Trophy Tracker: Panarin of Rangers emerges as leader for Hart as MVP

To mark the quarter point of the 2023-24 regular season, NHL.com is running its first 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 vote by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Artemi Panarin experienced a mixed bag of emotions when he returned for training camp with the New York Rangers this season.

"It was not great," Panarin said. "I felt the same as the year before, the motivation was pretty high, but probably more nervous this year before the season. I didn't feel that confident."

Panarin and the Rangers were coming off a seven-game loss to the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference First Round, when they lost four last five games. Panarin didn't have a point in the last six games.

Then this happened in his first preseason game, against the New York Islanders on Sept. 30:

"I touched the puck one time and it went right on the curve of an Islanders player and they scored," Panarin said. "It was like the bad dream kept going."

The dream is over. Reality is much better.

Panarin has not only been the Rangers' best and most consistent player this season, he's been the best in the NHL according to a panel of 16 NHL.com staff members who collectively selected the forward as the favorite for the Hart Trophy, voted as the League's most valuable player, at the quarter-mark of the season.

The 32-year-old leads the Rangers with 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 20 games. He has at least one point in 17 games, at least two in 11. He began the season with a 15-game point streak (26 points; 10 goals, 16 assists), the longest to start a season in team history.

"I think he's taking another step, he's hit another level, another gear this year," Rangers center Vincent Trocheck said. "I don't know what it is. Same player, but a little more urgency maybe."

That includes shooting more than he ever has in his career.

Panarin has been known as an elite playmaker and passer since he entered the NHL in 2015, but this season he already has 79 shots on goal, an average of 3.95 per game, putting him on pace for 323.

He had 204 shots in 82 games last season. His career high is 228 in 81 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2017-18. His career average was 2.56 shots on goal per game entering this season (1,513 in 590 games).

"He definitely seems like he's looking to put the puck at the net and I'm glad he is," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "I think his shot is one of the best with regard to placement. When he shoots it he knows exactly where it's going. He's had so many goals this year where he could have just got it and whipped it at the net and hoped, but he didn't. He has that delay to it, the pause to see what's up, maybe where the goalie moves, and he shoots it where he's not. I think he's got a goal scorer's touch, so I like the fact that he is shooting."

Panarin said it's "not a mindset" to look to shoot more. He's getting his shot off more because the opportunity to shoot is available more. He credited Alexis Lafrenière, who has been the right wing on his line all season.

"He can take the puck back in the zone and I have more time to be open," Panarin said. "He gives me that extra second to get closer to the net without the puck. Usually if I come from the neutral zone with the puck into the zone a guy or two will jump on you right away. I know from the couch it's easy to say, 'Shoot the puck,' but that's why I pass it. Right now, I have the opportunity to be more open. It's because I'm closer. I don't want to shoot from the red line. When I played with [Patrick Kane] I would shoot a lot because he gave me that opportunity. It's great."

Lafreniere has been on the ice for all eight of Panarin's 5-on-5 goals, with assists on two. Panarin, who also has two power-play goals and an empty-net goal, has assisted on five of Lafreniere's eight goals.

"I think they read off each other," Laviolette said. "I think they think the game the same way, areas to go to, where to be and what to do. I think playing on their off sides has opened the game up for them as they're entering zones and inside offensive zone play. There is definitely a connection there."

Panarin recognizes that, but he's hesitant to talk about it; he's hesitant to talk about anything he has done in the first quarter of the season.

"It's only a month and a half," Panarin said. "We have, how many, six more?"

Maybe it's superstition. Or maybe the nerves haven't fully gone away. Maybe there are still scabs from the playoffs last season that he's afraid could open.

They won't at the pace he's going.

"He's doing everything the right way," Trocheck said.

Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis): Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers, 46 (three first-place votes); David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins (two first-place votes), 42; Quinn Hughes (five first-place votes), Vancouver Canucks, 39; Elias Pettersson, Canucks, 27 (five first-place votes); Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning 26 (one first-place vote); William Nylander, Toronto Maple Leafs, 23; Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils, 18; Sam Reinhart, Florida Panthers, 13; J.T. Miller, Canucks, 5; Cam Talbot, Los Angeles Kings, 1