While Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon have emerged as the favorites, and it’s not hard to see why, I think there’s another player who belongs in that group: Taylor Hall.
Many will be quick to point out he’s not a top-15 scorer – he does, however, rank 11th in points per game – and that will probably hurt his case with voters if that holds true through the end of the season. It shouldn’t, though, as the award is supposed to be handed to the player deemed most valuable to his team, not the player who put up the most points or had the best season.