Trophy Tracker: Kaprizov of Wild picked to win Hart as most valuable player

To mark the first quarter of the 2024-25 regular season, NHL.com is running its second installment of the Trophy Tracker series this week. Today, we look at the race for the Hart Trophy, awarded annually to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team in the NHL as selected in a vote by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Kirill Kaprizov keeps on scoring and the Minnesota Wild keep on winning.

The combination is enough to not just put Kaprizov in the conversation for the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player this season, but to make him the favorite at the quarter mark.

Kaprizov is exactly that, according to NHL.com's Trophy Tracker panel. The Wild forward nearly swept the vote, receiving 13 out of a possible 15 first-place votes to finish ahead of Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, who got the other two for first.

"He's such a good teammate, he's such a good leader, such a good person, and he's the best player in the League right now," Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. "Actually, cut that out. I don't want to jinx him, but, no, he deserves it all. Everything he's doing right now, he's been the leader of our team, no doubt."

Kaprizov has 34 points (13 goals, 21 assists), which is tied with MacKinnon for the NHL lead. He is tied for fourth in goals, two behind Alex Ovechkin and Sam Reinhart for the League lead. He also has 12 points (six goals, seven assists) in an active seven-game point streak, and 24 (eight goals, 16 assists) in an active 11-game road point streak, which is the longest in Wild history.

"I mean you guys see it every night too, just how special he is and how smart he is," Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek said. "I just try to get open when he has the puck. He's going to draw a lot of attention to him, and there's going to be ice that's open."

Kaprizov has at least one point in 16 of 19 games, with the Wild going 12-2-2 in those games and 1-1-1 in the three games he was shut out. He has had at least two points in 12 games, including seven consecutive multipoint games from Oct. 15-Nov. 1, and has four two-goal games.

"He's feeling it," Wild defenseman Jake Middleton said. "Some of the best hockey he's ever played. He does this all the time for me. I think pucks are just dropping for him right now, but we'll run with it as long as he's doing it."

The Wild have never had a Hart Trophy winner. They've never had a player finish in the top three of the voting. Goalie Devan Dubnyk was fourth in 2014-15, but he started that season with the Arizona Coyotes before being traded to Minnesota on Jan. 15, 2015.

Kaprizov is easily the most dynamic player in Wild history. For now, he's in line to be their first most valuable player.

"I don't want to go down that road with it because there's so much time left in the season," Wild coach John Hynes said on the Oct. 30 episode of the "NHL @TheRink" podcast. "What I will tell you is that the way that he's playing -- he has the points, we all recognize that -- but the consistency level, the competitiveness that he's playing with, the attention to detail he's playing with, it's nice to see him embrace those things as well as be a point driving player for us. If he can continue to play the style of game at the level he's playing at, I think anything is on the table for him this year."

Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1-basis): Kirill Kaprizov, Wild, 73 points (13 first-place votes); Nathan MacKinnon, Avalanche, 49 (two first-place votes); Sam Reinhart, Florida Panthers, 21; Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets, 18; Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning, 14; Martin Necas, Carolina Hurricanes, 12; Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights, 10; Cale Makar, Avalanche, 8; Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers, 5; Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals, 4; Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers, 3; Mikko Rantanen, Avalanche, 2; Leon Draisaitl, Oilers, 1

NHL.com independent correspondent Jessi Pierce contributed to this story