Rangers’ star Artemi Panarin is all “Hart”

Artemi Panarin should win the Hart Trophy. Here’s why.

No player proved more valuable to his team than Artemi Panarin to the New York Rangers in 2019-20.

No player in the NHL transformed his team from playoff observers to contenders as Panarin did.

No player elevated the play of teammates like Panarin did.

No player deserves the Hart Trophy more than Panarin does.

“The Bread Man” clearly matches the NHL’s definition of the Hart as an annual award given “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team” as chosen by a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association in all NHL cities.

Panarin joined the Rangers last July after signing a seven-year contract for a reported $81.5 million. So far, he’s been worth every cent.

Through 70 games before the NHL paused on March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he notched 32 goals and 63 assists for 95 points. His points total was third-most in the NHL (tied with Boston Bruins’ forward David Pastrnak); his assists tally was second-highest (tied with Edmonton Oilers’ standout Connor McDavid).

Yet, more than any other player, Panarin’s been all “Hart.”

He deserves to become the fifth Rangers’ player, and first since Mark Messier in 1992, to win the award.

Here’s why.

Panarin made his teammates better and his team a playoff threat

Panarin accelerated the Rangers’ rebuild, bringing his teammates and the crowds at Madison Square Garden to life with smoothing skating, slick stickhandling, and the best single-season offensive output of his career (now in its fifth year).

The Blueshirts will skate in the NHL’s postseason for the first time in three years. Say what you want about the NHL’s 24-team playoff format, but the Rangers had a good shot at a wild card, trailing by just two points with 12 games to play before the pause.

“The Bread Man” turned the Rangers (37-28-5) into a playoff team, pushing the rebuild at least a season ahead of schedule.

Scoring stats are nice — and Panarin’s are exceptional. But his mere presence gave the Rangers an edge. The kid had 116 goals and 320 points in four seasons before coming to New York. His elite talent meant teams playing the Blueshirts had to worry about the 28-year-old superstar.

Panarin opened up space and time for his linemates. This isn’t a knock on other Rangers, but there’s no question the Russian-born winger made his teammates better.

Perhaps no two players benefited more than Ryan Strome and Jesper Fast, who were Panarin’s linemates for most of the season (39 percent of the time at even strength according to Frozen Tools) and at times on the power play.

Strome posted single-season career highs of 41 assists, 59 points, 17 power-play points, and 14 man-advantage helpers. He also scored 18 goals, one shy of his personal best of 19 in 2018-19 (18 of which came for the Rangers after he was traded by Edmonton for Ryan Spooner).

Strome spent his first six seasons with the Islanders and Edmonton. During his time on Long Island and with the Oilers, he never recorded more than 17 goals or 50 points in a season, Nor did he post more than eight points on the power play in any of those seasons.

What’s more, his adjusted totals for 2019-20 (had the usual 82-game schedule played out) are 21 goals and 48 assists for 69 points.

Meanwhile, Fast was on track to surpass personal bests in goals and points.

The defensive-minded right-winger had 12 goals (including the only two short-handers of his NHL career) and 17 assists for 29 points in 69 games. His adjusted totals of 14 markers and 20 assists for 34 points would have eclipsed previous season highs of 13 tallies and 33 points.

Fast also had 125 hits, four shy of his personal best, and a plus-16 rating. Say what you will about the stat as an accurate indicator of a player’s value, but also consider that in his six previous seasons with the Blueshirts, he finished four of them with a minus rating and was never higher than plus-9.

Other beneficiaries of Panarin’s presence were Pavel Buchnevich and Mika Zibanejad, mostly on the power play and at various points of the seasons.

Zibanejad was limited to 57 games because of injury, but still managed personal season-highs of 41 goals, 75 points, 15 power-play markers, and 27 man-advantage points.

According to hockey-reference.com, he was on pace for 49 goals and 89 points. However, his chances of becoming the franchise’s fourth 50-goal scorer seemed strong given how hot he was in March, scoring 11 times in six games, including five against Washington.

Meanwhile, Buchnevich put up personal-bests in assists (30), points (46), and hits (80). He also recorded his best possession metrics percentages (Corsi 51.2 and Fenwick 52.1).

The power play itself ranked seventh in the NHL at 22.9 percent. Last season, the Rangers’ were No. 17 in the league at 19.4 percent.