What is the Hart Memorial Trophy?
The Hart Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team. The winner is selected in a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association in all NHL cities at the end of the regular season.
The Hart Memorial Trophy is not supposed to be awarded to the best player in the league (sorry, Connor McDavid, you shouldn’t be winning it this year if your team can’t sniff the playoffs). There are some valid candidates across the league, Nathan Mackinnon and Taylor Hall among them.