Nathan MacKinnon won the Hart Trophy two years ago in a hotly contested four-person face, but the final outcome was relatively lopsided in his favor.
MacKinnon had a career-high 51 goals and a franchise-record 140 points in 2023-24, but Auston Matthews had the most goals (69), Connor McDavid had the most assists (100) and Nikita Kucherov had the most points (144). The Colorado Avalanche superstar had the best all-around case for MVP, and collected a little more than 70% of the first-place votes.
The 2025-26 season reached its league-wide midpoint Saturday. If the voters had to choose the MVP of this season to date Sunday, MacKinnon should be the top choice by an even greater margin.