With a month left to go in the regular season, some of the award races are more or less settled. Connor Hellebuyck is going to win the Vezina, and will also be a first-team All-Star. Barring an injury, Leon Draisaitl will win the Rocket Richard. Aleksander Barkov seems set to win another Selke, and Spencer Carberry is pulling away in the Jack Adams race.
But other awards are still up in the air, including the big one: the Hart Trophy, for league MVP, as voted on by the writers. That means we can assume that the Ted Lindsay, for most outstanding player as voted on by the NHLPA, is also up for grabs. And that means there’s at least a decent chance we get a split, with the players and the writers picking different winners.
I can’t decide whether or not I hate when that happens.
On one hand, the writers sometimes get it wrong and I don’t mind having the players there to keep us honest. And the criteria for the two awards are just slightly different enough – most valuable vs. most outstanding – that it makes sense for their results to occasionally diverge. On the other hand, the NHL already has too many awards, and having two separate honorees for what’s basically “best player” just adds to that.
So today, we’re going to fix what may or may not even be a problem by looking back at all the times that the Hart and the Lindsay have diverged, and use the power of hindsight to figure out which side got it right.
The Hart has been around since 1924, but the Lindsay (which was originally known as the Lester B. Pearson before being renamed in 2010) has only been around since 1971. In those 53 seasons when both awards were in play, there have been 18 seasons when they went to different players. But seven of those were in the first ten years, when it was clear that voters on both sides were still getting a feel for things. We’ll skip over that decade, if only because I know that when I spend too long on names like Bobby Clarke and Marcel Dionne and Guy Lafleur then you kids out there get distracted without a subway surfer animation playing off to the side.
Instead, we’ll start our clock in 1981, leaving us 11 split decisions to figure out. And we’ll ease into things with a relatively easy call.
1981: Wayne Gretzky vs. Mike Liut
Hart: Wayne Gretzky won his second straight Hart (in just his second NHL season) while also winning his first scoring title and shattering league records for points (164) and assists (109) in a season.
Pearson: Mike Liut was a pretty good goalie who won 33 games while backstopping the Blues to a breakout season that saw them finish second overall. He didn’t lead the league in any traditional categories, but finished second in wins and eighth in save percentage. He also had one shutout, which you’ll just have to trust me was a lot back then.
And the winner is: Come on. Liut was very good, but there’s no way he was more valuable or more outstanding than a guy who set a new scoring record. This was the second year in a row when the players snubbed Gretzky for the Pearson, although the 1980 award going to Marcel Dionne was perfectly reasonable. This one wasn’t. Gretzky and the writers win our first showdown easily.
Now on to a heavyweight showdown.
Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky had voters split for a few years in the 1980s. (Bruce Bennett Studios / Getty Images)
1986: Wayne Gretzky vs. Mario Lemieux
Hart: Gretzky captured his seventh MVP in a row, setting yet another single-season points record in the process with 215. Maybe even more amazingly, he racked up 163 assists – 28 more than even his own next-best season, and 61 more than any other NHL player had ever managed to date.
Pearson: In just his second season, Mario Lemieux built on a Calder-winning rookie campaign by racking up 48 goals and 141 points. That was good for second in the scoring race, but context matters: Lemieux’s point total was closer to Blackhawks winger Curt Fraser in 75th place than it was to Gretzky’s total. He also finished second in Hart voting, but with only four first place votes from the writers, compared to Gretzky’s 54.
And the winner is: Gretzky again. And yes, there’s clearly a theme here, with the players showing a reluctance to recognize Gretzky, or at least a sense of fatigue over him gobbling up all those Harts. You won’t find many bigger Mario fans than me, and he’d well and truly deserve to be viewed as Gretzky’s peer for years to come. But the players jumped the gun here.
The players gave in and awarded Gretzky his fifth Pearson the following year, but this wouldn’t be end of the split votes.
1989: Wayne Gretzky vs. Steve Yzerman
Hart: Gretzky again, for the ninth time but first in Los Angeles. After the biggest trade in NHL history had rocked the hockey world the previous summer, Gretzky paid immediate dividends to the tune of 168 points while leading the previously forgettable Kings to contender status and single-handedly transforming the sport’s economic landscape.
Pearson: The players once again shunned Gretzky for a player with fewer points, although this time the margin was much slimmer. Steve Yzerman finished with 155 points, the most ever by a player not named Wayne or Mario, and scored a career-high 65 goals.
