Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Hart Trophy Goes To Taylor Hall

06/20/2018 at 10:15pm EDT

via NHL PR,

Left wing Taylor Hall of the New Jersey Devils has won the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team,” as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Hall received 72 first-place tallies among the 164 ballots cast and garnered 1,264 voting points to edge Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, the top choice of 60 voters for 1,194 points. It marked the closest Hart Trophy race since 2012-13, when Alex Ovechkin (WSH) edged Sidney Crosby (PIT), 1,090-1,058. Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar finished third in balloting with 551 points.

Hall ranked sixth in the NHL with 39-54—93 (76 GP), setting career highs across the board to propel the Devilsto a 27-point improvement in the standings and their first playoff appearance since 2011-12. Hall recorded 41 more points than his next-closest teammate (Nico Hischier: 20-32—52), the highest such differential by a club’s top two scorers since 2007-08 (Ovechkin: 112, Nicklas Backstrom: 69 w/ WSH). He collected points in 26 straight personal appearances from Jan. 2 – March 6 (18-20—38), a franchise record and the longest such streak by any player since 2015-16. Hall also set a club record with a 19-game point streak during that span (Jan. 30 – March 6: 13-13—26).

The 26-year-old Calgary native and first-time NHL Trophy finalist is the first player in Devils history to capture the Hart Trophy; goaltender Martin Brodeur finished third in voting in 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2006-07.

2017-2018 Hart Trophy Voting

Pts.(1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)
1. Taylor Hall, NJD 1264

(72-62-19-4-3)

2. Nathan MacKinnon, COL 1194 (60-66-19-11-4)
3. Anze Kopitar, LAK 551 (11-11-41-49-12)
4. Claude Giroux, PHI 546 (10-10-44-45-21)
5. Connor McDavid, EDM 270 (6-5-19-16-32)
6. Nikita Kucherov, TBL 166 (0-6-8-15-39)
7. Evgeni Malkin, PIT 97 (3-2-6-5-8)
8. Blake Wheeler, WPG 69 (1-2-1-6-22)
9. Alex Ovechkin, WSH 37 (0-0-2-5-12)
10. William Karlsson, VGK 32 (1-0-3-2-1)
11. Brad Marchand, BOS 10 (0-0-2-0-0)
12. Pekka Rinne, NSH 9 (0-0-0-2-3)
13. Connor Hellebuyck, WPG 5 (0-0-0-1-2)
14. Artemi Panarin, CBJ 4 (0-0-0-1-1)
t-15. Sergei Bobrovsky, CBJ 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-15. Drew Doughty, LAK 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-17. Patrice Bergeron, BOS 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-17. Sidney Crosby, PIT 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-17. Victor Hedman, TBL 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-17. Eric Staal, MIN 1 (0-0-0-0-1)

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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