Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux was snubbed from the Hart Trophy finalist list.
The Hart Trophy finalists were announced Friday night, and Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux was not one. I read the NHL announcement three times to be sure I had read it correctly, but each time, he was not on the list. Don’t get me wrong, the three nominees are deserving, but Giroux was as well.
Each year, the Hart Memorial Trophy is awarded to the player judged to be most valuable to his team. While Taylor Hall, Anze Kopitar, and Nathan MacKinnon were valuable to their teams, there is no player more valuable to his team than Giroux was to the Flyers.
The Case for Claude Giroux
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Giroux had a statement season in 2017-18, practically dragging the team to the playoffs after missing them the previous season. Statistically, he led the NHL in assists with 68 and was second in points with 102. His 58.64 percent faceoff win percentage was good enough for third in the NHL.
As for the Flyers, Giroux lead the team in points, goals and assists. He was second in power play goals and plus minus. What statistics can’t show is what he truly meant to his team. Giroux simply is the Philadelphia Flyers.
On the final day of the regular season, the Flyers needed a win against the New York Rangers, a team the Flyers and Giroux have struggled against in recent years. All the captain did during that game was pick up his first-ever regular season hat trick. He led by example, as he had all season, and the Flyers were back in the chase for the Stanley Cup.
Why Giroux Wasn’t Nominated
So why wasn’t a player who led his team and the league in so many categories a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy? Two words: Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon worked his magic and got the Colorado Avalanche into the playoffs. While the Flyers missed the playoffs and Giroux got them back, the Avalanche were amazingly bad last year.
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How bad were they? They only managed 22 wins and 48 points, for last place in the NHL. 2017-18 saw the Avalanche earn 95 points, an increase of 47 points. For that, MacKinnon deserves not only the nomination but is the clear winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy.