Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche were announced as the finalists for the Hart Trophy for the 2025-26 season on Friday. All are previous winners of the award, which is given to the NHL’s most valuable player and voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
McDavid, 29, has been the league’s MVP three times but his last Hart came in a career-defining 2022-23 season where he led the NHL with 64 goals, 89 assists and 153 points. After a “down” 2024-25 where he still had 100 points but finished 10th in Hart voting, the league’s best player has 138 points and won his sixth scoring title.
What strengthens McDavid’s argument for the Hart is he also finished third in goals with 48 and put up big numbers as his team finished the last month of the regular season without fellow superstar Leon Draisaitl. McDavid kept Edmonton in the Pacific Division title hunt by scoring 11 goals and 24 points in the final 14 games without his running mate, who was sidelined by a lower-body injury.
Kucherov, 32, finished second to McDavid in the points race with 130 after capturing the Art Ross Trophy the last two seasons. The Lightning star right wing led all players with 1.73 points per game as he missed a handful of contests due to injury and illness. He won the Hart following the 2018-19 season, but he has authored one of his finest years as Tampa Bay continued to flourish despite many obstacles.
In a year where key veterans Victor Hedman, Brayden Point, Ryan McDonagh and Nick Paul all missed significant chunks of time in the NHL schedule, Kucherov was a massive part of keeping the Lightning in a Stanley Cup contention window. No one had more points after Nov. 12 than the 116 he put up in 61 games. During a pivotal midseason stretch where Tampa Bay went 20-1-1 to surge into the Atlantic Division title race, Kucherov had 17 goals and 52 points.
MacKinnon, 30, won his first Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL’s top goal scorer with 53. He also led the league in even-strength goals with 42 and had a plus-57 rating that topped every other skater. As the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avalanche powered out to a 31-2-7 start, MacKinnon led everyone with 35 goals and 74 points. His 127 points still ranked third behind McDavid and Kucherov.
The 53 goals is a career high for MacKinnon, who had 51 goals and 140 points when he won the Hart Trophy two seasons ago. He has been a finalist on three other occasions and had a fourth-place finish in voting last year.
Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was last season’s Hart Trophy winner.