There have only been seven occasions where the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded each year to the NHL’s Most Valuable Player. A trophy that dates back to the 1923-24 season has only gone to a netminder seven times… in 90 years.
To put that into perspective, Wayne Gretzky has won the Hart Trophy nine times, Gordie Howe has six of them, and Bobby Clarke, Bobby Orr, Mario Lemieux and Alexander Ovechkin all have three apiece.
Only one goalie has ever won the award twice – Dominick Hasek during his dominant run between the pipes with the Buffalo Sabres.
If the award were handed out today, there would be an eighth goaltender being added to the list as the Montreal Canadiens’ Carey Price has been far and away the most valuable player in the league this season and it’s not even close.
This isn’t purely a statistical judgment, but it also doesn’t hurt that Price is at or near the top of the league in every major category. He’s second in the league in wins (32), first in goals against average (1.93) and first in save percentage (.935), to go along with being fourth in the league in shutouts (5) all while playing 45 of a possible 57 games for the Canadiens so far this season.
Statistically speaking, Nashville’s Pekka Rinne is running neck-and-neck with Price – he’s played 43 of the Predators’ 57 games, he’s first in wins (34), second in goals against average (1.94) and second in save percentage (.932) and has three shutouts.
Both their teams stand atop their respective divisions, but again, this isn’t strictly based on stats.
Nashville is a vastly superior team to Le Bleu-Blanc-et-Rouge – they have much more offensive firepower (Nashville is fifth in the league in Goals For, Montreal is 21st) and a far better crop of defensemen playing in front of Renne on a nightly basis. Renne has played well since returning from a knee injury, but Price is on a different level right now.
Since the start of 2015, the former first-round pick is 12-2-1 with three shutouts and a goals against average of 1.47
Go ahead and read that again: In the last 15 games, Price is giving up less than a goal-and-a-half per game and he’s picked up 15 wins.
No other goalie could put up those kinds of numbers in Montreal right now besides Price, not even Renne. There is a different kind of pressure to playing in Montreal – and playing net in Montreal – than there is to playing in Nashville and while it has taken Price a few years to really put it all together and sort it all out, he’s done so and is giving the Canadiens a career year this season as a result.
Normally, the Hart ends up going to one of the top scorers from one of the top teams in the league, even though there is already a trophy that is handed out specifically to the top scorer in the league, the Art Ross.
But this year is one of those years where the top point-getters in the league – the top five is currently Patrick Kane (Chicago), Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia), Nicklas Backstrom (Washington), Alexander Ovechkin (Washington) and Tyler Seguin (Dallas) – don’t represent the top teams.
You could make an outside case for guys like Steven Stamkos from Tampa Bay or John Tavares of the New York Islanders, as they’re the main offensive cogs of team squads that have exceeded expectations and sit second and third in the Eastern Conference right now. You could probably make a case for defenseman Mark Giordano of the Calgary Flames, the surprise sixth seed in the Western Conference right now.
But Montreal is currently tops in the Eastern and as instrumental as those other players have been to their respective team’s success, the Habs would absolutely fall apart if they lost Price for an extended stretch. Not that the other teams wouldn’t take a step back, but it’s more difficult to replace an elite goaltender than it is anything else in the NHL. (Vigorously knocks on wood so as to not jinx any of the three and incur the wrath of angry fans.)
And that’s what the Hart Trophy is supposed to represent: the player judged most valuable to his team.
This season, no player has been more valuable to their squad than Carey Price has been to the Montreal Canadiens… and it’s not even close.
