Nathan MacKinnon has been a Hart Trophy favorite for much of this season, and depending on where you look, he still is. But a Tampa Bay Lightning superstar deserves his second NHL MVP honors.
There isn't much time for these superstar players to make a bigger case for an NHL award like the Hart Trophy.
After all, the trophy goes "to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team," and it's those types of players who put the team in a position to succeed.
The members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association may already have their picks in mind, as each NHL team has between four and six games remaining in their regular-season schedules.
As we get closer to the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs, here are my top five Hart Trophy candidates, as of April 7.
5. David Pastrnak, RW, Boston Bruins
With some uncertainty going into this season as to what team the Boston Bruins would be, superstar David Pastrnak has stepped up this year and led his team from the front.
The Bruins right winger has scored 29 goals and a career-high 68 assists for 97 points this year. He's on track to record his fourth straight 100-point campaign, and he would do so for the first time without scoring 40 goals.
He's tied for fifth in NHL scoring and tied for fourth in assists. Also, Pastrnak leads his team in points, with a 34-point gap on runner-up Morgan Geekie.
With his scoring, and the help of Marco Sturm behind the bench, the Bruins have been a consistent playoff team throughout the year.
BetMGM Hart Trophy odds: N/A
4. Macklin Celebrini, C, San Jose Sharks
Macklin Celebrini still has a case to win the Hart Trophy.
Individually, he's been having an incredible sophomore season, reaching the century mark for the first time in his career.
The 19-year-old has 41 goals and 107 points, putting him fourth in the league in scoring.
What's most impressive about Celebrini's year is how he's been one of the league's best players without much help. The San Jose Sharks superstar has a 52-point lead on the team's next highest scorer, Will Smith.
However, he could be higher on this list if his team was having a little more success. San Jose is just outside the Western Conference's wild-card slots, but the team's not far out.
If Celebrini can guide his team just a little further and into the post-season, that should be enough to make him a finalist for the award.
BetMGM Hart Trophy odds: 11.00/+1000
3. Connor McDavid, C, Edmonton Oilers
Connor McDavid hasn't had Leon Draisaitl's services to help him and the Edmonton Oilers since March 15. That will be the case for the rest of the regular season.
When it was announced that Draisaitl wouldn't play until at least the start of the playoffs, there was a sense of panic in Oil Country because the Oilers were unconvincingly in third place in the Pacific Division, and they risked falling into a wild-card spot or out of a playoff spot overall.
Instead, they've picked up six wins in nine games without Draisaitl with McDavid leading his team with 12 points in that span. Now, the Oilers look to be the favorite to win the Pacific, and if it wasn't for McDavid, there's the hypothetical situation that Edmonton may not be a playoff team.
McDavid is tied for first in NHL scoring with 126 points, made up of 43 goals and 83 assists in 77 contests.
BetMGM Hart Trophy odds: 16.00/+1500
2. Nathan MacKinnon, C, Colorado Avalanche
This could be the biggest year of Nathan MacKinnon's career for his trophy case.
For starters, he's right there in the Hart Trophy battle. He's been one of, if not the league's top player for the entirety of this campaign, and the stats back it up.
MacKinnon currently leads the NHL in goals with 51 and could be on his way to win his first Rocket Richard Trophy as the league's top goal-scorer. He's also third in the league in scoring with 122 points, just four points off the leaders.
For MacKinnon, it's not out of the ordinary for him to close that gap in one evening, which could propel him to a real shot at getting the Art Ross Trophy, too.
Not only can he bag several individual awards this year, but the Colorado Avalanche are in a prime position to win the Presidents' Trophy and are favorites to win the Stanley Cup on BetMGM at 4.00 (+300) odds.
He's also the betting favorite to win the Hart. He was my No. 1 pick last month. The No. 2 pick then is now first.
BetMGM Hart Trophy odds: 1.95/-105
1. Nikita Kucherov, RW, Tampa Bay Lightning
It cannot be denied that the Tampa Bay Lightning superstar deserves Hart Trophy recognition again.
This marks the sixth season in which Nikita Kucherov has averaged 1.30 points per game or higher, and it's the fourth straight year he reached at least 110 points.
The Russian is tied for the league lead in points with the exact same stat line as McDavid, recording 43 goals and 83 assists for 126 points. However, Kucherov's production comes with six fewer games played at 71, and he has a 1.77 points-per-game average.
Kucherov's last Hart Trophy he earned was in 2018-19. For all the years that Kucherov has set the league on fire, it's time he's named the MVP once again.
BetMGM Hart Trophy odds: 2.10/+110
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