Lightning's Kucherov deserves the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP. Here's why.

10 Tampa Bay Sports Director Evan Closky makes the case for why Tampa Bay Lightning's Nikita Kucherov deserves to be the NHL MVP for the 2023-24 season.

[@JackBirdbath]

MacKinnon had an insane year we all knew he was capable of, McDavid did McDavid shit, and Matthews’ scoring was legendary. But the best player in the world this year was Kucherov.

[@killrroyale]

Heck yeah Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch!!!!!

[@mrright1068]

Well said. We will see if the NHL listens to you.

[@davidcorrow4070]

Ding dimg got that 100% right go kuch mvp ....mackinnin who

[@starina.ziczag]

I completely agree with you. It's simple, the first one deserves it. But my heart tells me that the policy is to act differently

[@user-mp1gg7qj4e]

True MVP

[@Gagne87Fixxer]

Ovie for MVP. Carried his team, who sold on deadline, to get to post-season. Great 8

[@OlegErmix]

Куч фантастичен🎉

[@veronicafinocchi9550]

Even if biased, the man has a point. The league likes personality and will vote for most popular, not most deserving. That's why I hate all-star voting for the same reason in any sport. Kucherov ran the team all year and is not spoiled athlete looking for attention. Boo hoo Matthews didn't get 70. He sulked about it too. That's not an MVP.

[@yechielbenchasya4157]

Since when are goals and assists valued differently? A goal is a goal and an assist is an assist. If not, then where do you draw the line - is the secondary assist on a shorthanded goal worth more than the primary assist on an empty net goal? And if you are going to variably value assists, then you need to do the same thing with goals. A game-winning goal might be worth more than the 6th goal in a 7-1 beatdown. Stick to the data that is used by the league in awarding the objective awards, not data that is manufactured to support a case. If Kuch doesn’t win - and I think he should - people will say it’s because of his Skills Competition performance, and sadly that would not surprise me though the voters would never admit it.

[@disgoyknows88]

🤓

[@JoelElRican]

Kuch was the best all-around player, hands down.

[@Stephen_Loves_You]

theres a bias against Russian players. in NHL 24 McDavid is rated higher. which is horse 💩. mcdavid never won anything.

[@dstreet17]

Brilliant. Mac is an outstanding player but when you really break the numbers down, this race shouldn't even be close at all. Real ones know that Kuch is the obvious MVP but he's going to lose votes because of a bunch of idiots who don't know anything about hockey.

[@Bink1221]

sorry but if you have over 140 points and only like +11, you don't deserve mvp. Secondary powerplay assists and leading the league in empty net points aren't that valuable. You know what is? 51 even strength goals, positive faceoff %, huge defensive contributions. Kuch and Mack have more than double the giveaways that Mathews has. Mathews deserves the Hart, but biased ignorant idiots will follow the narrative in the media and vote Mack and Kuch. Its a joke.