Ranking the top 5 worst Hart Trophy winners in NHL history
Every year, fans yell about who should be the NHL MVP. So let’s look at the worst Hart Trophy winners of all-time.
Each season, the NHL awards the Hart Trophy to its MVP. Officially, it goes to the player “adjudged to be the most valuable to his team”, but that’s just a fancy way of saying “most valuable player”.
Naturally, fans have debates every single year about who should win the Hart Trophy because “valuable” is such a subjective thing. This has led to some really questionable winners. But everyone can agree these five winners were simply not the right choice.
Let’s set some boundaries. Only the modern era (post-1967) counts. There were a ton of shenanigans going on before then and honestly, the publicly available data from before the 1960’s is sketchy at best. The data available post-1967 is far more reliable. For fun, I’ll cynically guess why each player won the Hart Trophy over at least one more deserving candidate.
There’s a good chance I’ll be insulting one of your favorite team’s players in this article, so feel free to direct your disagreements (or agreements) to the comment section. Without further ado, here are the five worst Hart Trophy winners of all-time.
5. Mark Messier (1991-92)
Mark Messier won two Hart Trophies in his NHL career. The first one came in 1989, when he narrowly beat out defenseman Ray Bourque. That one was well deserved. His second one, though, should raise a few eyebrows.
Messier won the Hart Trophy in 1992 in a landslide, finishing with all but two of the 69 (nice) first place votes.
Who should have won: Brett Hull should have won the Hart Trophy. He was single-handedly responsible for nearly 40% of the St. Louis Blues offense. Hull had 70 goals (!!!) and 109 points. The Blues scored 279 goals the whole season. Hull scored 25% of the Blues goals himself and had a point in a shade under 40% of them. He was also the reigning MVP. Meanwhile, Messier accounted for just over 10% of his team’s goals and had a point in 33% of his team’s goals.
Why Messier won: Because apparently it was OK for the best player on a team that finished in first place to win the Hart Trophy in 1992. Even if there was a more deserving candidate who pretty much dragged his team kicking and screaming into the postseason.
4. Bobby Clarke (1974-75)
Bobby Clarke of the Philadelphia Flyers was the heart and soul of the Broad Street Bullies back in the 1970’s. He had some excellent seasons and had them at the right time, as the Boston Bruins often had at least two players in the MVP conversation and they wound up splitting votes. Voters didn’t have that excuse in 1975.
On paper, he had one of his best seasons with 116 points (second-highest of his career), including 89 assists (tied for the most of his career). Clarke’s plus-minus rating was a comical +79 and somehow it didn’t even lead the NHL.
Who should have won: There were two better candidates in 1975. The first was the underrated goaltender Rogie Vachon of the Los Angeles Kings. He posted a .927% save percentage, which led the league. The Kings were quite mediocre that year, which is reflected in Vachon’s 27-14-13 record.
However, the 1975 Hart Trophy should have gone to Bobby Orr. He had more goals and points than Clarke, and tied him in assists as well. Plus, Orr was the only Bruin to finish in the top 10 of the MVP voting that year.
Why Clarke won: Two reasons. First, Hart Trophy voters have never been kind to goalies. Which is weird because goalies are the most valuable position in hockey. You’d think they’d get more credit. Secondly, maybe voters just got tired of voting for Bobby Orr, who won three Hart Trophies and eight Norris Trophies.
3. Chris Pronger
Chris Pronger is one of the best defensemen of the last 30 seasons. He’s best remembered for being a complete jerk and a dirty player, but he was also really darn good at hockey. Pronger’s best season came in 1999-00, when he won both the Norris Trophy and the Hart Trophy.
His Norris Trophy was earned. Pronger was the best defenseman that season by a country mile and he had a staggering plus-minus rating of +52. However, there were two far more deserving candidates.
Who should have won: The 1999-00 Hart Trophy race had two deserving winners – Jaromir Jagr and Pavel Bure. Two all-time greats who somehow have a grand total of one Hart Trophy win between them (Jagr in 1999).
Jaromir Jagr led the NHL in points for a third straight season despite missing 19 games. Jagr finished just one vote shy of Pronger. A second Hart Trophy win would have been great for his resume. But he wound up still putting together one of the most impressive career resumes of any NHL player ever.
And then there’s Pavel Bure. He wasted some of his best years on the Florida Panthers. His 1999-00 season was simply brilliant, as he scored 58 goals and had 94 points. Bure was a huge reason the Panthers barely made the playoffs, only to lose to the New Jersey Devils in the first round.
Why Pronger won: Because he threatened to hit voters in the face with a high elbow.
2. Wayne Gretzky (1988-89)
Sometimes, the Hart Trophy is all about politics. It certainly was in 1989. The previous year, Wayne Gretzky’s run of eight Hart Trophy wins ended at the hands of Mario Lemieux. It was deserved, as Lemieux outscored Gretzky by 30 goals and also had 19 more points on a far less talented team than the 1980’s dynasty Oilers.
A year later, naturally, Gretzky got it back. This should surprise nobody. And Gretzky had a pretty good year. In his first season with the Los Angeles Kings, The Great One scored 58 goals and had 114 assists for 168 points. Gretzky had an incredible season but he shouldn’t have won the Hart Trophy.
Who should have won: Mario Lemieux. Super Mario had the most prolific season of his glorious NHL career in 1988-89, setting career highs in goals (85), assists (114), and points (199). He led the league in each category. That season, Lemieux’s Penguins scored 347 goals. By himself, Mario Lemieux accounted for well over 20% of his team’s goals. And he was involved in over 50% of them.
What’s odd is Lemieux’s Penguins didn’t make the playoffs in 1987-88, yet he still won the Hart Trophy by a pretty comfortable margin. Mario had a much better season in 1988-89, yet didn’t repeat as the Hart Trophy winner? Despite scoring 31 more goals, having the same number of assists, and having 31 more points than Gretzky?
Why Gretzky won: Voters felt sorry for Gretzky… for some reason.
1. Jose Theodore (2001-02)
The 2001-02 Hart Trophy race was one of the most compelling storylines in NHL history. Both Jose Theodore and Jarome Iginla finished with 434 votes. The former won it because he got 26 first place votes compared to Iginla’s 23. Also, Patrick Roy had one of his best seasons and still only managed to finish third!
Usually, Hart Trophy winners don’t shock you. You could probably put down a list of 30 guys you could see winning it at the start of the season and you’d likely wind up being right a lot more often than not. This wasn’t the case with Theodore. He had the best season of his career, and it wasn’t even close. Theodore led the NHL with a .931% save percentage. He never had a save percentage above .919% again.
Related Story. Ranking The Top 10 Worst Blown 3-1 Leads In NHL History. light
Who should have won: 2002 should have been Jarome Iginla’s year. It sort of was, as he led the NHL in goals (52) and points (96). He also got the cover of NHL 2003, which is one of the greatest hockey games of all-time. Iginla also won the Pearson Award (Player’s MVP). Imagine if Iggy would have gotten a clean sweep by notching the Hart Trophy as well. It would have been the perfect cherry on the top of Iginla’s Hall of Fame career.