For the last few years the coveted Hart Memorial Trophy has become a trophy that has lost it's true meaning of being a trophy that is awarded to the leagues most valuable player, and become some sort of statistical trophy based on points or goals. The award much like other sports has been diluted, and ruined by mainstream opinions and stereotyping that the award should go to the leagues 'best' player, not the most 'valuable'.
Last year the Winnipeg Jets' Connor Hellebuyck won the award, and rightly so. In the true meaning of the Hart Trophy, Connor Hellebuyck was the most 'valuable' player, and the award simply wasn't just given to Connor McDavid or Nathan MacKinnon. If it wasn't for Hellebuyck, the Jets may not have had that stellar season, they may not have had that elite defense, and the may not have progressed in the playoffs, that it was makes Hellebuyck so valuable to the Jets. The award wasn't made to celebrate the league's best player, and although Hellebuyck was one of the NHL's best players last year, he was awarded due to his value being intangible to the Jets.
This year the MVP race looks close, very close, but once again, it is between the two best players, McDavid and MacKinnon. But despite their point scoring and dominance, does that really make them the leagues most valuable players? Not necessarily.
Just behind them in the Hart race is the San Jose Sharks sensation Macklin Celebrini, and if there was ever a player who epitomises the Hart Memorial Trophy, it's him. Forget his amazing point scoring at a young age, and forget the flashy goals he scores, theres only one thing the league needs to see why he is the true MVP, and that is what he bring to the Sharks organisation, and that is what a real MVP looks like.
Without Macklin Celebrini, the Sharks are nothing, they don't touch the wildcard, and they don't have nearly the same success that they have had. It's simple, you take Celebrini out of that team, and the Sharks collapse, that's what true 'value' looks like. You take McDavid out of the Oilers, they till have Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard, you take MacKinnon off the Avalanche, they still have Cale Makar and Martin Necas, but you take Celebrini off the Sharks, that playoff dream isn't even a distant thought.
It is likely that either McDavid or MacKinnon will win the MVP, and will go on to win many more in their respective careers, however what the Hart Memorial Trophy stands for is for people like Macklin Celebrini, the players who are the most valuable to their teams, and how big of a part they play individually. Guys like Sidney Crosby, and Kirill Kaprizov are all guys who are what the MVP stand for, not an award for the best players, but for the players who show true value. The league needs to reshape the meaning of the Hart before it comes too repetitive, and too much of a popularity contest among the elites.