Hockey
Russian Superstar Robbed in NHL, Brilliant Season Just Devalued
Nikita Kucherov / Photo: © Dirk Shadd / ZUMA Press / Global Look Press
Nikita Kucherov rewrote a bunch of records, but was left without individual awards. How is this possible?
Nikita Kucherov was the leading contender for the Hart Trophy, which is awarded for the greatest contribution to his team’s success in the regular season. But journalists, who determine the winner by voting, passed on Kucherov the award.
Some didn’t even include the Russian in the top 5 contenders! And this is after the historic season of the Russian hockey player!
Historical season
For almost the entire regular season, Kucherov and MacKinnon alternated in the leading position on the list of top scorers. North American journalists advertised the rivalry of the hockey players through the fight not only for the Art Ross Trophy, but also for the Hart Trophy. And at the end of the regular season, it seemed that the Russian forward of Tampa could easily snatch two awards at once. And there were very good reasons for this.
Kucherov in the 2023/24 regular season:
Nikita (44+100) rewrote Tampa’s personal and club record for points scored in a season.
Won the Art Ross Trophy for the second time in his career, beating MacKinnon by four points.
Kucherov and McDavid became the first players to record 100 assists in a season since Wayne Gretzky had 122 for the Los Angeles Kings in 1990-91. The Russian is only the fourth winger in NHL history to reach 100 assists!
Kucherov has 54 more points than the Lightning’s second-leading scorer, Brayden Point, the largest gap since Pavel Bure (92) had 55 more points than Viktor Kozlov with the Florida Panthers in 2000-01.
The Russian has contributed to 49.48% of Tampa’s goals (291). Just a little bit more and he would have become the second player since the 1998/99 season to have contributed to 50% of the club’s goals, joining McDavid (50.7% in 2018/19 and 57.4% in 2020/21).
Isn’t this a resume of a Hart Trophy winner? Many journalists thought that the Russian, who carried Tampa to the playoffs on his shoulders, would take the award.
It was expected that Kucherov and MacKinnon would be close in the voting, as they had been this season. Especially since many sympathized with the Canadian because of his style of play and love of goals.
— Kucherov won the Art Ross Trophy. McDavid helped the Oilers get out of the basement and deserves a nomination. But every day of this season, MacKinnon has been the best player in the world and the most valuable to his team. He is the best choice, — the official NHL website published the opinion of journalist Dan Rosen.
The Kucherov Robbery
However, there was no equal fight! MacKinnon took the Hart, beating Kucherov by 370 points and receiving significantly more first places. The event itself has already drawn criticism from many experts. However, the details of the vote make you wonder: maybe some journalists should be banned from voting? Thus, 11 people put Kucherov in fifth place, although the Russian should not have fallen out of the top 2. Another 30 journalists put the forward in third place, and 23 specialists in fourth. For comparison, only one person gave MacKinnon fifth place, and he was called third eight times. But that’s nothing.
If you add up all the points, it turns out that two people voted for the Canadian. It turns out that two journalists did not include Kucherov, who had a legendary season, in the top 5 at all!
MacKinnon’s victory in the voting can, of course, be explained by the result of the Russian’s communication with journalists. The forward almost always answers questions laconically, with a serious face and tries to quickly end the interview. In addition, he was reminded of his antics at the recent NHL All-Star Game, when Kucherov staged a performance: he was on the ice looking as if he was being forced to take part in competitions.
And at the awards ceremony itself, where individual awards were presented, the Russian distinguished himself. At some point, the host with a fake beard and a chain around his neck approached the hockey player and began to imitate a Russian accent. Kucherov clearly did not like the parody of himself, and he answered Lzhenikita’s questions in monosyllables, reducing all the comedian’s efforts to zero.
It is understandable that the man does not like to communicate with journalists. This fact can be treated differently, but not to include a hockey player in the top 5 after a brilliant season… Kucherov was clearly robbed, and his attitude towards the media has nothing to do with it. The journalists simply decided to choose MacKinnon, who has not yet won the Hart.
The Canadian from Colorado also took home the Ted Lindsay Award, which is awarded to the most valuable player of the regular season based on the results of a vote among members of the NHL Players’ Association.
Source: Sportbox
I’m a sports enthusiast and journalist who has worked in the news industry for over 8 years. I currently work as an author at Sportish and my work focuses mainly on sports news.