Avalanche forward also wins the 2023-24 Hart Trophy

Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon.

After opening Awards Night with the Ted Lindsay Award as the MVP as voted by the players, Avalanche winger Nathan MacKinnon capped off the festivities with another victory.

The league announced that MacKinnon has won the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team,” as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

It’s a fitting award for someone who blew past his career highs offensively, notching 51 goals and 89 assists, recording only the fifth 140-point campaign across the NHL over the last 30 years. MacKinnon became the sixth player in franchise history (including its time in Quebec) to reach the 50-goal mark while he comes in second in club history in assists, checking in three behind Peter Stastny back in the 1981-82 campaign.

MacKinnon recorded at least one point in 69 of 82 games played during the regular season.

MacKinnon took home 137 of 194 first-place votes and appeared on all but one ballot. That helped get him a margin of victory of more than 500 voting points over Tampa Bay winger Nikita Kucherov, who had more assists and points than MacKinnon did this season.

After Auston Matthews beat out Connor McDavid to be the third finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award, they were reversed for the Hart with McDavid coming in third and Matthews in fourth. A total of 14 players received at least one top-five vote.

It’s the fourth time MacKinnon has been a finalist for the award but his first time as the winner. He joins Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic as the only players in franchise history to win league MVP.

Want more articles like this? Follow Pro Hockey Rumors on MSN to see more of our exclusive NHL content.

More must-reads:

Trending slideshow: Every Hart Trophy winner of the NHL's Expansion Era (Provided by Yardbarker)