Your non-Hart winner player who would not look out of place winning one

[Plural]

Hart trophy is widely considered as the most prestigious personal award in NHL. Since only one is awarded per year, a lot of great players never get the recognition, be it due to overlapping with a generational talent, having bad luck with injuries or simply just being underappreciated for whatever reason.

Who is your pick(s) for players who by talent could be Hart winners and not be out of place at all? I don't mean a specific season, but a talent good enough to be a Hart winner but never won one or likely will not win one.

Here's my two picks:

Alexander Barkov, overall one of the most talented active players. Seems to always have his point totals low enough to not gather real attention for the trophy. But talent alone, I could see him being 1-time MVP of a season.

Mike Bossy, short career but at his heights (which was almost his entire career) he was as good as Matthews in scoring and also had defensive awareness in his game. Winger to center comparison might not be the best. But if Matthews won a Hart I don't see how Bossy is not worthy for one. 1-2 time MVP

Share yours.

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[Drake1588]

A bucketful of Gretzky contemporaries were shut out because he won 9 Harts in 10 years from 1980-1989. Stastny, Kurri, Hawerchuk, Dionne, Savard, Anderson, Federko, Francis, Goulet, Coffey, Bourque, Nicholls, Propp, Gartner, Bobby Smith. They were all great at various points and could have been good picks in any other era.

But Gretzky, man... he swallowed up all the oxygen in the room. That dude scored 1842 points in the 1980s alone (1980-1989). Talk about a heater.

 

[Nemesis Prime]

Yzerman

 

[Plural]

Yzerman

Jesus, I never remember he didn't win one. I remember he won the Lindsay award during his 155 point season but no Hart. Wasn't it the year Lemieux scored 199 and he didn't win the Hart either because of Gretzky doing 164 in LA?

 

[Iggys Dome]

Jarome “the chrome dome” Iginla.

He would’ve won one if wasn’t for some French Canadian Journalist leaving him off of his ballot in 2002. If he had one more 5th place vote, he would have won over Jose Theodore.

That led to a change in rules, now the PWHA publishes all voters ballots in Hart Trophy voting.

In my mind, Iggy has a Hart Trophy. And a Conn Smythe, but that’s another topic entirely.

 

[HTFN]

My itchy trigger finger said Kopitar, who might not fully fit the bill for the era he played but has MVP DNA all over him and has done it for virtually his entire career.

 

[Zuluss]

It is a shame Datsyuk never won a Hart.
An even bigger omission is Patrick Roy.
Lidstrom would look good on the list of winners, even though he never had that one huge year.
My dream was always to see Bure win a Hart or a Smythe.

And then I agree with many names above: Iginla, Bossy, Bourque, Yzerman.

 

[Chuck Norris Trophy]

I'm not that good remembering who has won what invidual trophy/trophies, damn, after all these names mentioned all I can think about is "what, these guys never won the Hart?"

 

[Felidae]

I just assumed this was about current players.

But if we're mentioning past players I'll go with Marcel Dionne. Won 2 pearsons and an Art Ross, also finished 2nd in scoring 3 times. Lost one to Gretzky, and the other 2 to Trottier and Lafleur, both of whom played on far stronger teams.

Was a hart trophy finalist 3 times, but never won. Fun fact, he's the only multi Lester B Pearson/Ted Lindsay winner to never win the Hart Trophy.

 

[DitchMarner]

Maybe Ray Bourque, though the award doesn't often go to defensemen.

Peak Gilmour would have had a shot in many years other than '93. Guys like Hawerchuk and Yzerman would have won the Hart if not for Gretzky and/or Lemieux. 60 goal Stamkos might have won in a different year than 2012.

 

[Ralph Malfredsson]

Denis Potvin
Paul Kariya
Erik Karlsson
Teemu Selanne
Ilya Kovalchuk
Pat LaFontaine
Daniel Alfredsson

 

[Johnny Tomala]

Yzerman.

 

[26Mats]

Yzerman

first player that came to my mind.

Barkov is another good one.

