Trophy Tracker: McDavid overwhelming favorite for Hart as NHL MVP

To mark the three-quarter point of the 2022-23 regular season, NHL.com is running its fourth installment of the Trophy Tracker series. Today, we look at the race for the Hart Trophy, awarded annually to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team as selected in a poll by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Connor McDavid is so good he has Alex Ovechkin thinking he might not even be human.
"He's from a different planet," the Washington Capitals forward said during 2023 Honda All-Star Weekend last month.
The last time we checked McDavid's hometown of Richmond Hill, Ontario is located here on earth, but maybe Ovechkin is onto something because the Edmonton Oilers center's game this season has been otherworldly.
It's why McDavid is the overwhelming favorite to win the Hart Trophy, according to a vote by 15 NHL.com writers with a quarter of the season remaining. He received 13 first-place votes and 73 of the maximum 75 voting points. Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak finished second with 39 points. Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson and San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson each received the other first-place votes.
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"It's scary to think," Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby said. "He has a year and you think, 'OK, it's going to be hard to beat,' and then he comes this year and does the same thing and he's better. I think the main thing is he just continues to get better. And as any player, that's what you want. But when it's a guy like that, it's scary."

The numbers back up what Crosby is saying, and why McDavid is appears to be running away with his third Hart Trophy (he won in 2017 and 2021).
Consider the following:
-- McDavid leads the NHL with 54 goals, 70 assists and 124 points in 66 games. The goals and points are NHL career bests for the 26-year-old. He has nine more goals, two more assists and 27 more points than any other player.
-- He is on pace for 154 points. If he picks it up slightly, he could have the most points by a player not named Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux in NHL history. Steve Yzerman had 155 points with the Detroit Red Wings in 1988-89.
-- McDavid has scored three or more points in 18 games this season. He has been held off the scoresheet in seven games, with the Oilers going 2-5-0 in those games. That means he's close to three times more likely to get three points than zero in a single game.
-- He has at least two points in 36 games.
-- He had 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists) in a 11-game point streak that ended in a 3-2 win against the Boston Bruins on Thursday. The streak featrured five games with at least three points and six games with two goals. It was his fourth point streak of 10 or more games this season.
-- McDavid also had 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) in a 15-game point streak from Jan. 3-Feb. 11. He had 37 points (16 goals, 21 assists) in a 17-game point streak from Nov. 26-Dec. 30. And he had 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in a 10-game point streak from Oct. 26-Nov. 12.
"Most players have slumps or bad years; he doesn't have them," Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov said. "It's one thing to be the best. He wants to be the best. He pushes for it year after year. And he's doing it again this season."
But it's what comes next for McDavid that matters most.
He led the NHL with 33 points (10 goals, 23 assists) in 16 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season even though the Oilers were swept in four games by the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final.
Edmonton enters Saturday as the first wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference this season, but it is also still chasing first place in the Pacific Division.
"He got a taste of it in last year's playoffs and I think it motivated him," Vegas Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. "That's what drives elite players. They want to win."
Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis): Connor McDavid, Oilers, 73 (13 first-place votes); David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins, 39; Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils, 33; Tage Thompson, Buffalo Sabres, 33 (1); Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning, 10; Jason Robertson, Dallas Stars, 8; Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild, 7; Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks, 6 (1); Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche, 5; Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers, 3; Leon Draisaitl, Oilers, 3; Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins, 2; Mikko Rantanen, Avalanche, 2; Linus Ullmark, Bruins, 1
NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger contributed to this story.