Daily Faceoff Live: If Connor McDavid runs away with the Hart Trophy, who would be second on the ballot?

In Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff Live, Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna took an early look at this season’s Hart Trophy conversation.

Frank Seravalli: “Let’s talk about the Hart Trophy and Connor McDavid, who scored a ridiculous overtime-winning goal on Saturday night as the Edmonton Oilers knocked off the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights.

connor mcdavid are you kidding me!!!!! pic.twitter.com/J2tvE3C0Pc

— zach (@zjlaing) November 20, 2022

It’s pretty clear at this point that Connor McDavid is running away with the Hart Trophy. Just look at the scoring leaders, look at his impact, look at the fact that he has 16 goals in 18 games and has found a way to score at a pace he’s never scored at before.

My biggest question as we’re closing in on the quarter-mark of the season, who would be number two on a Hart Trophy ballot today?”

Mike McKenna: “I’m going to go with Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He’s only six points behind McDavid. When you look at the consistency Kucherov has had this year, there’s only been three games this year where he hasn’t registered a point. He’s had nine multi-point games and he’s been healthy.

We almost forget the injury problems that Kucherov has had over the past couple of years, he just wasn’t there physically to perform unless it was a playoff series. He’s at 28 points, 13 of them have been on the power play, so he’s been really diverse.

Tampa has been so good 10 or 12 games and they’re trending upward. I don’t see them losing the stride that they’re on right now. For Kucherov, the only negative is that he doesn’t kill penalties but that’s never been a negative for Hart Trophy voting.

He’d be my pick. The other one is Erik Karlsson, but he isn’t on a playoff team.”

Frank eravalli: “For me it’s Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars. I had lots of question marks heading into this season about missing the bulk of training camp and the year that he had last year and whether he would be able to replicate that. He’s not only replicating it, he’s taking it to the next level.

He’s got 12 goals in 18 games, that means he’s on pace for 55 goals. He scored 41 last year and has really changed my perception of this Dallas Stars team. They’re a really good team and efficient at getting out of their own end and Robertson is pulling the team towards the top of the standings in the Central Division.

Watching his year and watching him continue to grow, I think I got this Stars team wrong. I thought that they were in the bulk in the middle of the Central Division and they’ve clearly risen to the top at this point.”

You can watch the full episode here...