Los Angeles Kings Jeff Carter Makes Compelling Case for Hart Trophy

Jeff Carter has basically carried the entire offense of the Los Angeles Kings this season, and given the fact that only Sidney Crosby has more goals than Carter this season, it might be time to start having some serious discussions about Carter’s viability to win the Hart Memorial Trophy.

ESPN has an article where Craig Custance speaks up about why Carter deserves more MVP hype than he has gotten up to this point.

It’s pretty easy to gather why the lack of attention has occurred. The Kings are hovering around the wildcard in the Western Conference, while guys like Crosby and Connor McDavid look like they have their teams more firmly entrenched in the postseason picture.

It’s an interesting debate to have, though, because it really hits at the core issue of how “value” is defined in terms of player performance.

Carter has scored 21.2% of his team’s goals this season. No player has a higher percentage of his team’s goals. At a fundamental level, that makes him the most “valuable” offensive player in the league.

If Carter were removed from his team, the stats say that the team would be more affected than any other player being removed from their given team around the league.

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Of course, that’s from a purely offensive standpoint, but goals are the metric that most tangibly determine wins and loses.

Traditionalists will point to the idea that a player cannot fairly be labeled as valuable as others if they don’t even lead their team to the postseason.

Sure their stats might be good, but how valuable can they possibly be if they can’t properly elevate their team to success?

I really take more of the middle ground on this debate, and see the merits of each side. A superstar shouldn’t be penalized for playing with a more lackluster supporting cast, but collective team success also demonstrates an ability to truly take over a game and be a transcendent figure.

For a player to win the Hart Trophy, I firmly believe that their team has to at least make the postseason. The team doesn’t have to necessarily be elite, but at least successful enough to qualify for a chance to win a championship.

The 9 game winning goals for Carter also keep the door open for him, because it illustrates his penchant for scoring clutch goals for his team.

I really respect the argument centered around the percentage of scoring production Carter contributes for the Kings, but I’d still put Crosby and McDavid ahead of him.

I think Crosby deserves to be the Hart favorite at this point. He leads the NHL in goals with 30, points per game with 1.28, is tied for the lead in total points with 60, and the Pittsburgh Penguins as a team have the 2nd most points in the Eastern Conference and 3rd most in the entire NHL.

It’s important not to overthink discourses like this. If voting were held today, Crosby definitely deserves the Hart Trophy.

Due diligence is always required, though, and Carter certainly has a compelling case for inclusion into this discussion.

Next: Los Angeles Kings Bounce Back With Strong 6-3 Win Over Florida Panthers

It’s probably not enough to usurp Crosby, but even being considered as an MVP candidate is quite an honor.