Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon sweeps NHL MVP awards after historic season

Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrates his goal against Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) with teammate Josh Manson (42) in the third period during Game 5 of the second round of the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

LAS VEGAS — At one point during the 2023-24 season, Mikko Rantanen said Nathan MacKinnon deserved to be on the “Mount Rushmore” in Colorado Avalanche franchise history.

That was chiseled in granite Thursday night.

MacKinnon won the Hart Memorial Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award at the 2024 NHL Awards Show, collecting both NHL most valuable player honors for the first time in his career. He joins franchise legends Joe Sakic (2001) and Peter Forsberg (2003) as Avs players who have claimed league MVP honors.

“It’s really cool. I honestly never thought I’d win these,” MacKinnon said. “Every player I grew up idolizing has their name on these things. To be a part of that company, it’s surreal. It hasn’t really sunk in yet. It’s definitely a special thing.

“I know it’s an individual award, but you do feel like you’re connected to these all-time greats.”

Avs defenseman Cale Makar was also a finalist for the James Norris Trophy for the fourth consecutive season. The 2022 winner, Makar finished third in the voting. Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes won for the first time, and Nashville’s Roman Josi finished second.

MacKinnon was also named to the NHL First All-Star Team for the first time in his career. He had previously been named to the second team twice. Makar earned NHL Second All-Star Team honors. He’s made the first team twice and second team twice in his five-year career.

A runner-up for the Hart Trophy twice before, MacKinnon finished this past season with a career-high 51 goals and a franchise-record 140 points. He led the NHL in shots on goal (405) and even-strength points (92).

“It probably has a lot to do with me winning (the Hart) is just kind of letting go of things and outcomes and different accolades,” MacKinnon said. “It’s definitely part of it, just letting go of (worrying about) all that stuff.”

MacKinnon said he received phone calls from his childhood hero turned close friend Sidney Crosby and from Wayne Gretzky shortly after winning the awards.

MacKinnon had at least one point in 35 straight home games to start the season, the second-longest such streak in NHL history. He became the first player in league history to have multiple 19-game point streaks, regardless of venue, in one season.

“I was doing the weirdest things before games,” MacKinnon said of his superstitious nature during the home-point streak. “My car was dirty the whole year. I wouldn’t clean it, inside and out. Just dumb things that I would wear. Honestly, when it was over, I was kind of happy.”

This was arguably the best field of MVP candidates the NHL has seen to date, but the Hart voting wasn’t that close in the end. MacKinnon garnered 137 of the 194 first-place votes, 87 more than Nikita Kucherov, who finished second. MacKinnon had 47 second-place votes, eight third-place votes and one voter placed him fifth. One of the voters did not have him on their ballot.

Kucherov led the league with 144 points. He and MacKinnon became the second and third players to reach 140 points since 1996, joining Connor McDavid from 2022-23.