The NHL has so much talent in the game today, making it difficult to select just three finalists for the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded to the "player judged most valuable to his team."
Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, Edmonton's Connor McDavid, and Columbus' Sergei Bobrovsky were nominated for the honor this year, and while all of them had spectacular seasons, the following three players were well deserving of a finalist nod, too:
Brent Burns, D, Sharks
Burns' season was absolutely insane when you really think about.
He led the league in shots on goal with 320, becoming the first defenseman to do so since Ray Bourque in the lockout-shortened season of 1994-95.
He also finished first among NHL defenseman with 76 points - which led the Sharks - and his 29 goals tied Joe Pavelski for the club lead. He was invaluable to his team.
Burns did lead the league in giveaways, but that's what comes with playing such a high-risk game. He still finished plus-19 with an expected plus/minus of plus-9.6.
Burns also finished with a league-best 15.3 point shares. To put that into perspective, here are the top 10 point share leaders, per Hockey Reference:
| Rank | Player | PS |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Brent Burns | 15.3 |
| 2. | Sergei Bobrovsky | 14.9 |
| 3. | Cam Talbot | 14.0 |
| 4. | Frederik Andersen | 13.1 |
| 5. | Devan Dubnyk | 13.1 |
| 6. | Erik Karlsson | 12.9 |
| 7. | Robin Lehner | 12.9 |
| 8. | Connor McDavid | 12.8 |
| 9. | Carey Price | 12.6 |
| 10. | Brad Marchand | 12.6 |
Perhaps most important, though, is that Burns carried a Sharks team amid Joe Thornton's dramatic decline and a less drastic one from Pavelski.
The Sharks finished 19th in goals after ranking fourth a year ago, but Burns still managed to increase his own point total. And the club finished with more points in the standings this year than the one that went to the Cup Final last spring, largely because Burns put it on his back.
Erik Karlsson, D, Senators
Karlsson's point total fell from a team-high 82 last season to a still-team-high 71 this year, but his offensive decline was for the betterment of the Senators.
Guy Boucher was hired as the club's head coach this past offseason, and he implements a very defensive style of play by trapping up the neutral zone in the 1-3-1 setup.
Karlsson bought in immediately.
His ice time dipped over two minutes per game in order to conserve some energy for later in the year (he still averaged 26:50), but he improved his defensive play.
Karlsson finished with a plus-10 rating and an expected plus/minus of plus-7.0. He set a career high with 5.7 defensive point shares and finished second in the entire league with 201 blocked shots.
Karlsson also carried the Senators to the postseason, as Ottawa finished second in the Atlantic Division despite playing without its starting goaltender for almost half the campaign.
Nikita Kucherov, RW, Lightning
There are two main reasons why Kucherov wasn't a Hart Trophy finalist:
1) He's a winger.
2) His team missed the playoffs.
He finished tied for second in the NHL with 40 goals and tied for fifth in points with 85. The career year took place despite the Lightning missing Steven Stamkos for practically the entire season, while two players they were counting on to pick up the slack - Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat - had down seasons.
Furthermore, Tampa traded its starting goaltender, Ben Bishop, and its primary penalty-killing and shutdown center, Brian Boyle, at the deadline in exchange for draft picks, but Kucherov still got the Lightning - who had been largely written off - within one point of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 19 goals and 36 points over the final 23 games.
He finished the season fourth in offensive point shares and third in goals created per game.
(Photos courtesy: Action Images)
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