NBA 2024 MVP Nikola Jokic presents Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon with Hart Trophy

The state of Colorado has seen plenty of success in the the last few years, with the National Basketball Association’s Denver Nuggets winning their first league championship in 2023, and the Colorado Avalanche winning their third Stanley Cup in 2022.

Much of that success is due to a pair of generational talents in Nikola Jokic and Nathan MacKinnon, both of whom won the Most Valuable Player awards last season in the NBA and NHL, respectively. On Saturday night, Jokic, donning a MacKinnon home sweater, presented the Avalanche forward with the Hart Trophy he won last June.

Last season, MacKinnon hit career highs in all offensive categories, scoring 51 goals and 89 assists for 140 points. He finished with 27 more assists than teammate Mikko Rantanen and 36 more points than his Finnish linemate. The Avalanche lost in six games to the Dallas Stars in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring.

Meanwhile, Jokic won his third MVP award in 2023-24, averaging 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and nine rebounds. After winning their first championship in 2023, the Nuggets were eliminated in the second round by the Minnesota Timberwolves in seven games.

Now in his 12th NHL season, MacKinnon has scored 335 goals and 566 assists for 901 points in 792 career regular-season games. In seven of his first 11 seasons, MacKinnon has averaged more than a point per game. In 88 Stanley Cup Playoff games, MacKinnon has 48 goals and 66 assists for 114 points.

Taken No. 1 overall by the Avalanche in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, MacKinnon, was born in Halifax, N.S. and grew up in Cole Harbour. He played junior hockey with the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League’s Halifax Mooseheads.

Through two season, MacKinnon scored 63 goals and 90 assists for 153 points in 102 regular-season games. He also scored 24 goals and 37 assists for 61 points in 34 games, helping the Mooseheads win the President’s Cup in 2013.