2023 NHL Awards: Connor McDavid Wins Hart Trophy
By Jim Lynch
The NHL Awards took place on Monday, and Connor McDavid took home one of the biggest trophies on the night winning the Hart Trophy right at the end of the award show. McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers might not have taken home the Stanley Cup this past season, but it was still a great year for the Oilers captain.
2023 NHL Awards: Connor McDavid Wins Hart Trophy
This is not McDavid’s first time taking home the Hart Trophy. This is his third Hart Trophy win, and it came on the night when he also won the Ted Lindsay Award as the most outstanding player as voted on by the NHL Players’ Association. McDavid beat out David Pastrnak of the Bruins and Matthew Tkachuk of the Panthers for the award.
This was a great season for McDavid. He put up a whopping 153 points this year taking home his fifth Art Ross Trophy in his career, and he became the first player in the salary cap era to put up over 150 points. The last player to put up that many points was Mario Lemieux who did so in 1995-96, not bad company to be with in my opinion.
McDavid also scored a heck of a lot of goals this past season. For the first time in his career, McDavid took home the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy for the most goals during the season. He scored 64 goals, a career best for the future hall of fame player.
Overall, this was an impressive season for Connor McDavid. However like past seasons, the Oilers were not able to get it done in the postseason and McDavid spends the summer once again without the one trophy that really matters, the Stanley Cup.
The Oilers currently have a little over $5 million in cap space according to CapFriendly, it will be interesting to see what moves the team makes this summer to best set up their franchise for success.