SNUBBED: Devan Dubnyk left off the list of Hart Trophy finalists
According to NHL.com, “The Hart Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team.” Sure, Alex Ovechkin, John Tavares, and Carey Price played pivotal roles in their team’s success all season long, but how can anyone justify that Devan Dubnyk wasn’t just as valuable― if not more valuable to the Wild than any of those guys were to their teams?
From December 11 to January 13 the wheels had come off for the Wild. They lost 13 of 16 games during this stretch and had plummeted to the basement of the Central Division.
Then, on January 14, GM Chuck Fletcher saved the Wild’s season by bringing in Devan Dubnyk, the relatively unknown backup goalie from the Arizona Coyotes.
Upon Dubnyk’s arrival, the Wild’s play flipped a complete 180. They would ride his stellar play for an unprecedented 36 straight games, going 26-8-2 during that stretch, and climbed to fourth place finish in the division to earn the Western Conference’s first wild card spot.
Dubnyk’s 1.788 goals against average and .936 save percentage with the Wild placed him among the league’s leaders, and almost single-handedly propelled the Wild into talks of legitimate Cup contenders.
The bottom line? Dubnyk got snubbed. It’s not all bad though, the Wild dismantled the Blues in the first round of the playoffs, and Dubnyk is still playing like an MVP, no matter what anybody says.