If Connor McDavid runs away with the Hart Trophy, who would be second on the ballot?

It’s pretty clear at this point that Connor McDavid is running away with the Hart Trophy. Just look at the scoring leaders, look at his impact, and look at the fact that he has 16 goals in 18 games and has found a way to score at a pace he’s never scored at before.

My biggest question as we’re closing in on the quarter-mark of the season is, who would be number two on a Hart Trophy ballot today?”

McKenna: “I’m going to go with Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He’s only six points behind McDavid. When you look at the consistency Kucherov has had this year, there have only been three games this year where he hasn’t registered a point. He’s had nine multi-point games and he’s been healthy.

We almost forget the injury problems that Kucherov has had over the past couple of years, he just wasn’t there physically to perform unless it was a playoff series. He’s at 28 points, 13 of them have been on the power play, so he’s been really diverse.

Tampa has been so good 10 or 12 games and they’re trending upward. I don’t see them losing the stride that they’re on right now. For Kucherov, the only negative is that he doesn’t kill penalties but that’s never been negative for Hart Trophy voting.

He’d be my pick. The other one is Erik Karlsson, but he isn’t on a playoff team.”

Seravalli: “For me, it’s Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars. I had lots of question marks heading into this season about missing the bulk of training camp and the year that he had last year and whether he would be able to replicate that. He’s not only replicating it, he’s taking it to the next level.

He’s got 12 goals in 18 games, which means he’s on pace for 55 goals. He scored 41 last year and has really changed my perception of this Dallas Stars team. They’re a really good team and efficient at getting out of their own end and Robertson is pulling the team toward the top of the standings in the Central Division.

Watching his year and watching him continue to grow, I think I got this Stars team wrong. I thought that they were in the bulk in the middle of the Central Division and they’ve clearly risen to the top at this point.”