Should Zach Werenski get Hart Trophy consideration?
With their 4-3 shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, the Columbus Blue Jackets have put themselves in poll position to chase down either the Ottawa Senators for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, or the Philadelphia Flyers for the third spot in the Metropolitan Division, as they are just two points back of each team with four games left to play. Columbus, who is hoping for their first playoff appearance since 2020, is hardly a squad full of household names, but it’s been pretty who their star has been all season.
Defenseman Zach Werenski is the Blue Jackets’ leader in points, assists, and time on ice. His 80 points on the season has him as the second-leading scorer in the NHL among defenseman, behind only Evan Bouchard of the Edmonton Oilers, who has played seven more games than Werenski. The Grosse Point, Michigan native has played his way into being this season’s favorite for the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman, but given his importance to Columbus’ resurgence, there’s also an argument for him to get Hart Trophy consideration as the league’s most valuable player.
On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed Werenski’s case to be this season’s Hart Trophy winner.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I think there’s a case for Zach Werenski to not just be the Norris winner. I was big on this last year, I said last year he had a better Hart Trophy case than a Norris case, and obviously they didn’t make the playoffs. But last night, he’s the reason they win that hockey game. Forget the shootout winner, he sets up (Adam) Fantilli on the late tying goal. He scored earlier in the game to tie it up 2-2 in the second period. That’s a two-point game, a shootout winner. Since Rick Bowness has taken over this team, he’s averaging three minutes and 15 seconds more time on ice than anybody else on the Columbus Blue Jackets, 33 points leads the Blue Jackets despite the fact he missed a couple of games with injury, 1.1 points per game as a defenseman on a team where he’s not (Cale) Makar who plays a lot with (Nathan) MacKinnon, he’s not Bouchard who plays a lot with (Connor) McDavid and (Leon) Draisaitl. This is a guy who’s the driver, not one of the drivers of Columbus, the driver. If this team gets in, he absolutely needs to be getting at bare minimum some top-five Hart Trophy votes this year.
You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Wednesday’s episode here…