Ranking the Hart Trophy Winners of the 1990s
The 1990s were a transcendent decade in the National Hockey League.
Following up on 10 years in which two teams—the New York Islanders and Edmonton Oilers—won eight championships and the Hart Memorial Trophy for the league’s most valuable player was the exclusive property of Wayne Gretzky (nine wins) and Mario Lemieux (one win), it was a free-for-all by comparison.
Seven individual superstars were named MVP between 1990 and 1999 and none of them won the hardware more than twice. In fact, only one player, Buffalo’s all-world goaltender Dominik Hasek, was able to capture his trophies consecutively in a decade in which eight teams were crowned champion.
Of note, only one MVP, Edmonton’s Mark Messier in 1990, captured the Stanley Cup the same year.
Read on for our ranking of each individual MVP season of the decade and fire away with your own lists in the comments.
10: Eric Lindros, Philadelphia (1995)
1 of 10
The Numbers: 29 goals, 41 assists, 79 points in 46 games
The Runner-Up: Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh
The Context: Back in the days when Philadelphia Flyers fans could say his name without a curse word attached, Eric Lindros was seen as the heir apparent to Mario Lemieux as the league’s best player. His labor-dispute-shortened season was ample evidence of his talent and warrants commendation, but it pales in comparison with some of the full-season numbers posted by others in the decade.
9: Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh (1999)
2 of 10
The Numbers: 44 goals, 83 assists, 127 points in 81 games
The Runner-Up: Alexei Yashin, Ottawa
The Context: The ex-sidekick to Mario Lemieux emerged from No. 66’s shadow during his three-season respite from the league. 1998-99 provided the second of three scoring titles in four seasons as long hair and post-goal salutes became the Steel City rage. It was also the high NHL watermark for Ottawa’s Alexei Yashin, who posted career bests in goals, assists and points while finishing second in Hart voting.
8. Sergei Fedorov, Detroit (1994)
3 of 10
The Numbers: 56 goals, 64 assists, 120 points in 82 games
The Runner-Up: Dominik Hasek, Buffalo
The Context: He didn’t have Mark Messier’s star power or Jaromir Jagr’s flair, but the mid-1990s version of Detroit’s Sergei Fedorov was surely right up there when it came to a legitimate ranking of the league’s best players. His MVP year came before Detroit began its Stanley Cup run, but the 120 points alongside the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top two-way forward are evidence of the Russian’s well-rounded acumen.
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7. Brett Hull, St. Louis (1991)
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The Numbers: 86 goals, 45 assists, 131 points in 78 games
The Runner-Up: Wayne Gretzky, Los Angeles
The Context: The “Golden Brett” not only stood in the way of Wayne Gretzky’s remarkable bid for a 10th MVP award in 12 seasons, but he put up some Gretzky-like scoring numbers along the way. Hull’s 86 goals are the most by any player who wasn’t playing for the Edmonton Oilers at the time, and just six off the record established by the “Great One” in 1981-82. That productivity warrants a high list placement.
6. Mark Messier, N.Y. Rangers (1992)
5 of 10
The Numbers: 35 goals, 72 assists, 107 points in 79 games
The Runner-Up: Patrick Roy, Montreal
The Context: The 107-point season marked the sixth and final time that “The Captain” reached triple digits, but it was the beginning of a leadership role with the previously moribund Rangers franchise that’s become something of a modern-day legend. Though the drought-breaking title was still two years off, No. 11’s arrival in Manhattan instantly changed the course of New York hockey history.
5. Dominik Hasek, Buffalo (1997)
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The Numbers: 37 wins, .930 save percentage, 2.27 goals-against average in 67 games
The Runner-Up: Paul Kariya, Anaheim
The Context: Ask some passionate Sabres fans and they’ll tell you that Hasek’s first MVP season could have easily been the second or third time he actually deserved the award. An afterthought through his first three NHL seasons, the bouncing Czech became a star upon taking over the Buffalo starting role and 1997 was the fourth of six straight seasons in which he led all goalies in save percentage.
4. Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh (1993)
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The Numbers: 69 goals, 91 assists, 160 points in 60 games
The Runner-Up: Doug Gilmour, Toronto
The Context: Had he not been dogged by illness and injury through the middle and late years of his career, it’s quite possible that the former No. 1 overall draft pick and Penguins savior could have approached the video game numbers established by Wayne Gretzky. As it was, 1992-93 provided his fourth league scoring title and a lifetime of boasts from Doug Gilmour that only a legend topped him.
3. Mark Messier, Edmonton (1990)
8 of 10
The Numbers: 45 goals, 84 assists, 129 points in 79 games
The Runner-Up: Raymond Bourque, Boston
The Context: Wayne Gretzky was gone. The run of four Stanley Cups in five years had been halted. And at that moment, the man who many claimed was the glue of the great Oilers teams officially became “The Man” in Edmonton. Come springtime, a rag-tag bunch of holdover vets and anxious youngsters climbed on his back and gave the city its last great on-ice moment before he bolted for New York.
2. Dominik Hasek, Buffalo (1998)
9 of 10
The Numbers: 33 wins, .932 save percentage, 2.09 goals-against average in 72 games
The Runner-Up: Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh
The Context: The decade’s only repeat winner was piling on at this point while adding ridiculous stats to a resume already full of them. He led the league in games played, shots faced and saves while compiling a career-best 13 shutouts and stopping 93.2 percent of the pucks sent in his direction. Considering the talent of the team in front of him, it was among the greatest seasons an NHL goalie ever had.
1. Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh (1996)
10 of 10
The Numbers: 69 goals, 92 assists, 161 points in 70 games
The Runner-Up: Mark Messier, N.Y. Rangers
The Context: It wasn’t the most prolific season in NHL history. It wasn’t even the most prolific of the Montreal native’s career. It was, however, the only time that a player was able to produce so much after missing a season due to fatigue prompted by radiation treatments to deal with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. If all other factors were equal, those mitigating circumstances make Lemieux’s season the best of these best.
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