These are my top 5 candidates for MVP this year. Any there options?

Matthews
Barkov
Vasilevskiy

1. McDavid
2. Matthews
3. MacKinnon
4. Barkov
5. Crosby

Hart Trophy winner must play for a playoff team, imo.

I originally had Barkov where Kane is, but thought Kane was more valuable to his team overall.

Matthews not even in contention. He'd be in the 7 to 10 range. Had Barkov originally and switched to Kane last second. Vasilevsky I could agree with.

I'd love to know why Marchand is in contention yet Matthews isn't.

Imo it's McDavid.

Only Barkov comes close. He's so good both ways, and he isn't exactly playing with top level wingers either.

Matthews has 34 Goals lol. He's on a 63 goal pace for an 82 game season. If a player leads his team to a division title, leads the league in goals by a wide margin, and plays solid, albeit not Barkov-level defense, I believe he deserves to be top 3 at least.

Marchand has a much bigger impact on his team. He plays all situations and he drives that team. If you watch the Bruins without Marchand, it's night and day.

He's not that good defensively. Marner and Hyman are much better than him on that side. Marchand is the driver behind his team. PK, PP, even strength, he does it all.

Pretty much obvious it’s gonna be McDavid. After that it would be 2 of these as the runner-ups (Matthews, Barkov, Kane and Mackinnon). Vasy could also make his case but I doubt it.

I think it's McDavid also. I really don't think Matthews deserves to be there but he'll get votes. Marchand is more deserving than Matthews, but Mac is up there.
I had Barkov on the list originally but replaced it with Kane. Barkov is deserving though

Matthews is decent defensively. Playing on the penalty kill necessitate defensive ability. Using the argument that Marchand is more deserving because he plays in all situations hurts the argument for McDavid and Kane, since they don't. Definitely should've stopped at "Bruins are noticeably better with him than without".

Anyways, my top 5 would be:

-McDavid
-Vasilevskiy
-P. Kane
-MacKinnon
-Matthews

Marchand is hated. He's dirty. He'll never win.

Well I don't disagree that he won't win. Pronger was hated too (and definitely could be dirty) and he won. Marchand is definitely more valuable to his team though.

You're stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marchant will not win the hart he will not even come close Matthews has a better chance!!!!!!!!!

hmm today i will be mad about marchand for no reason

The reason is that Matthews is more qualified to win the Hart then Marchand

No, Matthews is not more qualified. Marchand has a much bigger impact on his team. And unlike Matthews, actually plays all situations. Marchand is far more qualified. However, because of his reputation, he won't get in the top 3.

Only because of reputation. Marchand is the better overall player and more valuable to his team than Matthews. Matthews is a good player, but he doesn't do it all like Marchand does. Besides, it's a lot more noticeable when Marchand is missing from the Bruins lineup than when Matthews is missing.

Matthews is decent defensively. Playing on the penalty kill necessitate defensive ability. Using the argument that Marchand is more deserving because he plays in all situations hurts the argument for McDavid and Kane, since they don't. ". Matthews is also very important to his team they would not be tops in the north division if he had not played so well this year.

Matthews has played really well. Worth more to his team than Marchand? No. And while playing PK doesn't fully mean better defensively, it does mean those players value increases. Is it enough to offset the offense of a McDavid or Matthews? Probably not. Again, this isn't a knock on Matthews, but Marchand doesn't have anyone else in the top 5 or ten in points from his team with him, Matthews and Draisaitl do. Matthews isn't that good defensively. He benefits from Marner being so good. In fact, I would almost say Marner holds just as much value to the Leafs as Matthews because he's an all situations player. Do I think Marchand will win? No. Does he deserve to be top 5? Absolutely. Same with Barkov.

Matthews has to be in the top 5. As mentioned above, he's on pace for 63 in a full 82 game season, which is the best in the last 20 years save for Ovi's 65 goal season. Marchand is elite, but I don't think he's good enough that he should be rivaling the second best goal scoring season in the last 20 years. At the very least Matthews is top 5. Another name to consider is Mark Stone. He's one of, if not the best, 2 way forward in the game, and is one of the biggest reasons the knights are as good as they are.

That said, anyone you thinks Connor McDavid shouldn't win the Hart is an idiot. Probably 100 points in a 56 game season, pretty sure that kind of pace is the best since Gretzky.

McDavid is going to win. No doubt in my mind. Marchand I would say is more elite, even more deserving than Matthews. I get Matthews is having a great scoring season and he's certainly up there, but Marchand is a complete player, similar to Mark Stone or Barkov (who has gotten a lot of love on here). I dont think he's top 5, don't think Patrick Kane is either but he's up in the top 10. Marchand (like Stone and Barkov) deserves more recognition for everything he does. He also doesn't have anyone in the top 15 in scoring like the other guys do.