Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews has been nominated for his first Hart Trophy following a Rocket Richard-winning regular season. Matthews has been voted into the top-10 once before, but this is his first time in the top three. He is alongside Colorado Avalanche centre Nathan MacKinnon and Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid.
Nathan MacKinnon (@Avalanche), Auston Matthews (@MapleLeafs) and Connor McDavid (@EdmontonOilers) are the finalists for the 2020-21 Hart Memorial Trophy. https://t.co/78c6pDAmtm #NHLAwards #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/K9UFGAWw01
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 10, 2021
These three were the obvious choices and have become the faces of the NHL despite an average age of only 24 years old (26,994 days on Earth). Now, they just need to learn to win more than one playoff round between them in the playoffs.
This award nomination probably doesn’t feel as good as it could have considering how the season ended.
This is the first Leafs Hart nomination since Doug Gilmour came second to Mario Lemieux in 1993. Before that you have to go back to 1978 and Darryl Sittler behind Guy Lafleur. The last time a Leaf won the Hart was Ted Kennedy back in 1955.
