Hart Trophy: Vladimir Tarasenko
The Hart Memorial Trophy is one of the most interesting MVP awards in all of sport. Unlike the NBA, where it is usually just given the perceived best player in the game over and over, the Hart is actually given to the best player in that single season.
The best example of that is that Corey Perry is a Hart winner. If you knew that Corey Perry, as good a player as he is, was named the MVP of the NHL, then you’re a better person than I.
As mentioned, the Blues had two winners. Oddly, or perhaps not so oddly, neither came in seasons when the team did particularly well.
Brett Hull won in 1990-91 when he led the league in scoring, but the team fizzled out in the second round of the playoffs. Pronger won when the team won the Presidents Trophy, but got swept in the first round. Yes, this is a regular season award, but winners usually do reasonably well in the second season too. Not so in the Blues case.
Putting all of that aside, it is not impossible to think of Vladimir Tarasenko as the winner of the Hart.
Tarasenko’s stock has fallen in the eyes of some fans, but the talent is in there. Tarasenko has the most goals over the past handful of seasons of anyone not named Alex Ovechkin.
Tarasenko’s only main flaw is that we all want him to be a 50 goal scorer and he might be more Hank Aaron than Mark McGwire. Consistency might be more his style than the one big season.
However, given how the voting goes for the Hart, Tarasenko does not need an all-time season. He does not need 86 goals like Hull had.
If he is the leading scorer on a Blues team that finishes atop the Central Division and challenges for a Western Conference best record, he will be in the mix.
All Tarasenko really has to do is develop a little bit more of a killer attitude (he defers to his teammates a little too much). He is already considered the best on the team, so if the team does well, he will do well.
There are other options as well. Someone like Alex Steen or Brayden Schenn could be in line for the Selke award, but best defensive forwards is such a subjective idea, which is probably why Rick Meagher is the only one to ever do it in a blue note.
Ultimately, we should hope that any of these guys actually win their hardware. Clearly, it would be nice for any of these guys to get individual glory. However, it is rare that guys from losing teams get noticed. So, if you get some individual hardware, you are at least in the mix for the hardware we all yearn for.