Despite that, he only finished third in the Hart race, making him the only player to win the Pearson or Lindsay without finishing in the top-two of MVP voting. How was that possible? Well, about that.
And the winner is: Neither, because Lemieux should have won.
In terms of pure numbers, this was the single greatest season of Lemieux’s career. He scored 85 goals, becoming just the second player to ever cross the 80-goal mark. (Only Brett Hull has since joined the club.) He finished the season with 199 points, the fifth most in history, and the most by anyone other than Gretzky. He led the league in goals, assists, points, power-play goals and shorthanded goals. He even threw in 100 PIMs, just for fun.
Yes, Yzerman deserved the recognition that would come with the Pearson, the only individual award he won until a late-career Selke. And sure, Gretzky’s impact on the Kings could absolutely be viewed as “valuable” in a way that no normal season ever could. But this was Mario at the absolute height of his powers, and he should have swept the awards. Both the writers and players got this one wrong.
(But if you want to insist on following our own rules and picking one of the two actual award winners, then my pick is Yzerman, although it’s razor-close.)
With that, the writers and players settled into a decade of agreement, a streak that didn’t end until …
2000: Chris Pronger vs. Jaromir Jagr
Hart: In a massive break from their typical routine, PHWA members gave the Hart to a defenseman for the first time since the Bobby Orr era. At the time we wondered if this signaled a new era of recognizing the value of blueliners; a full quarter-century later, Chris Pronger isn’t just the last defenseman to win the award, he’s somehow the last to even be a finalist. But it was well-deserved, as Pronger put up a career-best 62 points and won the Norris in a year when no forwards even hit 100 points.
More importantly, he led to Blues to a Presidents’ Trophy despite the team’s best forwards being guys like Pavol Demitra, Michal Handzuš and an aging Pierre Turgeon. Put it this way: A guy named Ľuboš Bartečko was tied for fifth in scoring on that team. With 39 points.
Pearson: The players went the more traditional route, giving the Pearson to Jaromir Jagr after he won the scoring title with 96 points despite missing 19 games.
And the winner is: This was peak Jagr; it was his third of four straight Art Ross trophies. But defensemen are embarrassingly underrepresented with both awards, so despite two deserving candidates I’m going to give the nod to Pronger and the writers on this one.
2002: Jose Théodore vs. Jarome Iginla
Hart: It’s rare for goalies to win the Hart, although Dominik Hašek had done it in back-to-back years in 1997 and 1998 so this didn’t feel all that weird. José Théodore led the league with a .931 save percentage, pushing his Canadiens into an unexpected playoff spot despite Yanic Perrault being their only player to hit 50 points.
For what it’s worth, this was the closest Hart vote ever. It actually ended in a tie, with Théodore winning based on having more first-place votes.
Pearson: The best season of Jarome Iginla’s career saw him win the Rocket Richard by double digits, as well as the Art Ross. His Flames missed the playoffs, mainly because their other top players were Craig Conroy, Dean McAmmond and Roman Turek.
And the winner is: Iginla. You knew I was going to land there, given how much I liked the guy. The 2002 vote is often framed as a massive whiff by the writers, but it was actually a tougher call than you might think, given how Theodore basically single-handedly led a bad team into the playoffs (and even won a round). You could actually argue that both sides got it right – Iginla was the most outstanding player, even on a non-playoff team, while Theodore was more valuable because he got his team into the postseason. I have to pick one, though, and I’m going with a guy who scored 20 percent more goals than anyone else in the league despite virtually no supporting cast.
2003: Peter Forsberg vs. Märkus Naslund
Hart: Peter Forsberg won the scoring title with 106 points and led the league with 77 assists, while also finishing fourth in Selke voting. (By the way, did you know he never won the Selke, and was only a finalist one time? That’s weird, for a guy generally viewed as one of the best 200-foot centers of all time.)
Pearson: Märkus Naslund finished second in scoring with 104 points, and second in the Rocket Richard race with 48 goals, trailing only Forsberg’s teammate Milan Hejduk, who had 50. In a weird twist, Naslund ended up finishing second in Hart voting, despite having just five first-place votes compared to Forsberg’s 38 and Martin Brodeur’s 14; a lot of voters left Brodeur off their ballot entirely.
