Who has been the best Canadian sportsperson of the year?

2023 has been an interesting year for Canadian sports with some solid performances but have there been any stand-out players or athletes to crown an undisputed sportsperson of the year? Let’s take a look at some of the major winners from 2023 and see if we can find those whom we want to trust on the betting sites with our money as we know that they are going to perform every time that they are in action. 

The Northern Star award was announced last night on the 11 December where one of the main players from the year of sport was given this prestigious award.

There is no better place to start than on the ice and in the form of Connor McDavid, the Edmonton Oilers have a generational talent who last season produced the biggest points total (153) seen in the sport since the 1995-96 season when Mario Lemieux put up 161.

While that did not turn into a lifting of the Stanley Cup for the Oilers, to produce the most points for almost 30 years in a sport which seems to be having a classic generation of athletes at present was exceptional.

It’s fair to say that the Oilers have not got this current season off to the best start and that might just be what will cost McDavid the prize but the last few games have seen McDavid back close to his best.

At the other end of the ice is the Colorado Avalanche’s Cale Makar. The blue liner is putting up points at a serious rate for a player of his position and he was in the mix for the Northern Star award in 2022 so after another excellent year, he has to be considered once more.

It would be remiss to talk hockey and not mention Sidney Crosby. While he has not been a contender to lift one of the big trophies in the sport in recent years, he did top 1500 points last season and has had a far better goalscoring start to this season than is the norm with him, on track for just his third 40-goal season.

There are a couple of players here who have had an exceptional 2023. Jamal Murray was part of the NBA-winning Denver Nuggets which has to go some way to giving him a chance of landing the Northern Star. He didn’t play in the FIBA tournament in the summer for Team Canada, however, and it has been mentioned by a couple of commenters that that decision could hurt his chances. 

The other is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who was at the FIBA World Cup as part of the team who helped Canada to gain a bronze medal, beating the United States in that medal-deciding game. That alone could be enough to see him gain votes in the Northern Star. On top of that, he enjoyed an excellent season in the NBA for the Thunder, finishing fifth in the MVP voting after a season averaging more than 31 points. It was a truly special season for the 25-year-old and he looks to only be getting started.

It was not a classic season in MLB but Jordan Romano managed to tie his personal record of 36 saves set last season in 2023. It was a second trip to the All-Star Game for the Ontario-born player. An ERA of 2.90 was on the big side for him after 2.14 in 2021 and 2.11 in 2022 but it was still a solid enough season. Unfortunately, solid enough is not going to be enough to see him get votes for the Northern Star.

Freddie Freeman has dual citizenship with both parents hailing from Canada, though we can’t really claim him as our own. He did have another exceptional season though as he continues his march to Cooperstown.

The Montreal Alouettes knocked off the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a shock in the Grey Cup Final. The Bombers enjoyed an exceptional season and a huge part of that was the continued emergence of Brady Oliveira as a star. He broke through the 1,000-yard barrier last season, topping 1,500 this year, ending up with 1,534.

That is the second most all-time in CFL history for a Canadian-born running back. He went for 119 yards and a touchdown in the Grey Cup Final and while it was not enough to see his team lift the trophy, his season as a whole could put him into contention for the Northern Star.

It was a bitterly disappointing effort from the Canada women’s team at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, failing to get out of the group stage. While there was nothing to get excited about there, 2023 was the year that stalwarts Christine Sinclair and Sophie Schmidt hung up their international boots. While neither did enough to get close to a Northern Star vote from any of the committee, this is a good chance to mention them and all they have done to grow the game in Canada.

On the men’s side, both Jacen Russell-Rowe and Mohamed Farsi were part of the MLS Cup-winning Columbus Crew while Alistair Johnston was part of the Celtic treble winners in Scotland. He was thrown in the deep end on his debut for the club at the end of 2022 in an Old Firm Derby against Rangers but he has acquitted himself well in his new surroundings in 2023.

It has been another excellent year for Canadian track and field athletes both at the World Championships in Budapest back in the summer and in the more recent Pan American games that came from Santiago, Chile.

