As award season progresses, we are starting to see how the voters for the 2026 NHL Awards are feeling about the season. Yesterday, we learned that they still underrate Evan Bouchard, as the league’s leading defensive scorer was left off of the finalist list for the Norris Trophy and will finish outside of the top three in voting.
Not all of the Edmonton Oilers’ candidates are being snubbed, however. Connor McDavid has been announced as a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player.
This is McDavid’s seventh nomination for the award. He has previously won three times, in 2016–17, 2020–21, and 2022–23. He has finished top-10 in voting in each of his seasons, excluding his rookie campaign in 2015–16.
Connor McDavid the Hart Trophy favourite?
McDavid may be heading into the award announcement as the favourite for the award. His 138 points led the league by a comfortable margin over second place Nikita Kucherov, who finished with 130 (though in six fewer games).
This could be considered a bounceback year for McDavid, who had a difficult 2024–25 season in which he missed 15 games and ended with just 100 points, a significant drop from the 132 he had the season prior.
Kucherov’s stock, however, is rising fast after his Tampa Bay Lightning surged in the second half of the season, largely off of Kucherov’s 94 points in 49 games. One of the most impressive lengthy stretches in recent years, averaging 1.9 points per game over that span. He was the NHL.com ballot winner at the end of the season.
Nathan MacKinnon led the league in goals with 53, five more than McDavid, but finished 11 points back of the Oilers nominee, with 127 on the season. He led his Colorado Avalanche to one of the strongest regular seasons in recent memory on their way to the President’s Trophy.
