals than him. This would be very similar to when Matthews won his Hart/Lindsay despite a lower point total and points per game than McDavid, but a significant goal advantage (Matthews goal advantage was much smaller even when looking at pace).

If we dive even deeper we have 2 empty net points for Draisaitl vs. 8 for Mackinnon. Right now the race isn't even close.

 

[NVious]

I got Hutson slightly ahead of him but he can still make his case I suppose.

 

[McFlyingV]

Need a performance for the ages for a Dman or Goalie to win the Hart. None of the D or goalies in the league are doing that this year.

 

[Video Nasty]

Won't make a difference if he narrowly edges Drai in the Art Ross. His 2-way game has been significantly better than Mack's and he's on pace to score 28 more goals than him. This would be very similar to when Matthews won his Hart/Lindsay despite a lower point total and points per game than McDavid, but a significant goal advantage (Matthews goal advantage was much smaller even when looking at pace).

If we dive even deeper we have 2 empty net points for Draisaitl vs. 8 for Mackinnon. Right now the race isn't even close.

One problem I see is that I don’t have much faith in the hockey world recognizing Draisaitl’s two-way game this season. I’m not convinced they even know, because I doubt most writers do more than watch some highlights or check the box scores of Edmonton games. This is of course also fueled by how the Selke is the most reputation based award there is (imo) and just makes me wonder about the limited mindset of voters in general.

I’m also not convinced the writers are done righting a perceived wrong. If MacKinnon wins the Art Ross, I think they would be very comfortable handing him a second Hart to pair with it, to make sure his legacy is secure.

It’s also unclear to me how people would feel if Draisaitl swept the awards and had as many Harts and Lindsays as Kucherov and MacKinnon combined, and 2 Art Rosses to MacKinnon’s 0, an equal amount to Kucherov, and a Rocket over each of them.

And believe it or not, I also feel there are a few really insecure McDavid voters who think that Draisaitl owning 2 of each trophy hurts him in any way.

Unless McDavid goes bananas after returning from suspension and storms back to nab the Art Ross and add #6, I really hope Drai cements his own place in history over the coming months.

 

[Regal]

One problem I see is that I don’t have much faith in the hockey world recognizing Draisaitl’s two-way game this season. I’m not convinced they even know, because I doubt most writers do more than watch some highlights or check the box scores of Edmonton games. This is of course also fueled by how the Selke is the most reputation based award there is (imo) and just makes me wonder about the limited mindset of voters in general.

I’m also not convinced the writers are done righting a perceived wrong. If MacKinnon wins the Art Ross, I think they would be very comfortable handing him a second Hart to pair with it, to make sure his legacy is secure.

It’s also unclear to me how people would feel if Draisaitl swept the awards and had as many Harts and Lindsays as Kucherov and MacKinnon combined, and 2 Art Rosses to MacKinnon’s 0, an equal amount to Kucherov, and a Rocket over each of them.

And believe it or not, I also feel there are a few really insecure McDavid voters who think that Draisaitl owning 2 of each trophy hurts him in any way.

Unless McDavid goes bananas after returning from suspension and storms back to nab the Art Ross and add #6, I really hope Drai cements his own place in history over the coming months.

I don’t think the writers are too worried about MacKinnon getting his due now that he has the Hart and the Lindsay. I think it’s more overcoming the early season narrative since MacKinnon has been near the top of the league for quite awhile, while, so Draisaitl needs to make the conversation swing in his direction. I think it’s starting to happen though. More and more voters are focused on underlying numbers as well, so I think the respect for his overall play this year won’t necessarily need to be as reputation based.

 

[benfranklin]

"Hughes shouldn't be the MVP just because his teammates are not providing him any support and he's doing it all himself. Also, Kaprisov and Eichel should be because they don't have enough support to fall back on."

There is a difference between doing it himself like Kaprisov and Eichel and their teams being high up in the standings. The Canucks simply suck and are a poorly constructed team. You dont get props for being the being a one dimensional defenseman putting up points while the rest of your team is dogshit.

 

[Toby91ca]

There is a difference between doing it himself like Kaprisov and Eichel and their teams being high up in the standings. The Canucks simply suck and are a poorly constructed team. You dont get props for being the being a one dimensional defenseman putting up points while the rest of your team is dogshit.

Yeah....I haven't checked facts on this to see if there are any exceptions, but you are basically eliminated from Hart Trophy contention if your team misses the playoffs.

1993/94, Gretzky won the scoring title by 10pts (130pts)....I still would have picked Fedorov that year, unbelievable year by him, but Gretzky didn't even get 1 Hart vote that year....not even a 3rd place vote....Larionov with 18 goals and 56pts somehow got a vote though.

 

[Dingo]

I'm an Oiler fan and I freakin love Kuch.

I just think there was a mysticism about having a Vezina, a Rocket, and a Norris winner on his team that downplayed a lot of his past accomplishments.

Clearly the team is currently being completely driven by Kuch at this point. But narratives are hard to change.

That is a really good theory.

 

[Video Nasty]

There is a difference between doing it himself like Kaprisov and Eichel and their teams being high up in the standings. The Canucks simply suck and are a poorly constructed team. You dont get props for being the being a one dimensional defenseman putting up points while the rest of your team is dogshit.

Neither of those players are doing it by themselves. Minnesota just withstood Kaprizov being out for 12 games by going 7-5 and scoring 3 GPG, which is actually a higher GPG than when he has played (2.83 GPG). They might have gone 10-2 when he was out if their goaltenders didn’t let up 5-6 goals in three of those games. They got shut out in Kaprizov’s big return. What he has done by himself is miss close to 30% of his team’s schedule up to this point.

Meanwhile in Vegas, you’re getting excited because Eichel is finally going to score more than 82 points in a season. Doing it himself? His team is fourth in goals scored with 166 and Eichel is fifth on the team with 14. They already have almost 13 players with 20 points before the team has played their 50th game. Surprise surprise, Vegas has been one of the deepest squads in the NHL for years.

Doesn’t mean they’re not having fantastic seasons, but this myth that they’re on no man’s land needs to go.