Patrick Roy

Ray Bourque

Matthew Tkachuk

Kaprizov

Eichel

Jack Hughes

Cale Makar

 

[Fatass]

Nic Lidstrom. Imo he’s a top 10 player all time. Detroit was a great club, but he was the foundation for their winning. Subtle greatness.

 

[StumpyTown]

 

[SillyRabbit]

Bourque lost the closest Hart trophy vote in NHL history at the time, losing by two points to Messier (225 to 227).

The kicker? Bourque had more first and second place votes than Messier.

But he was completely left off six ballots.

With defencemen so often getting shafted for the Hart, this one really sticks out as a time where a defenceman could've/should've won, but was robbed.

Edit: Found this write up in the HF Archive:

Mark Messier claimed the 1990 Hart Trophy thanks to 10 western hockey writers banding together and leaving Ray Bourque off their ballots. Had just three of those pitiful protesters tossed Bourque a third-place vote, the Boston Bruins would have two Hart-winning defensemen. - See more at: http://www.lcshockey.com/content/062315hart.asp#sthash.9SkOZ4V9.dpuf

 

[BKarchitect]

Treading ground others have mentioned but I feel like Kopitar and Barkov are the clear candidates among the current/recent superstar forwards and it’s no coincidence they are cut from a similar cloth and both have rings.

I feel like otherwise among the current or recent guys…pretty much everybody serving has one. It’s so hard for a winger to win and as great as Pasta, Breadman, Rantanen, Reinhart, Stone, etc have been - they don’t reach the threshold that Kucherov does. Maybe Kaprizov gets there.

 

[Regal]

Only two defensemen have won the Hart, so while Bourque, Harvey, Lidstrom, Kelly and Potvin all wouldn’t seem odd, I do think they’d stand out a bit, as Pronger does. I’d say Yzerman, Bossy and Dionne are the three that stand out the opposite way to me, where it’s almost weird that they didn’t win one in comparison to their historical contemporaries. Roy I guess as well, but goalies are more hit and miss than forwards.

I don’t know if any of the current crop really stand out now that MacKinnon has won. Despite how good they are I think Kopitar and Barkov are the types where the odds of them winning even in a great year are on the low side.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Kaprizov.... For about another 5 months

 

[MS]

Hart trophy is widely considered as the most prestigious personal award in NHL. Since only one is awarded per year, a lot of great players never get the recognition, be it due to overlapping with a generational talent, having bad luck with injuries or simply just being underappreciated for whatever reason.

Who is your pick(s) for players who by talent could be Hart winners and not be out of place at all? I don't mean a specific season, but a talent good enough to be a Hart winner but never won one or likely will not win one.

Here's my two picks:

Alexander Barkov, overall one of the most talented active players. Seems to always have his point totals low enough to not gather real attention for the trophy. But talent alone, I could see him being 1-time MVP of a season.

Mike Bossy, short career but at his heights (which was almost his entire career) he was as good as Matthews in scoring and also had defensive awareness in his game. Winger to center comparison might not be the best. But if Matthews won a Hart I don't see how Bossy is not worthy for one. 1-2 time MVP

Share yours.

Denis Potvin was the best player on the early 1980s Islanders and is the biggest oversight in Hart voting from those teams.

 

[the valiant effort]

I don’t respect the expertise or opinion of a single member of the PWHA, but I’ll be damned if I don’t judge every player by how many trophies the PWHA has bestowed upon them

 

[JKG33]

View attachment 941538

The irony of using a playoff photo LMFAO

 

[Guadana]

Yzerman, Roy, Brodeur.
Shestyorkin, Barkov, Kopitar.

 

[geebster]

Obviously a ton of goalies and defense (who almost never get them). If Quinn Hughes keeps up his play he should get some votes and could win one down the line.

Right now Barkov sticks out (other than goalies and D).

 

[Pablo El Perro]

Denis Potvin was the best player on the early 1980s Islanders and is the biggest oversight in Hart voting from those teams.

Yeah, Potvin doesn't get enough respect for that dynasty