Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon named 2024 Hart Memorial Trophy winner

Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon was announced as the winner for the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player at the 2024 NHL Awards in Las Vegas.

MacKinnon beat out Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov and Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid to capture his first Hart Trophy win with 137 first place votes. It’s the sixth time in the past seven seasons that MacKinnon has received votes for the Hart Trophy, and is the fourth time he’s finished as a finalist.

This is MacKinnon’s second award win of the night, also winning the Ted Lindsay Award for best player voted by his peers. This is the third time that an Avalanche player has won the award in it’s 100-year history, with Joe Sakic winning it in 2001 and Peter Forsberg winning in 2003.

MacKinnon wins the award after a career year, which saw him put up 51 goals and 89 assists for 140 points in 82 games, finishing second in scoring on the season. Those were all career-highs for him, with his previous career high coming in 2022-23 where he had 42 goals and 69 assists for 111 points.

MacKinnon continued that production in the playoffs, with 4 goals and 10 assists for 14 points in 11 games as the Avalanche were eliminated in the second round in six games by the Dallas Stars.

MacKinnon was the first-overall selection of the Avalanche at the 2013 NHL Draft, and after making his NHL debut the following season and winning the Calder Trophy as the best rookie, he’s gone on to play 11 seasons with the Avs, winning a Stanley Cup with them in 2022.

MacKinnon will be entering the second year of an eight-year deal with a $12.6 million cap hit, a contract that has the second-highest cap hit in the league after Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthew‘s $13.25 million AAV.