Why David Pastrnak should win the Hart Trophy this season

At season’s end, David Pastrnak’s chances at winning the Hart Trophy as league’s MVP should be high.

On Tuesday, the league announced that it would forego the remaining games of the regular season and in their return, would hold a 24-team playoff. As the regular season prematurely ends, the Boston Bruins secured their spot as the Presidents’ Trophy winner with the most wins in the entire league. There is no way they would have gotten there without David Pastrnak, who had his career-best season.

Out of all the players that will be included in the Hart Trophy conversation, Pastrnak could hold the league’s best case. Already the co-winner of the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winner as the NHL’s leading goal leader (alongside Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin), he already has one feather in the cap when it comes to the voting. The voting comes down to far more than goals. Thankfully, when comparing to the rest of the top scorers in the league, Pastrnak’s overall numbers and team success fair far better.

Why David Pastrnak has the best case to be the Hart Trophy winner

The top names expected to be in the conversation with Pastrnak this season will be the Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, New York Rangers’ Artemi Panarin, and Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon. Three of these names have more points on Pastrnak this season, giving them the edge there. But where Pastrnak rules over each player is playing for the league’s best team.

The Boston Bruins finished their season 44-14-12 with 100 points to secure the President’s Trophy. Only MacKinnon’s Avalanche is within 8 points of the Bruins record, with the rest finishing with far less. MacKinnon is also close to Pastrnak in plus/minus, as he currently sits at plus-13 while Pastrnak sits at plus-21, but Panarin trumps both with a second-best plus-36 in the NHL.

What will aid Pastrnak’s candidacy for the Hart Trophy is his team’s success and ability to come up for his team when they needed it most. As the league’s leading goal scorer, Pastrnak led the NHL in game-winning goals with 10. He also led the league with 20 power play goals, proving to be the most dangerous player on the league’s best power play.

Pastrnak’s best comparison in terms of MVP season is Taylor Hall during the 2017-18 season. While Hall did not lead the league in goals, he was amongst the best players in the league and delivered in similar ways. Of course, he didn’t have a Draisaitl in front of him that had 110 points. Pastrnak’s biggest threat is likely to be the Oilers’ center when it is all said and done.

If the playoffs come into the conversation, that could be what puts Pastrnak over the top as opposed to the others. Most expect the Bruins to make a deep playoff run and that could be on the back of a far better performance than he had last year, despite having the fourth-most points in the entire playoffs. A more complete performance and deep run for his team could even lock up the Hart Trophy for his incredible season.

There is still a lot of factors to be decided when it comes to the decision of the Hart Trophy, but most will agree that Pastrnak deserves the recognition and has a great opportunity to take the award home.

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