In our final episode of our series on the NHL’s Hart Trophy, we compare our list of the players to win the MVP (and our own best player award) to the actual list of Hart Trophy winners.
Then we enjoy rehashing the worst Hart Trophy awards of the last 100 years.
Listen here:
The Back Check’s List of Most MVP Awards:
Here’s who we picked for the Hart if we’d been voting, by number of awards.
Most Best Player Awards:
“Best Player” is different than MVP because this is not team record dependent.
| Player | # of Best Player Awards | Difference from Hart Trophies |
| Wayne Gretzky | 11 | +2 |
| Gordie Howe | 6 | same |
| Mario Lemieux | 6 | +3 |
| Bobby Orr | 6 | +3 |
| Sidney Crosby | 5 | +3 |
| Stan Mikita | 4 | +2 |
| Jean Beliveau | 3 | +1 |
| Bill Cowley | 3 | +1 |
| Jaromir Jagr | 3 | +2 |
| Guy Lafleur | 3 | +1 |
| Newsey Lalonde | 3 | +3 |
| Alex Ovechkin | 3 | same |
| Charlie Conacher | 2 | +2 |
| Bill Cook | 2 | +2 |
| Bobby Hull | 2 | +2 |
| Elmer Lach | 2 | +1 |
| Connor McDavid | 2 | +1 |
| Howie Morenz | 2 | -1 |
| Maurice Richard | 2 | +1 |
| Ace Bailey | 1 | +1 |
| Max Bentley | 1 | same |
| Toe Blake | 1 | same |
| Georges Boucher | 1 | +1 |
| Punch Broadbent | 1 | +1 |
| Roy Conacher | 1 | +1 |
| Leon Draisaitl | 1 | we’ll see |
| Gordie Drillon | 1 | +1 |
| Babe Dye | 1 | +1 |
| Phil Esposito | 1 | -1 |
| Peter Forsberg | 1 | same |
| Bernie Geoffrion | 1 | same |
| Bryan Hextall | 1 | +1 |
| Jarome Iginla | 1 | +1 |
| Busher Jackson | 1 | +1 |
| Aurele Joliat | 1 | same |
| Patrick Kane | 1 | same |
| Nikita Kucherov | 1 | same |
| Eric Lindros | 1 | same |
| Ted Lindsay | 1 | +1 |
| Joe Malone | 1 | +1 |
| Dickie Moore | 1 | +1 |
| Chris Pronger | 1 | same |
| Milt Schmidt | 1 | same |
| Sweeney Schriner | 1 | +1 |
| Eddie Shore | 1 | -3 |
| Martin St. Louis | 1 | same |
| Nels Stewart | 1 | -1 |
| Joe Thornton | 1 | same |
| Bryant Trottier | 1 | same |
| Cooney Weiland | 1 | +1 |
For details, please listen to our series:
- Introduction to the Hart Trophy and the MVP Award
- Before the Hart Trophy: Who should have won MVP in the early years of the NHL (and the other pro leagues – NHA, PCHA and WCHL)
- Early Hart Trophies: 1924-1942
- Original Six Hart Trophies 1943-1967
- Expansion to Merger Hart Trophies 1968 to 1979
- Merger to First Lockout Hart Trophies 1980 to 1994
- Dead Puck Era Hart Trophies: 1995 to 2004
- Lockout to Lockout Hart Trophies: 2006 to 2012
- Post Lockout Hart Trophies 2013 to 2020
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