Edmonton's Connor McDavid, Florida's Matthew Tkachuk, and Boston's David Pastrnak are finalists for the 2022-23 Hart Trophy.
The NHL award season is nearing its end.
The league dropped the big one on Friday evening, unveiling the three finalists for the Hart Trophy, awarded to the player deemed most valuable to their team, as voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
This year's trio features Edmonton's Connor McDavid, Florida's Matthew Tkachuk, and Boston's David Pastrnak.
It's hard to view anyone other than McDavid as the favorite, frankly. The 26-year-old continued his offensive decimation of the league in 2022-23, leading the entire NHL in goals (64), assists (89), and points (153) in 82 games. Those are unprecedented numbers in the modern NHL and once again show that McDavid has the potential to one day end up in the conversation for the greatest player to ever play. In fact, there's a good chance that he takes home this award unanimously.
While McDavid is the clear front-runner, Tkachuk has a compelling case of his own. The 25-year-old flourished in his first season in Florida, racking up a whopping 40 goals and 69 assists for 109 points to drag the Panthers into the playoffs after their season appeared to be over heading into the final stretch. The quintessential modern power forward, Tkachuk was the heart and soul of the Panthers this season, and one can only wonder where they would have been without him.
Pastrnak, on the other hand, has the personal accolades in his corner, having completed his first-career 60-goal season while serving as the main offensive engine for the greatest regular-season team of all time. Along with those 60 goals, Pastrnak also chipped in 52 assists for 113 points to blow his previous career-best totals out of the water and cement himself as one of the premier talents in the entire league. While he may have had the best supporting cast of the three finalists, Pastrnak was still crucial to Boston's regular-season success.
Regardless of who takes home the hardware, each player mentioned should be recognized for their tremendous accomplishments.