LAS VEGAS – The Colorado Avalanche don’t get nice things.

Everyone knew last summer that the Avs were going to have a hard time getting any respect after a 48-point season in 2016-2017, but what Nathan MacKinnon did for his organization this year to get them back to relevancy gained a lot of attention. MacKinnon ultimately did not win the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s MVP. His second-place finish in the voting came as a mild surprise given his incredible season.

This race has been something he actively avoided talking about throughout the regular season, saying on multiple occasions he was more concerned with his team’s success and making the playoffs than he was individual awards. Even after leading his team to the playoffs and giving the President’s Trophy winners all they could handle in a feisty first-round series, MacKinnon is getting the individual recognition, though lacking in hardware, he more than deserves.

Nathan MacKinnon’s breakout season was the arrival of the superstar we had all been waiting for since the Colorado Avalanche drafted him with the first overall pick at the 2013 NHL Draft. After an extremely promising rookie season, MacKinnon underwhelmed for the three seasons that followed and people started wondering if we would ever see the elite player we all knew he had the potential to be.

The first ten games of the season were more of the same from MacKinnon: jaw-dropping skill, but so-so results.

Then the flip switched.

Nathan Mackinnon spent the next six months terrorizing the NHL and carrying his team to a surprise playoff birth and one of the best turnarounds in league history. What he did this year was nothing short of amazing. He shattered career highs in goals, assists, and points (39-58—97), finished second in the league in points per game, lead the league in game-winning goals and was Colorado’s lone representative at the NHL All-Star Game.

So what led to this? What was so different this year versus the last three for MacKinnon? The timing of his game going to the next level makes it easy for some people to say that it was the departure of Matt Duchene that finally allowed Nathan MacKinnon to step fully into the spotlight as the face of a franchise and the team’s offensive cornerstone. And while that may have played a part in his dominant emergence, there was a huge difference in how he carried himself off the ice. MacKinnon has himself admitted that in the past he would ride his wave of emotions too much. His demeanor throughout this season was far more even-keeled and many nights it was hard to tell whether his team had won or lost.

It would’ve been very easy for MacKinnon to get comfortable when it seemed like everything he touched turned to gold, or to get down when the pucks stopped going in during the final weeks of the season when a playoff birth was on the line, but he made it a point to not give into the extremes. He knew he was going to be a leader in a room full of young guys, and the best way to lead is to lead by example.

Being around Nathan MacKinnon in 2017-2018, one year removed from going through the worst season in modern NHL history, was fascinating. His attitude was infectious and his play was electric. So even though he’s not bringing any hardware back from Vegas, he earned the respect of the hockey community and had a year very worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as some of the all-time greats who have won it.

It might not be much of a consolation but MacKinnon isn’t leaving Vegas completely empty-handed as he was named to the NHL’s Second All-Star Team. He is the first Avalanche player selected on any of the teams since 2013-14 (Semyon Varlamov) and the first position player since Joe Sakic in 2003-04 to do so.

That’s all good and well but MacKinnon and the Avalanche suffering one last loss of the season shouldn’t get them down. They spent all year showing what kind of “Hart” they had in that locker room. That’s the real takeaway for them as they begin looking towards next year.