Kucherov’s Hart Win Puts the NHL’s Best Back in the Spotlight

Kucherov’s latest hardware comes with the kind of résumé that makes voters sweat and rival fan bases groan. The Hart Trophy race always turns into a referendum on value, and this one carries the usual mix of star power, ego, and plenty of second-guessing from the peanut gallery. There is always context behind a trophy like this, and the real fun is in the way the league’s brightest names measure up when the ballots get counted.