There were four gold medals picked up in Hungary during the summer. Ethan Katzberg won the men’s hammer throw, Camryn Rogers won the women’s hammer throw, Marco Arop picked up the men’s 800m and Pierce LePage emerged triumphant in the men’s decathlon. LePage especially is turning into a huge star and will be one of the main medal hopes that Canada has at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Ranked number one in the world in decathlon, he is worthy of consideration as the top Canadian sportsperson of 2023.

It was Charles Philibert-Thiboutot and Sarah Mitton who won the golds for Team Canada at the Pan American Games in the men’s 1500m and the women’s shot put respectively. Mitton has been one of the most consistent performers in recent years but she was only a silver medalist in Budapest and that might just cost her any hope at Northern Star votes.

Becoming the first Canadian player to win the Canadian Open in almost 70 years looks sure to gain some Northern Star votes for Nick Taylor. It was a dramatic success, having to play until a 4th playoff hole to find a winner and it was only when Taylor knocked in a monster eagle that the players could be split.

The downside to his 2023 was his play for the majority of the rest of the year. Yes, that was a monster of a performance in front of his home fans but he made no impression when he was playing in the major tournaments and those are the ones that people are going to remember.

There was another Canadian winner on the PGA Tour this year as Corey Conners picked up the Valero Texas Open back in April, the second time that he has come out on top in that tournament. 

Conners lifted his world ranking up to 25 this year, hitting that level for the second time in his career in early December. That is as high as he has ever been in the rankings so he has had an excellent year but he has the same problem as Taylor. 12th in the PGA was the best that Conners managed in a major which means that he is going to find it hard to get much support in a Northern Star vote.

There is little doubt that one of the top few players in the world right now is Jeff Teat and there is no doubt among fans that he has the talent to become the undisputed number one player. The New York Riptide have the pleasure of the 26-year-old in their ranks.

He finished last season with 136 points, one behind the all-time league record which propelled him to third in the MVP voting. The fact that his team was not in contention despite his incredible season went some way to him not getting a higher voting level in that award.

Lacrosse is a popular sport across Canada but no lacrosse player has ever lifted the Northern Star award which suggests that Teat is going to have a hard task getting much in the way of recognition outside of his own sport which is a huge pity.

Laurence St-Germain has struggled to make much of an impression during the World Cup but she put everything together when she landed the World Championship gold in slalom back in February. Performing well early in a year can sometimes not be a plus as recency bias is often a thing but she cannot be denied that day in the sun.

It is a similar story with Jack Crawford who won the men’s Super Giant Slalom at the World Championships. He has struggled so far in the World Cup but his gold medal in France was the best effort of his career.

A third who is worth mentioning is a ski jumper. Alex Loutitt is just 19 years of age but that did not stop her from winning gold at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Slovenia. No Canadian has ever won the event so she was treading new ground for sporting achievement for the country. That should mean that she gets plenty of consideration for the Northern Star, though not being all that well-known outside of a small circle of fans might not help her.

Paris will be on the radar of Maggie Mac Neil who was dominant in the pool at the Pan American Games. She won a string of gold medals and already has an Olympic gold in her trophy cabinet from the 100m butterfly in Tokyo. 

Summer McIntosh is the other current star in the pool for Canada and she is only 17 years of age. She won a pair of gold medals at the World Championships in the summer and should only get better and stronger as her career continues to unfold. She was one of those in contention for the award last year and will be this year plus if she stays healthy and wins the golds that we expect her to at the Olympics, she will be in the mix in 2024 as well.

No huge surprise that it was Shea Gilgeous-Alexander who ended up as the 2023 Northern Star recipient. His performance at the FIBA World Cup as the standout performer in the bronze medal-winning team was huge, even more so as it was a win over the USA in that medal game, sending them home with nothing around their necks.

He became just the second basketball player to win the award, following on from Steve Nash in 2005, a sport that is often overlooked for hockey which is the sport to have won the award more than any other.

A really strong year for sport in Canada and 2024 is shaping up to be even better. It is very early to be making predictions but we think that the 2024 Northern Star winner will be Summer McIntosh who will show the world in Paris next summer that she is a phenom in the pool!