As you’ve likely heard by now, the Vancouver Canucks’ 3-0 shutout win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday did a lot for Quinn Hughes’s case for the Hart Trophy – the NHL’s regular-season MVP award.

Hughes tallied a goal and an assist, was a defensive dynamo, and heavily tilted the ice in the Canucks’ favour every time he was on the ice. Hughes was on the ice for 10 scoring chances for, and the Canucks managed just three scoring chances without him on the ice all game. On top of that, the team didn’t give up a single high-danger chance with Hughes on the ice while creating three of their own during those minutes.

It’s hard for a player to do more to help his team win than what Hughes has done all season long.

But where does Hughes really sit in the NHL’s MVP conversation? Let’s find out.

Before we get to our anonymous poll among voters, let’s break down the current frontrunners.

There’s a reason we’ve put Leon Draisaitl right at the top of this list, and that’s because, at this point, he’s the clear favourite for the award.

Currently sitting at 63 points, just three behind Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead at the time of this writing, Draisaitl leads the league in goals with 31 – the next closest is Mark Scheifele with 25 – even-strength goals (24) and game-winning goals with nine. Not to mention overtime winning goals, which Draisaitl has four of to lead the league.

But it’s not just the absurd goal-scoring and point totals that have him as the favourite. This season, Draisaitl has completely turned his 200-foot game around and has been a reliable defensive forward for the Oilers while scoring a ton of goals. And, of course, he’s done it with Vasily Podkolzin, Viktor Arvidsson, and Kasperi Kapanen as some of his most regular linemates at 5v5.

“He’s been lethal as usual in the offensive zone, playing with two new wingers in Kasperi Kapanen and Vasily Podkolzin. But the most impressive part of Draisaitl’s season has by far been his rock-solid two-way play,” said one Edmonton-based colleague.

Right now, Draisaitl leads the pack.

We’d be remiss not to give the goaltender in this conversation some love as well, as Connor Hellebuyck has arguably been even better than he was last season when he captured the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender.

Last season, Hellebuyck’s .921% save percentage helped him finish sixth in Hart Trophy voting. This year, he’s up to a .928%, which, as you can guess, leads the NHL. He also had five shutouts in 2023-24 but is already up to six this season. It’s hard to argue that there’s a more important player to the Winnipeg Jets’ success than Hellebuyck, who appears set to cruise to his second-straight Vezina Trophy.

Will he get more love from voters for league MVP this season? That remains to be seen, but right now, he’s certainly in the conversation. The award is hard for goaltenders to win, as prior to Carey Price winning the award in 2014-15, Jose Theodore was the last goalie named league MVP back in 2001-02.

Back to forwards, Nathan MacKinnon, who took home both the Hart and Ted Lindsay Award last season, has been putting up big point totals and helping the Colorado Avalanche find success once again this season. While MacKinnon is on pace for a “down year” where he puts up just 127 points instead of the 140 he tallied in 2023-24, he should still be heavily considered for this year’s MVP honours.

That is, of course, because MacKinnon’s “down year” still has him leading the league in points at the time of this writing. He’s been absolutely dynamite for a Colorado team that has once again had question marks about depth scoring and goaltending. Simply put, there is no player on the Avalanche more important to the team’s success than MacKinnon.

If not for injuries, there’s a legitimate chance that this is almost a two-horse race for the Hart between Draisaitl and Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov.

Through 34 games, Kaprizov is already up to 23 goals and ranks sixth in the league in points per game. Even with the time he’s missed, Kaprizov is currently on pace to finish the season with a career-high 49 goals and 106 overall points. That’s respectable, and when you look up and down the Wild’s roster, you can see that Kaprizov is certainly their most valuable player. How might that play out with voters? We will see below!

In an effort to establish Hughes’ current place in the NHL’s Hart Trophy conversation, we asked 11 NHL Awards voters to cast their ballot at the halfway point of the season.

To show the data, we are going to indicate the number of first, second, third, fourth, and fifth place votes that each player got. First-place votes are worth five points, second-place four, third-place three, fourth-place two, and fifth-place one. Here are the results of our anonymous survey among actual NHL Awards voters.

1st: Leon Draisaitl — 11-0-0-0-0 (55 points)
2nd: Nathan MacKinnon — 0-7-3-0-0 (37 points)
3rd: Quinn Hughes — 0-2-5-2-1 (28 points)
4th: Connor Hellebuyck — 0-2-3-4-0 (25 points)
5th: Kirill Kaprizov — 0-0-1-0-6 (9 points)

Other players receiving votes (under 5 total points): Nikita Kucherov, Cale Makar, Jack Eichel, and Zach Werenski.

What this poll suggests is that right now, the Hart Trophy really comes down to four players in the minds of voters. Draisaitl is obviously the heavy favourite right now, with MacKinnon a clear number two in the minds of most voters.

As for Hughes, we’ve just passed the halfway mark of the season, and it would appear that the Canucks’ captain is going to at least finish in the top five if he continues to keep this up. A top-three finish as a finalist for the award is certainly something to hang his hat on. To reach the top might be a task simply too tall given the type of season Draisaitl – not to mention MacKinnon – is enjoying.

Where do you think Hughes will finish in the NHL’s Hart Trophy race when it’s all said and done? Let us know in the comments section below!