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Calgary Flames: Johnny Gaudreau creating compelling Hart Trophy case

By Dave Stevenson

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 20: Johnny Gaudreau #13 of the Calgary Flames scores a goal on goalie Braden Holtby #70 of the Washington Capitals during the first period at Capital One Arena on November 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 20: Johnny Gaudreau #13 of the Calgary Flames scores a goal on goalie Braden Holtby #70 of the Washington Capitals during the first period at Capital One Arena on November 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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The Calgary Flames have never had a Hart Trophy winner. Johnny Gaudreau’s on a mission to change that. 

The Calgary Flames have usually been an afterthought in Canada. Even when they won the Stanley Cup in 1988-89, the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs still dominated the storylines. That’s the curse of living in the same country as two hockey Meccas. This has carried over to Hart Trophy voting. Despite having some pretty darn good players, the Flames have never had a player win the NHL’s MVP award. Johnny Gaudreau, however, didn’t get that memo.

Ever since being drafted in the fourth round of the 2011 NHL Draft, the microscopic wing has made it his goal to make every team who passed over him regret it. Call up the other 29 general managers (we’ll exclude Vegas since they literally didn’t have a team at the time) and you’d find 29 GMs who wish they would have drafted Gaudreau.

Johnny Hockey has been explosive throughout his career. He’s easily one of the NHL’s most dynamic wings, capable of creating something from nothing. Gaudreau has seen steady improvement each season, excluding last season when a bad wrist affected his game. The 2017-18 season is the first time it has all come together for the New Jersey native.

Johnny Hart-ey?

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Currently, Gaudreau is stealthily third in the league in points, trailing only Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos. Johnny Hockey has a darn good case for the Hart Trophy. And one could argue he’s the favorite right now.

Kucherov and Stamkos are each extremely deserving. But one can’t help but think the other will be each’s argument for why they shouldn’t win the Hart. Voters might find it hard to give someone a first-place vote when they might well not be the most valuable guy on their team. Assuming things stay the way they are right now, Gaudreau is in a pretty good position to pull off an upset.

Gaudreau’s Value to the Flames

Where Gaudreau has a huge leg up on Kucherov and Stamkos (as well as the other candidates) is his value to the Flames. Calgary has scored a total of 62 goals this season. Gaudreau has personally scored 10 of them and contributed to 21 others for 31 points. Simply, Johnny Hockey has literally been responsible for half of the Flames’ goals this season. If that doesn’t make him a strong candidate for “player deemed to be most valuable to his team”, I don’t know what does.

Without Gaudreau, Calgary probably wouldn’t be a playoff team. You could argue they might well be a lottery contender. The Flames offense has been a bit inconsistent this season, but Gaudreau has been a consistent producer for them. Entering Nov. 21, he’s riding a 10 game point streak.

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Gaudreau probably faces an uphill battle because, as mentioned earlier, the Flames are kind of an afterthought in the NHL. But if he keeps producing the way he has been so far, it might become impossible to overlook his Hart Trophy case.

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