David Pastrnak has no doubt in his mind who he thinks should win the Hart Trophy this year.
And it’s not himself.
The Boston Bruins winger widely is considered a fringe candidate to win the NHL’s most valuable player award, but he believes Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl should be the one that gets the honor this season.
The two big knowns against Draisaitl is that he’s a not good enough defender and that he gets to ride Connor McDavid’s coattails too much, but Pastrnak isn’t hearing that.
“For me, it’s absolutely no question,” Pastrnak said before the reporter could even finish their question. “For me, what Leon Draisaitl was showing up the whole season. A lot of people say, ‘Oh he’s playing with Connor’ and stuff. Connor was hurt for a month or two and he brought it up even another level up. For me it’s absolutely no question it’s going to be and it should be Leon Draisaitl because the way he played this year there is absolutely no question for me.”
For what it’s worth, we had Draisaitl second on our mock ballot behind the New York Rangers’ Artemi Panarin.
