It’s about this time of the season, when a handful of clubs have fewer than 15 games remaining and the home stretch is well under way, that the races for the major awards begin to crystallize For instance, as we noted earlier this week, the Hart Trophy race seems to be slimming down to a field of only five or so true contenders. Among them are the Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl, Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon and New York Rangers’ Artemi Panarin, the latter a potential winner should his Blueshirts make the post-season.
But it’s not just the legitimate MVP hopefuls who are coming into focus.