2025-26 Hart Memorial Trophy finalists: Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon (upd: Kucherov wins 2nd) Mod Warning in OP

[Beyonder91]

literally just a brain fart, no malice intended. Dude has so many awards I lost track

You missed Mackinnon's Hart too

 

[superstars]

Independent of this year's Hart race, whose career/trophy case are you taking?

Kucherov
2x Stanley Cup
2x Hart
2x Ted Lindsay
3x Art Ross

MacKinnon
1x Stanley Cup
1x Ted Lindsay
1x Rocket Richard
1x Calder
1x Lady Byng

McDavid
0x Stanley Cup
3x Hart
6x Art Ross
5x Ted Lindsay
1x Rocket Richard
1x Conn Smythe

kind of feel bad for MacK. he's been right there but there is a chasm between him and Kucherov's total awards lol

 

[Coffey]

Yeah, hard not to. Depends on how much you value team championships really

If you have a brain, it shouldn't be much.

Unless someone thinks that Mack and Kuchs two-way all star defense carried their teams to cups.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

kind of feel bad for MacK. he's been right there but there is a chasm between him and Kucherov's total awards lol

Caldar and Byng are participation trophies.

May as well include Mark Messier Leadership award, BudLight +/- Award, and Brad Marchand/PK Subban friendship award.

 

[Hockeyholic]

Feels hollow after that postseason performance.

 

[daver]

Just going to jump in to say that ppg or anything "per game" is completely irrelevant to a single season award.

It's not who would you take for a game tomorrow, a game 7 in the playoffs or next season. Or who would have lead the league if they had a few more games to play. It's who performed the best this season, and every game missed scores a zero.

The Lindsay is awarded to the best player; sometimes a few missed games doesn't matter.

On the other hand, the Hart is based on value so a few missed games can matter if it's close.

 

[daver]

I'm just a moron who stinks at copying and pasting lol no disrespect was intended

You should be more careful. Some people get pretty upset if you don't show the proper respect to Empty Net Nate, Nikita Moocherov, and Conner McNodefense.

 

[joestevens29]

Feels hollow after that postseason performance.

Maybe what they should do is announce the awards the day after regular season ends

 

[Fatass]

either way, I'm taking McDavid's trophy case

The legacy of Cups lasts. Trophies are like “dust in the wind” over time. IMO Kucherov, McDavid, Crosby and all the best of this era (and other era) value Cups over any individual award.

 

[GaboriklessWild]

x3 Lindsay Winner
x3 Ross Winner
x2 Hart Winner
x2 Cups
x4 120+ Point seasons, x6 100 point seasons
x2 Playoff scoring leader
x4 PPG leader, x5 top 2 placements, x7 top 5 placements.

Best PPG among Russians all time in reg and post season.

Will overtake Malkin for most playoff points for a russian.

He's making a very strong case for the best Russian ever, Maybe even best European player ever.

Shame that injuries made him miss a huge chunk of games in his prime(missed 1 and a half years)

Without 'injuries', he might not have won the Cup.

 

[nerevarine]

The legacy of Cups lasts. Trophies are like “dust in the wind” over time. IMO Kucherov, McDavid, Crosby and all the best of this era (and other era) value Cups over any individual award.

Any plug can be on a cup winning team, only the greats win trophys like the hart, art ross or lindsay

 

[jimstark]

Well deserved congratulations to Kucherov. It was a bit tough for Tampa the last few games, but the period during the season he picked up almost the 22 points he was behind Connor we haven't seen in the NHL in over 30 years. It was absolutely insane. We're talking about a winger who plays significantly less during the season than a center does and he did this without several key players. 6 points behind Connor with 6 fewer games played. Well deserved to the world's best and smartest player he is like a combination of Gretzky and Pavel Datsyuk

 

[Coffey]

Any plug can be on a cup winning team

 

[daver]

We're talking about a winger who plays significantly less during the season than a center does

Why is that?

