Bruce Boudreau’s passion for hockey, everyman qualities and winding journey made him one of the most relatable and well-liked coaches in modern NHL history.
He’s played or coached against most of the iconic players of the past half-century, and his love of the sport led him to spend countless hours watching the rest. He coached arguably the greatest goal-scorer of all time (Alexander Ovechkin) at the zenith of his powers.
When he speaks about the history of this game, he speaks from the heart and his words carry weight.
To say he’s a fan of Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon would be a profound understatement.
“When I coached against him, I would forget to coach at times because I would just watch him. Honest to God,” Boudreau told The Denver Post. “To me, he is the most exciting player to watch ever. The combination of speed, strength, power, even some meanness. To have all those traits in a center like that, I just think he’s one of those guys that will go down as just one of the greatest players ever.”
MacKinnon’s place among the best players of his generation is secure, but he can take a big step toward an all-time great legacy Thursday. He is one of the finalists for both the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award, with the winners to be announced at the NHL awards show in Las Vegas.
He’s been a finalist before. He could have won in 2018. This year is different.
While it is arguably the greatest field of candidates in NHL history, MacKinnon put forth his best case to be MVP with a remarkable 2023-24 campaign.
“I think he’s gonna win the MVP this year,” Boudreau said. “He’s won a Stanley Cup. He’s won all of these things. You don’t hear about him in those (all-time) terms sometimes, because (Connor) McDavid overshadows him. But when his career is said and done, he will have done it all.”
McDavid had an incredible season as well, reaching 100 assists. He reminded everyone he is the best player in the world — something MacKinnon has echoed repeatedly — with the best postseason in three decades to push Edmonton to within a win of the Stanley Cup.
The Hart, which is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association, and the Ted Lindsay, voted on by the NHL Players Association, are regular-season awards. For that reason, McDavid will likely finish third in the voting, behind MacKinnon and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov. Toronto’s Auston Matthews scored 69 goals — the most by any player since 1995-96 — and we already know he will finish no higher than fourth in the voting for the Hart.
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MacKinnon finished with 51 goals and a franchise-record 140 points. He had the second-longest home point streak in NHL history and became the first player to have a pair of scoring streaks of at least 19 games, regardless of venue, in the same season.
He wasn’t tops among the top-four MVP candidates in every statistical category, but he was either first or second in so many that it’s easy to make his case as the most consistently dominant player during the 2023-24 regular season.
“When I was in Nashville and they swept us in that (2022 first-round) series, we had played them the second-to-last game of the regular season,” Minnesota Wild coach John Hynes told The Post. “Then we went to Arizona and we came back. The intensity level and the drive that he had (in the playoffs) and the team had, I was like, ‘This is different. This is not the same team we just played. He’s different.’
“When I saw him down the stretch (this season), he had that hat trick against us in Colorado. He was at a different level again.”
That game against Minnesota was the final statement in a season full of signature performances.
MacKinnon scored three breakaway goals, dismantling a team that came into the game 10th in the NHL in goals against since Hynes took over as the coach and needed a win to keep its playoff hopes alive.
On each goal, there was a Wild defenseman (or two) positioned between MacKinnon and the Minnesota net when he collected the puck, but each time they were unable to stay in front of him.
“The speed, the determination. There were things that he did in that game where … there just wasn’t much you could do about it,” Hynes said. “His speed was just … he had the one where he came out of the defensive zone and it was just three strides and he was at full speed. You could see it developing on the bench and he just went through our two ‘D.’
“We were in good position. We had two really good defensemen out there. That was the matchup we wanted. He just beat us.”
Kucherov led the NHL with 144 points. There have only been three 140-point seasons since 1996 — MacKinnon and Kucherov this season and McDavid in 2022-23. MacKinnon has been a great player for most of his career, but the past three seasons have pushed him into a different stratosphere.
He only had 88 points in 2021-22, but missed 17 games and punctuated the year with the Stanley Cup. The next season he posted a career-best 111 points. This past year included his first 50-goal campaign, the 140 points and potentially league MVP honors.
“I really want to improve my game and come back better and produce more,” MacKinnon said recently on the Jeff Marek Show. “I just think there’s always things I can do to get better.”
MacKinnon defines everything by team success, and one championship leaves him short of the all-time greats, in his opinion. McDavid is still hunting his first title after coming perilously close earlier this week.
There is no argument about McDavid’s place atop the NHL, but MacKinnon has made a case as the No. 2 forward, ahead of amazing players like Matthews, Kucherov, Aleksander Barkov and Leon Draisatil.
“(MacKinnon and McDavid) are both very determined players. They have a gear of speed and explosiveness that is hard to play against, and it’s hard to coach against,” Hynes said. “They can just … happen. When you talk about building your team out here in the West, you talk about, ‘OK, who can defend against McDavid and MacKinnon?’”
MacKinnon won’t care as much about the individual awards or the 100-point seasons, but they will matter to hockey historians. His desire to win and already legendary work ethic could push him to defy aging curves.
Just being called the most exciting player to watch by the guy who coached Ovechkin, who could surpass Wayne Gretzky’s record of 892 career goals, is quite an achievement.
“Ovechkin had the same traits when he was younger,” Boudreau said. “(MacKinnon) is in the same mode. If you start hitting MacKinnon, he will hit you back. He does not shy away from it. He’s right at the top of the league in shot attempts every year. He’ll shoot from anywhere and at any time he can turn his stick and make it a pass. You get focused on his shot, which makes his passing even better.
“Alex is a wing, but Nathan is all over the place as a center. That’s the only big difference. They’re both big, physical forwards who don’t mind getting their nose dirty. Those two guys are a really good comparison.”
These are the type of players MacKinnon will be compared to as he continues to create an all-time legacy. Being named NHL MVP would only further cement his place.
Tale of the tape
Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon is one of three centers who are finalists for the Hart Trophy, the NHL MVP award voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. Here’s how all three stack up:
Player, team
Games
Shots
Goals
Assists
Points
Plus/Minus
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado
82
405
51
89
140
35
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay
81
306
44
100
144
8
Connor McDavid, Edmonton
76
263
32
100
132
35
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