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Toronto Maple Leafs: A Pair of Leafs Receive Hart Trophy Votes

By David Corcoran

May 12, 2022; Tampa, Florida, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) is congratulated by right wing Mitchell Marner (16) after scoring a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period of game six of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
May 12, 2022; Tampa, Florida, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) is congratulated by right wing Mitchell Marner (16) after scoring a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period of game six of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs did not recieve any end-of-season trophies at the annual NHL Awards Show on Monday.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, did, however pick up a few votes for some hardware.

It was nearly, and should have been completely, unanimous when Connor McDavid took down his third Hart Trophy on Monday night as the league’s Most Valuable Player.

The Richmond Hill native potted 64 goals, 89 assists and 153 points, each of which were career highs for the 2015 first overall pick.

When the voting was released, it showed that McDavid received 195 out of 196 first place votes with the one other top vote going to Boston’s David Pastrnak.  The Bruins sniper also crossed the 60-goal plateau as he finished with 61, however finished 40 points behind the Oilers center.

What also seemed very odd, was not only did that one voter not list McDavid number one, but they did not even have him in the top four as McDavid finished with a fifth-place vote.

This is the type of voting that should have someone lose their future eligibility to put their weight into the Hart decision.  It appears that whoever made the fifth-place nod for McDavid was trying to low ball him in points to give Pastrnak a better chance at winning.

Toronto Maple Leafs on the ballot

The Toronto Maple Leafs had two players receive consideration, albeit minimal votes for the league MVP award.

Auston Matthews had the highest vote on the team as he received one third place vote, along with a fourth and a pair of fifth place votes.  The defending Hart Trophy winner had a down season as he was able to only collect 40-goals on the season, 20 less than the previous year while collecting 85-points.

What has become a common factor over his career, Matthews missed eight games last season due to injury.  This may have affected his shooting ability as he had his lowest shooting percentage of his career at just 12.2% which was exactly 5% lower than what he averaged over the previous three seasons (hockey-reference.com).

Mitch Marner also received consideration, finishing three spots higher than Matthews, as he finished with nine votes.  This was the second time in his career that Marner garnered some Hart Trophy votes as he received with a single fifth place acknowledgement in 2020-21 (hockey-reference.com).

After finishing three-points shy of 100 during the 2021-22 season, he came even closer as he ended the year with 99-points.  Marner became the third Toronto Maple Leafs player in franchise history with at least three 90-point seasons and he joins Darryl Sittler who has the team record at five seasons.

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Marner also finished third in voting for the Frank J. Selke award, receiving a trio of first place votes.

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