Someone had to be snubbed as a finalist for the NHL’s Hart Trophy, but it’s surprising to see Nathan MacKinnon as that snub.

In his 12-year NHL career, the Colorado Avalanche center has done it all as an individual and as a team player. The 29-year-old is a Stanley Cup champion with the Avalanche, a Calder Trophy-winner as the NHL’s top rookie, a Lady Byng Trophy as the league’s most sportsmanlike player, and he won the Hart Trophy last year as the player judged most valuable to his team.

However, that reign will end shortly, as Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, Tampa Bay Lightning right winger Nikita Kucherov and Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl are this year’s Hart Trophy finalists. 

All have solid cases to be this year’s Hart winner. But it sure feels like MacKinnon was snubbed.

MacKinnon had 84 assists and 116 points, which is the second-highest points total of his career. That’s 30 more assists and 10 more points than Draisaitl had this season, while Draisaitl had 20 more goals. Meanwhile, Kucherov had the same number of assists as MacKinnon and only five more goals.

We did pick Draisaitl as our choice for the Hart, but MacKinnon should’ve been a finalist ahead of Kucherov. While points should be a factor in considering the Hart, the definition of the award is the most valuable player. Ultimately, we see MacKinnon as being more valuable to his team than Kucherov was to his team.

If you take Kucherov off the Lightning, you still have an excellent Bolts team that almost certainly finishes in second or third place in the Atlantic Division. They still have Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli and Victor Hedman as part of a very strong core.

But if you take MacKinnon off the Avalanche, you still have an above-average team, but it probably wouldn’t finish third in the highly competitive Central. They’d be more of a wild-card team, especially after trading Mikko Rantanen. The next-highest-scoring forward on the team is Artturi Lehkonen with 45 points, although Martin Necas did record 28 points in 30 games after the Rantanen trade. MacKinnon's bulldog approach in all zones sets the tone for his club.

While we don’t yet know how the voting breaks down for the Hart, we have a sneaking suspicion some voters picked MacKinnon’s teammate, superstar defenseman Cale Makar, in their top five for the Hart. Makar wouldn’t be in this writer’s top-three, but if he took away votes from MacKinnon, that could be the difference between MacKinnon finishing in fourth place in voting or finishing as a top-three Hart finalist.

We’re not here to suggest Kucherov is a bad player. Far from it – he’s one of the top players on the planet and an electric force opponents have great difficulty containing. He has a shot at winning the Ted Lindsay Award as the most outstanding player, but the Hart is about the most valuable player. Even in a year where his offensive totals aren’t career-best numbers, MacKinnon’s all-around value compared to the rest of the forward group is what ought to have made him a Hart finalist.

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