And the winner is: I’m going with Forsberg. Goals matter, and Naslund had 19 more. But defense matters too, and Forsberg was such a good defensive center that he was the better player. This one’s close, though.
2006: Joe Thornton vs. Jaromir Jagr
Hart: Joe Thornton became the only player in NHL history to be named MVP while playing for two teams in the same season, going from Boston to San Jose in November and then winning the scoring title with 126 points.
Pearson: Jagr had his last truly great season, racking up 54 goals and 123 points. Both of those totals ranked second in the league (with the goals ranking behind only Thornton’s linemate, Jonathan Cheechoo).
And the winner is: This is another one where you could argue that both sides got it right, with Jagr being the league’s best player but Thornton’s arrival impacting the Sharks in general and Cheechoo specifically so much that he was more valuable. Both guys were awesome, but if I have to pick one I’ll go with Jagr in a coin flip.
2010: Henrik Sedin vs. Alex Ovechkin
Hart: Henrik Sedin finished with 112 points, narrowly winning the Art Ross over the duo of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, who tied with 109. He also led the league with 83 assists in a year when nobody else cracked 70, but had just 29 goals.
Lindsay: The players went with Ovechkin and his 50 goals, which ranked him just behind Crosby and Steven Stamkos, who led the league with 51. It was the third straight Lindsay/Pearson honors for Ovechkin.
And the winner is: This was a weird year, with Sedin, Ovechkin and Crosby all finishing close in Hart balloting; goalies Ryan Miller and Ilya Bryzgalov also getting a bunch of first-place votes; and essentially nobody else in the running. I’m glad I didn’t have a vote back then, but I do now, and I’ll give it to Ovechkin.
2011: Corey Perry vs. Daniel Sedin
Hart: In a fun flip from 2010, this time it’s the players who side with a Sedin while the writers go with the goal-scorer. Corey Perry led the league with 50 goals; his 98 points ranked third.
Lindsay: Daniel Sedin had 104 points to keep the Art Ross in the family. Like Ovechkin the year before, Sedin won the Lindsay while also leading his team to the Presidents’ Trophy.
And the winner is: Sedin. I’ve often wondered if Perry would have still won if he’d finished with 49 goals instead of an even 50, but I guess we’ll never know. Goals matter, but this isn’t 2010 when Ovechkin had 21 more than Henrik. Daniel had 41 goals this year, which given everything else should have been enough.
2013: Alex Ovechkin vs. Sidney Crosby
The Hart: In a lockout-shortened season, the writers went with the Rocket Richard winner; Ovechkin’s 32 goals were three ahead of Stamkos for the league-lead. It was a very close vote, with John Tavares and Jonathan Toews also getting plenty of support. And in an unusual twist for the “writers only sort by points” crowd, Art Ross winner Martin St. Louis finished ninth.
The Lindsay: Apparently tired of voting for Ovechkin every year, the players flipped to Crosby, who had only 15 goals but tied Ovechkin with 56 points.
And the winner is: Giving an award to Crosby is never a bad call, but we’ll go with Ovechkin. That means the writers got it right, which when it comes to Ovechkin in 2013, makes for a nice change of pace.
2018: Taylor Hall vs. Connor McDavid
The Hart: Taylor Hall had a monster year, shattering career-highs with 39 goals and 93 points. More importantly, he led a Devils team that nobody thought would be any good to an unexpected playoff appearance.
The Lindsay: One year after winning both the Hart and the Lindsay as a sophomore, Connor McDavid had to settle for just one despite winning the scoring title. The big reason: Unlike Hall, he couldn’t get his team into the playoffs, or even to the .500 mark.
And the winner is: McDavid, easily. And yes, this all comes down to whether you believe a player can be valuable to a team that doesn’t make the playoffs. But while Hall did help the Devils to the postseason, they won just one game there while being easily eliminated by the Lightning. Does that one extra win make a guy who finished sixth in scoring and ninth in goals the MVP? I don’t see how it does, so McDavid takes this one.
That covers our 11 cases, and by my count we end up in a dead heat at 5-5-1. But if you want to use 1989 as the tie-breaker, that means the players take this over the writers in a 6-5 final. At least until this year, when we see which of the two voting blocs realizes that Hellebuyck is the league’s top player and which is blinded by the guy with the most points.
(Top photo of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin: Andrew D. Bernstein / NHLI via Getty Images)
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