Crowded field

Crosby and McDavid have company as MVP race heats up

Nobody could touch Patrick Kane in last season’s race for the Hart Trophy.

The Chicago Blackhawks winger and Art Ross Trophy winner (by 17 points) earned 121 of 150 first-place votes for NHL MVP and 93 per cent of the vote overall.

A runaway winner for the league’s top award seems unlikely this season.

Co-favourites in the fall, Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid looked to be 1-2 at mid-season, but since then, a flood of worthy contenders has emerged.

Here is a look at the crowded field:

■ He’s No. 1 in pointsper-game and just clinched his first 40-goal season since 200910. He’s right there in the thick of the race for the Rocket Richard and Art Ross trophies despite missing nearly two weeks to start the season.

■ It’s already easy to take McDavid for granted, but remember: he’s only 20, in his second NHL season and already an MVP candidate. The Oilers captain has had a hand in almost 40 per cent of his club’s offence this year, leads the league in assists and remains a favourite to win the scoring title.

■ He’s not producing at last year’s pace – 46 goals and 106 points – but has been pretty

Crosby: McDavid: Kane:

close to it in the past couple of months, collecting 20 goals and 30 points since Feb. 1. The NHL hasn’t had a repeat MVP winner since Alex Ovechkin (2008 and 2009).

■ Second to only Crosby in points-per-game, Malkin is headed for his biggest season offensively since 201112 when he won the Art Ross and Hart trophies by posting 50 goals and 109 points.

■ No one had more goals or points since the beginning of December heading into Monday’s action, making the 28-year-old a viable threat to win both the Art Ross

Evgeni Malkin: Brad Marchand:

and Rocket Richard.

■ Backstrom trails only McDavid in assists, hovers near the league lead in power-play points and is a dark horse to win the Art Ross. The 29-year-old is headed for his best year since 2009-10 when he garnered 101 points for the Capitals.

■ Burns has cooled off this month but he’s still tracking toward one of the more electric seasons from a defenceman we’ve ever seen. He has an outside shot at joining Paul Coffey, Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque, Denis Potvin and Doug Wilson (his general

Nicklas Backstrom: Brent Burns:

manager with the Sharks) as the only defencemen to crack 30 goals and 80 points in one season.

■ The Senators captain is tiptoeing back into not only the Norris race as the league’s top defenceman but the Hart with maybe the most well-rounded season of his career. Karlsson is pretty close to a point-per-game once more – despite a drop in ice-time – while leading the league in blocked shots.

■

Mark Scheifele; Nikita Kucherov; Victor Hedman; Sergei Bobrovsky.

Erik Karlsson: Honourable mentions:

AP PHOTO Pittsburgh Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby celebrates his second goal of the second period against the Florida Panthers. Crosby and Connor McDavid have some company as the race for the Hart Trophy heats up.