Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon Wins 2023-24 NHL Hart Trophy; Also Won Ted Lindsay Award

Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon has been awarded the 2023-24 Hart Memorial Trophy as the player "most valuable to his team."

The honor, as voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, was announced Thursday during the annual NHL awards.

Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov and Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid finished as runners up.

MacKinnon played all 82 contests for the Avalanche and recorded at least one point in an NHL-best 69 games.

He is the second Colorado player since Joe Sakic (2000-01) to score more than 50 goals in a single season.

MacKinnon finished the season with 54 goals in large part due to his speed. He skated in bursts of more than 20 miles per hour 52 times during the regular season, putting him in the 99th percentile of all skaters, according to NHL Edge.

MacKinnon began the season with a 35-game home point streak, second only to Wayne Gretzky's 1988-89 campaign with the Los Angeles Kings for the longest stretch in NHL history.

During that span, Colorado led the NHL with 28 home wins.

The Avalanche finished the regular season with a league-best 31-9-1 record at Ball Arena on their way to clinching a playoff spot for the seventh consecutive season.

MacKinnon is also the first player in NHL history to record two separate 19-game point streaks in the same regular season.

His 140 total points set a franchise record and paced winger Mikko Rantanen for the team production lead by 36 points.

The first overall pick of the 2023 NHL draft, MacKinnon has played 11 seasons for the Avalanche. His 791 regular-season games rank fifth in franchise history.

This is the first Hart Trophy of MacKinnon's career. He has finished as a finalist three times prior.

He follows Joe Sakic (2000-01) and Peter Forsberg (2002-03) as the franchise's third player to earn the honor.