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

View attachment 1253388

he wasn't a plug

 

[Coffey]

he wasn't a plug

Well either way, he's the reason why we hate Quebec.

 

[jalapenoWithAnH]

So the person with the highest gf/60 rel in the league at all strengths won. Not a shocker.

Post in thread 'Hart and Lindsay candidates'

Apr 18, 2026

Connor clearly deserves this, but it's a classic case of people getting bored by how good he is.

If he "clearly deserves" it why are Kucherov and MacKinnon ahead of him when you measure a players on ice impact to the teams goal share in relation to their teammates on ice impact to the goal share and rank all of the players in the league based on this? It doesn't matter if it's 5v5 impact or whether you include all strengthts.

Here we have on ice relGF/60 based on all situations and with the minimium TOI being 1500. So basically players who have not played near full season are...

• jalapenoWithAnH

• 

 

[LTIR]

Waiting to see the names of 2 voters that had McDavid at #5.

 

[LTIR]

So the person with the highest gf/60 rel in the league at all strengths won. Not a shocker.

Post in thread 'Hart and Lindsay candidates'

Apr 18, 2026

Connor clearly deserves this, but it's a classic case of people getting bored by how good he is.

If he "clearly deserves" it why are Kucherov and MacKinnon ahead of him when you measure a players on ice impact to the teams goal share in relation to their teammates on ice impact to the goal share and rank all of the players in the league based on this? It doesn't matter if it's 5v5 impact or whether you include all strengthts.

Here we have on ice relGF/60 based on all situations and with the minimium TOI being 1500. So basically players who have not played near full season are...

• jalapenoWithAnH

• 

No one gives a crap about gf/60 rel. Im sure the person who voted for Suzuki as #1 also had some criteria in mind.

Kucherov had a monster season but McDavids was a bit better.

Kuch winning isnt the issue , its the voters who didnt think McDavid was a top 3 Hart candidate and voted him at #4 , #5 or outside of 5.

 

[Beyonder91]

So the person with the highest gf/60 rel in the league at all strengths won. Not a shocker.

Post in thread 'Hart and Lindsay candidates'

Apr 18, 2026

Connor clearly deserves this, but it's a classic case of people getting bored by how good he is.

If he "clearly deserves" it why are Kucherov and MacKinnon ahead of him when you measure a players on ice impact to the teams goal share in relation to their teammates on ice impact to the goal share and rank all of the players in the league based on this? It doesn't matter if it's 5v5 impact or whether you include all strengthts.

Here we have on ice relGF/60 based on all situations and with the minimium TOI being 1500. So basically players who have not played near full season are...

• jalapenoWithAnH

• 

Might be some confirmation bias for me haha but it certainly matches with my view of him driving Tampa's offence more than other players do for their own teams.

Kucherov also has the highest GF/60 Rel last 3 years (23-24 to 25-26) combined with Mcdavid 2nd and Mackinnon 3rd.

It certainly seems like a pretty good indicator of player value to a team.

 

[Beyonder91]

No one gives a crap about gf/60 rel. Im sure the person who voted for Suzuki as #1 also had some criteria in mind.

Kucherov had a monster season but McDavids was a bit better.

Kuch winning isnt the issue , its the voters who didnt think McDavid was a top 3 Hart candidate and voted him at #4 , #5 or outside of 5.

and Kucherov was left off of 2 ballots completely...

 

[Coffey]

S

Waiting to see the names of 2 voters that had McDavid at #5.

and Kucherov was left off of 2 ballots completely...

Seth Rorabaugh rears his ugly head again

Sports writers are f***en children

 

[thadd]

How did the third best option win? Pretty sure.

 

[Beyonder91]

How did the third best option win? Pretty sure.

Welcome to subjective award voting

 

[LTIR]

and Kucherov was left off of 2 ballots completely...

Lets see those names as well! Shame em all.