Four No. 1 picks chasing the Art Ross Trophy would seem like a dream scenario for the NHL. Approximately a quarter of the way through this season, that is exactly what the NHL is getting.

Chicago’s Connor Bedard and San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini both scored hat tricks Tuesday night, propelling the burgeoning superstars closer to league scoring leader Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche.

Celebrini, 19, has 30 points. Bedard, 20, is at 29. MacKinnon leads with 33.

If you missed the magic from Bedard and Celebrini, have a look:

Bedard and Celebrini each score a hat trick on same night.

The future of the NHL looks so damn bright 😎

Goodnight, hockey fans. pic.twitter.com/G48sstJ212

— NHL (@NHL) November 19, 2025

As noted by The Athletic’s Scott Powers, Bedard’s night, a 5-2 win over Calgary, likely will become part of the Blackhawks’ lore. As for Celebrini, well, his hat trick included an overtime goal for a 3-2 win over Utah, and that doesn’t happen very often for a teenager.

The NHL stats department reported that only the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Jordan Staal (Feb. 10, 2007) and the Winnipeg Jets’ Patrik Laine (Oct. 19, 2016) had scored hat tricks that included OT winners as teenagers before Celebrini’s on Tuesday. As if that wasn’t enough, Celebrini joined Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby as the only teenagers to post at least 30 points in their first 20 games of a season.

Yeah, it’s a great day for hockey when you’re mentioned among the sport’s living legends.

Tuesday also marked the second day in NHL history to feature multiple hat tricks by players age 20 or younger. The only other occurrence took place more than 80 years ago when Jack Hamilton and Bud Poile potted three each for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 19, 1944.

Celebrini is tied for second in points with Connor McDavid, who, along with MacKinnon, increasingly looks like an elder statesman compared to the kids in Chicago and San Jose.

McDavid is only 28 and still in what is historically an elite scorer’s prime. He is chasing a sixth scoring title, which would pull him even with Lemieux. Only Gretzky, with 10, has more.

MacKinnon, the old man among the league’s current top-four scorers at 30, has never won the Art Ross. That likely makes him the sentimental favorite this season. And given that Bedard and Celebrini have emerged as point-producing machines in their respective third and second seasons, an argument can be made that MacKinnon will never have a better chance to win the scoring title than now.

At first glance, each might seem too young to end up skating away with the Art Ross. However, in the NHL’s post-expansion era, eight players have won the Art Ross before turning 24.

Youngest Art Ross winners since 1968

Player

  

Team

  

Age

  

Season

  

Years in NHL

  

Bruins

21

1969-70

4

Oilers

20

1980-81

2

Penguins

22

1987-88

4

Penguins

22

1994-95

5

Penguins

19

2006-07

2

Capitals

22

2007-08

3

Penguins

22

2008-09

3

Oilers

20

2016-17

2

Remember: Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin took turns trading Art Ross trophies in their early 20s as recently as the mid-to-late 2000s.

It’s early this season, but would anybody be surprised if Bedard and Celebrini swapped the Art Ross a few times to end the 2020s?

What makes this latest potential play on “The Kids Are Alright” even better is that Bedard and Celebrini are friends, even if the hockey gods have pitted them as rivals. They train together during the summer.

“Him and I are good buddies, and I think that’s the funny part,” Bedard said recently. “Every time he gets a point or scores, I’m one of the happiest guys.”