Comparing the Avs' Three Hart-Winning Seasons

Sakic vs. Foppa vs. The Dogg... we all win!

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Nathan MacKinnon is less than a week removed from winning the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s MVP as voted on by members of the league’s writers. That same night he also took home the Ted Lindsay Award as the MVP by a vote of his peers in the players association.

Pretty good night.

In taking home the Hart, MacKinnon became the third Avalanche player to do so since the move to Denver. In fact, no Nordique ever claimed the award during the time in Quebec, so there was no need for a Denver-based caveat here. He’s just the third player in the franchise’s five-plus decade history to win.

Pretty good.

MacKinnon joins Joe Sakic (2001) and Peter Forsberg (2003) on the list, ending the Hart’s 21-year absence (something MacKinnon already knows how to do) from the Mile High City.

Let’s take a look at and compare these three MVP seasons.

Joe Sakic | 2000-01
82 GP | 54-64-118 | 12 GWG

• Hart Trophy

• Lester B. Pearson (now the Ted Lindsay)

• Lady Byng Trophy

• First Team All-NHL

• Selke Runner-Up

• Stanley Cup Champion

That’s a lot of awards… and going to be hard to beat. The franchise’s cornerstone player/executive/individual won nearly everything under the sun that remarkable 2000-01 season. What makes it all the more impressive is how he was able to do it in the face of such tremendous expectations. For those of you who may not remember that year — or who look back on it only through the lens of knowing its conclusion — that team was facing a win or be partially dismantled vibe. Sakic, Patrick Roy, Ray Bourque were all free agents at the end of the year. They then added another huge unrestricted free agent and superstar talent in Rob Blake at the deadline and the pressure was ramped up even more. They had to win.