Connor McDavid is the Art Ross favourite and the Oilers are the Pacific pick, but Sportsnet's insiders won't give him the Hart this morning.
Twelve of 21 panelists picked the Oilers star to win the scoring title. Only six picked him as the league's most valuable player.
Macklin Celebrini took 11 Hart votes, the clear majority. Nathan MacKinnon landed three.
That split is hard to square. Who leads the league in points and still isn't its most valuable player?
It's like voting a restaurant the best food in town, then handing chef of the year to the place across the street.
The panel had no such doubts about the team. Sixteen insiders picked Edmonton to win the Pacific, with Vegas a distant second on three votes.
Five went with the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup. Only Colorado drew more, with six.
Mike Babcock draws no Jack Adams votes as the Oilers open
Babcock runs the Edmonton bench tonight against Vancouver, and not a single insider picked him for the Jack Adams Award.
Ryan Warsofsky led that category with five votes. Martin St-Louis was right behind him with four.
Edmonton gave nobody much reason to doubt it in September. The Oilers swept the preseason 4-0-0 and closed with a 4-1 win over Calgary on Saturday.
Vancouver went 1-3-0 in exhibition play under Manny Malhotra, although the Canucks did win their final tune-up 4-3 over Seattle.
The opener is really the first half of a home-and-home. These two meet again Thursday in Vancouver.
The supporting cast got love too. Mark Spector picked Evan Bouchard for the Norris, and David Amber took Leon Draisaitl for the Rocket Richard.
Draisaitl carries a $14,000,000 cap hit, a notch above his superstar teammate at $12,500,000.
Here's the problem with betting against him for the Hart. If McDavid wins the scoring race and Edmonton wins the division, voters will struggle to find anyone more valuable.
Celebrini has the panel's vote, and McDavid gets first crack at changing minds tonight. By April, somebody's pick is going to look bad.
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Is the Sportsnet panel wrong to pick Macklin Celebrini over Connor McDavid for the Hart?
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