Art Ross & Richard Trophies Are McDavid's to Lose
According to a pre season predictions poll by THN team site editors, the Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid is the heavy favorite to win the Art Ross & Maurice Richard Trophies.
The Edmonton Oilers received a ridiculous amount of offense last year from Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. The latter of those two is the reigning Art Ross Trophy winner, as well as the Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy winner.
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The Hockey News team sites banded together and conducted a poll for our predictions for the 2023-24 season. The two least surprising results were for the Art Ross & Rocket Richard trophies.
Art Ross Trophy
For the Art Ross Trophy 33 of the 34 editors picked McDavid to win the scoring title for a fourth straight season. His fellow teammate received one sole vote to win the Art Ross.
Ten voters picked McDavid to score at least 150 points, five think he'll hit 160 points, while one single editor believes he'll crack 170 points. Ironically, that single vote for 170 points was not from me.
Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy
While the Art Ross Trophy had straight forward results, the Rocket Richard Trophy had slightly more convoluted results. McDavid only received 13 of 34 votes to win the award. Eight of the 13 votes believe that McDavid will surpass 60 goals again.
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Two voters selected Draisaitl to win the Rocket Richard Trophy. Auston Matthews, who won the award two years ago, Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson, David Pastrnak, Nathan MacKinnon and nine-time winner Alex Ovechkin all received at least one vote.
McDavid turned his offensive game up last year and will look to repeat that success this year. The team has an intense motivation to win the Stanley Cup, and while the Art Ross & Rocket Richard Trophies are nice to win, they pale in comparison to the ultimate goal of winning a Stanley Cup.
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