Panarin's Excellence Is Invoking Early Hart Trophy Talk

As if a new level to his game has been unleashed, the likes of which we have never seen.

It's crazy, as the man is 32, closer to the back-end of his prime, yet his best, seems to be coming. Making him a deserving candidate for the Hart trophy.

Leading a Rangers squad who is mere percentage points away from matching the Boston Bruins for best record in the league.

All this on top of the substantial amount of injures that have fallen on the Rangers early on with the loss of Adam Fox, Filip Chytil, and Igor Shesterkin after that 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Even Jonathan Quick missed a game, and the Rangers have gone 3-0-1 since then. Panarin has registered multi-point performances in each game, accumulating three goals and eight points total during this stretch.

He is also tied for fourth in the league in points currently. The other three players ahead of him, are all Vancouver Canucks players who currently have played two more games than Panarin and the Rangers.

He is also on pace for 141 points through the 82 game season.

Look, I know the season is still young, we have 68 games of hockey left to be played, and the ultimate real goal is to win the Stanley Cup.

But the players deserve recognition for their performance this early stage of the season, especially Panarin.

He has a real shot to be the first Ranger since Mark Messier in 1992 to win the Hart Trophy. Let's get the discussion started!