McDavid, MacKinnon, Kucherov are Hart finalists
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid and Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov are the finalists for the 2023-24 Hart Memorial Trophy, given to the player “adjudged to be the most valuable to his team” in the regular season.
The winner is selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
McDavid and Kucherov are both previous league MVPs. MacKinnon is seeking his first Hart Trophy after being a finalist three times.
MacKinnon, 28, had 51 goals, 89 assists and 140 points, good for second in the league behind Kucherov. MacKinnon led the Avalanche in each of those categories and established new career highs. He finished 36 points higher than the next leading scorer on the team, winger Mikko Rantanen (104). His 405 shots on goal also led the NHL.
MacKinnon’s season featured two historic scoring streaks: He tallied points in 35 straight home games Oct. 19-March 26, the second-longest home points streak in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky’s 40-game record set in the 1988-89 season with the Los Angeles Kings. MacKinnon’s 19-game points streak from Feb. 13-March 26 made him the first player in NHL history to have two separate point streaks of 19 games within the same season.
He finished second for the Hart Trophy in 2018 and 2020, and third in in 2021.
McDavid, 27, is seeking his fourth Hart Trophy (2017, 2021, 2023) and is trying to become the first back-to-back MVP since Alex Ovechkin (2008-09).
His 100 assists and 132 points led Edmonton, and the latter was good for third in the league. His 32 goals were third on the team behind Zach Hyman (54) and Leon Draisaitl (41). After starting the season slowly — as the Oilers did as a team — McDavid had 122 points in 65 games after Edmonton replaced coach Jay Woodcroft with Kris Knoblauch.
Kucherov and McDavid both tallied 100 assists this season, joining Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr as the only NHL players to hit the century mark.
Kucherov’s offensive output this season eclipsed that of his MVP campaign in 2018-19. He established new career highs with 44 goals and 100 assists. His 144 points earned him the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer for the second time.
The Lightning winger led the NHL in percentage of his team’s goals on which he had a point (50%). He finished 54 points ahead of Tampa Bay’s next highest scorer Brayden Point (90 points).
Kucherov, 30, led the Lightning to the playoffs for the seventh straight season, a campaign that saw them play with a diminished supporting cast and through injuries to defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
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Jake Trotter
A UAB football player stabbed two of his teammates Saturday morning at the football facility ahead of the Blazers’ home game against USF, a university spokesperson told ESPN.
The suspect has been arrested, and both injured players are in stable condition after being taken to UAB hospital. The school has not released the names of any of the players involved.
UAB’s game against USF began as scheduled at 3 p.m. ET.
A UAB official said an investigation is ongoing.
“UAB’s top priority remains the safety and well-being of all of our students,” the school said in a statement.
Ohio State wide receivers Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith are not expected to play against Rutgers on Saturday due to lower-body injuries, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Tate will miss his third straight game. Smith played in last week’s win over UCLA but missed the second half after being seen limping before halftime. Both are considered day-to-day, sources said, ahead of a potential return next week against rival Michigan.
On Tuesday, coach Ryan Day would not rule out either wide receiver but also did not want to go into specifics on their availability.
“Our policy is we don’t discuss specifics on injuries, and once you start going down a little bit here, a little bit there, you can create a problem,” Day said. “So for a number of reasons, we don’t discuss those things.”
Smith leads the Big Ten and ranks third in the nation with 10 touchdown catches while ranking third in the conference in receiving yards per game (90.2) and second in catches per game (6.9). Tate is fifth in the Big Ten with 88.9 receiving yards per game.
Brandon Inniss started in place of Tate against UCLA and led No. 1 Ohio State with six catches for 30 yards during a 48-10 win.
The 5-5 Scarlet Knights are looking to beat Ohio State for the first time in their 11th try since joining the Big Ten in 2014.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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