Connor McDavid did something really special this season, and on Monday night, he was rewarded for it. McDavid recorded the most points in an NHL season since Mario Lemieux’s 161 in 1995-96 points, and no one came near his 153 points recorded. It was a career-high for McDavid, and his 64 was also the most in the league, three more than David Pastrnak.
It was a season for the ages, and everyone who watched him play knew it. Well, everyone except one, apparently.
McDavid won his fourth Ted Lindsay Award, presented to the league’s most outstanding players as voted by the players, but he also won a third Hart Trophy. It wasn’t a huge surprise; the big question was whether he would win it unanimously.
Only two players in league history have won the Hart Trophy by getting every single first-place vote; Wayne Gretzky and Connor McDavid, and the Edmonton Oilers superstar had a chance at becoming the first player ever with two unanimous Harts. But when the voting was made public, we realized that McDavid fell one first-vote short of breaking history.
McDavid picked up 195 of 196 possible first-place votes, and the lone person that didn’t choose him as No. 1, picked him at fifth.
The only person that snubbed McDavid from first place instead chose David Pastrnak as their first vote.
As McDavid won the scoring race by 25 points and outscored Pastrnak by 40 points, fans found it astonishing that one person actually picked him as the No. 5 in the league, and it caused outrage in the hockey community.
”Genuinely believe whoever voted McDavid 5th should lose their voting privileges forever. There is zero actual argument for that,” one said.
”Whoever voted McDavid fifth needs their voting rights removed,” another said.
”Imagine being so biased that you not only vote your guy 1st but give the otherwise unanimous winner a 5th place vote,” a third added.
Many were absolutely sure that the person voting for McDavid in fifth place was from Boston sports media, as Pastrnak got the No. 1 vote.
”Just classic Boston sports media, nothing to see here,” one said.
”This should go in the books as unanimous, f**k Boston sports media,” a second added.
