Nathan MacKinnon robbed at ESPYS, doesn’t win best NHL player

Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP this season.

Apparently, that doesn’t matter at the ESPYS.

ESPN held it’s annual awards show on Thursday night, and the best NHL player vote was never revealed. It finally came out on Friday morning, and the honor went to Edmonton’s Connor McDavid instead of MacKinnon.

Stick taps for No. 97!

Congratulations to @EdmontonOilers captain Connor McDavid on earning Best @NHL Player at last night’s @ESPYS! #EPSYS pic.twitter.com/5kX9Jqwj1X

— NHLPA (@NHLPA) July 12, 2024

McDavid is obviously a phenomenal player, but MacKinnon won the Hart Trophy in a landslide. You’d think the awards would align, but they didn’t.

The ESPYS also take place in July, so it probably helped McDavid that he took the Oilers all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the Florida Panthers in seven games. MacKinnon in the Avalanche fell in Round 2 of the playoffs to the Dallas Stars.

But MacKinnon had an insane regular season and was also quite solid in the playoffs.

MacKinnon shattered personal records finishing with 140 points, the most in his career in a single season by 29, after recording 111 in 2022-23.

He also scored more than 50 goals for the first time, finishing with 51 total. His 89 assists were by far the most he’s ever had in one year.

MacKinnon finished second in the NHL in points to Nikita Kucherov, who had 144. McDavid came in third with 132.

But in the postseason, McDavid was simply unreal. He finished with 42 points in 25 games. MacKinnon had 14 points in 11 games.

When the ESPYS first started in 1993, only fans voted for the awards. However, since 2004, sportswriters, broadcasters, sports executives, and ESPN personalities also vote. Between all those avenues, McDavid was declared better than MacKinnon this year.

It’s not that big of a deal, as Nathan MacKinnon would surely rather have a Hart Trophy than an ESPY. Still, it’s a little odd the awards don’t line up more closely, just like Nuggets star Nikola Jokic was also snubbed on Thursday night. He didn’t win best NBA player, with the award instead going to Luka Doncic of the Mavericks.

Oh well, Mackinnon and Jokic can laugh about it with their MVPs together.