The Hart Trophy won't be given out to the NHL's Most Valuable Player until later this year, but it's never too early to debate who should take home the prestigious hardware following the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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With the regular season winding down, a lot of players have had breakout seasons and could conceivably vie for the Hart Trophy come season's end.
Here are three possible candidates to emerge as finalists for the Hart Trophy at the end of the 2014-15 NHL regular season:
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3) Jakub Voracek, Philadelphia Flyers: The winger is enjoying his finest season thus far as he is tied for second in the NHL with 65 points and in sole possession of second in the league with 46 assists thus far this season -- both career-highs.
Voracek, 25, also has nine power play tallies and 17 points on the man-advantage thus far this season.
The Flyers (27-25-12) currently have 66 points, five shy of the Boston Bruins for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
2) Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens: The goaltender is having an unbelievable season in between the pipes and has been on a great run since leading Canada to the gold medal in Sochi last winter.
Price, 27, leads all NHL goaltenders with 36 wins, a 1.92 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage through 51 games this season.
Price is looking to become the first goalie since Jose Theodore in 2002 to win the Hart Trophy.
The backstop has helped the Canadiens to a 41-17-5 record and an Eastern Conference-leading 87 points this season.
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals: The veteran winger has had a resurgence under new coach Barry Trotz this season and leads the entire NHL with 43 goals while being tied with fellow Hart Trophy candidate and teammate Nicklas Backstrom for the NHL lead with 67 points.
Ovechkin has finely tuned his all-around game this season and is still a threat on the power play. Ovechkin, 29, has a league-best 19 power play goals and also paces the NHL with nine game-winning tallies this season.
The Russian is a huge reason why Washington is second in the league with a 23.9 power play percentage.
Ovechkin has gained ground on New York Rangers forward Rick Nash -- another Hart candidate -- in the goal-scoring race. Nash has 38 markers on the season.
The Capitals (35-20-10) hold down the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 80 points and are just one point shy of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the third and final automatic playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division.
Plenty of players have had breakout seasons, and their teams will need them going forward as the race toward the Stanley Cup playoffs continues.
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