Connor McDavid inexplicably receives rogue fifth-place vote for Hart Trophy

Connor McDavid walked away from Monday's NHL Awards with two new trophies, bringing his total from his sensational 2022-23 season to four. According to one voter though, he didn’t deserve to even be a finalist for one.

After the Edmonton Oilers captain received the Hart Trophy for league MVP, the voting totals were made public, and one person — specifically Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review — thought McDavid not only didn’t deserve the title, but that he deserved fifth.

In some seasons, the race for the Hart is so tight that no one truly knows how it will go. That wasn't the case this year. McDavid put up a career-high 153 points — a total not seen since Mario Lemieux scored 160 points 30 years ago — and led the league with 64 goals, the most since Alex Ovechkin scored 65 in the 2007-08 season.

For 82 games this regular season, no one could even come close to what McDavid was doing and every single voter but one thought he was deserving of the Hart title. One hundred and ninety-five people put the sensational center first on their ballot, but Rorabaugh decided not to.

Instead, he gave standout Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak his first-place vote. The 27-year-old had a terrific season in his own right, scoring 61 goals and adding 52 assists, but Pastrnak himself probably would have even voted for McDavid.

It's not the first time Rorabaugh has made waves with his rogue voting. He curiously left McDavid and Auston Matthews, last year's Hart Trophy winner, off his ballot entirely in 2021-22.

Along with the almost-unanimous Hart Trophy, McDavid also walked away with the Ted Lindsay Award for the league’s most outstanding player, as voted by the players. In addition to the two awards on Monday, McDavid earned the Art Ross Trophy for leading the league in points, and the Rocket Richard Trophy for leading it in goals scored.