Writer that didn't vote McDavid for Hart Trophy revealed

Connor McDavid took home the third Hart Trophy of his career on Tuesday night, though it didn’t come unanimously as most expected it would.

After his 153-point regular season, McDavid received first-place votes in 195 of the 196 ballots cast. Not having him first was shocking enough, but it resulted in even more public outrage when it was confirmed that the one writer who didn’t give him a first-place vote instead had him at fifth.

The PHWA has since revealed that writer as Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports. This isn’t the first time the Pittsburgh Penguins columnist has taken heat for his voting at the NHL Awards, as he also had McDavid and Auston Matthews outside his top five in Hart Trophy voting a year ago. Matthews, of course, went on to win the award, while McDavid placed second.

Instead of giving his first-place vote to McDavid, Rorabaugh chose to select Boston Bruins’ David Pastrnak. He then had Jason Robertson, Ilya Sorokin, and Matthew Tkachuk before adding McDavid in for fifth.

As you can imagine, fans were outraged after seeing Rorabaugh’s ballot. His name was even trending on Twitter this morning shortly after the PHWA released its list.

McDavid’s 153 points this season are the highest total the league has seen since Mario Lemieux recorded 161 during the 1995-96 campaign. It also serves as the 15th-best regular season total in NHL history, while only three players, Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, and Steve Yzerman, have ever recorded more.

If that wasn’t already convincing enough, McDavid’s 153 points gave him a 25-point lead over the NHL’s second-leading scorer, which happened to be his teammate in Leon Draisaitl. The third-highest total was Pastrnak, who had 113. The Oilers captain also led the league in goals with a career-high 64.

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• One voter didn't have McDavid first for Hart Trophy... they had him fifth