Now into the second month of the NHL season, let's take a look at some of the early possibilities for the 2015-16 Hart Trophy. The player most valuable to his team has to be an offensive producer without being a defensive liability. He's someone his team would be unable to enjoy success without.
It's not simply a look at the league's top scorers, although the elite are certainly on this list. But you won't see Calgary Flames sophomore Johnny Gaudreau on this list in spite of his strong early production—the team just isn't doing well enough for the playmaker to be in contention.
Defensemen have to be stellar to stand out in the voting over their more noticeable forward teammates, and forget about anyone who proves not to be an asset in his own end. Goaltender Carey Price won last year, so the standards are set between the pipes—and those will be tough to duplicate following a year for the ages.
Points matter but so do the roles each plays on his team. In the end, the real-world votes will be subject to personal tastes and regional bias, too.
We tried to look at numbers, minutes, overall performance of the player and the eff ...
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Article written by Steve Macfarlane
Ranking the Top Early Hart Trophy Candidates in the 2015-16 NHL Season
November 11th, 2015 by Steve Macfarlane Leave a reply »
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