Claude Giroux 2017-18 Hart Trophy Winner?

"Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux has put together a great bounce back season. Lots of fingers were pointed at Giroux last year when he put up a lowly 58 points in 82 games, the down season had Giroux mentioned in plenty of trade rumours during the summer. Giroux has turned all that into the best season of his career as he currently sits at 95 points with three games left to play. Travis Yost of TSN put together a very interesting piece recently on why Giroux is hands down the leader in the Hart Trophy discussion. One of the most interesting points Yost points out is Giroux's dominance on the powerplay and the Flyers struggles without him on the power play. The Flyers were actually outscored on power play situations with Giroux off the ice. If the Flyers didn't have Giroux on the ice this season they might not even be in the playoff picture looking at how he's added production while on the ice in all situations. There can only be three nominees for the Hart Trophy though and most of the focus has been on Connor McDavid, Taylor Hall and Nathan MacKinnon.

A look at the Hart Trophy race, and an analysis of how teams may have fared if players were completely removed from lineups.
It's here that Claude Giroux emerges as a real Hart Trophy candidate:. (@TSNAnalytics) https://t.co/X3NE024vqv
— Travis Yost (@travisyost) April 2, 2018

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