NEW YORK — Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov won the Hart Trophy as the NHL player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team, marking the second such honor of his career after also winning the award in 2019.
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Kucherov led all players with an average of 1.71 points per game, as he finished second in the NHL with 130 points, including 86 assists, in 76 games.
In voting done by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, and announced Thursday, Kucherov received 72 of 198 first-place votes to help him finish with 1,436 points, just 10 points ahead of Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, and 139 points ahead of Colorado Avalanche center and fellow finalist Nathan MacKinnon. McDavid led the NHL this season with 138 points, and MacKinnon was third with 127.
McDavid had 68 first-place votes, and MacKinnon had 52, marking the first time since the current 10-7-5-3-1 points allocation system was established in 1995-96 that all three finalists received at least 25 percent of all first-place votes. The 10-point gap between Kucherov and McDavid points was the third-smallest under the current points allocation.
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San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini, the league’s fourth-leading scorer with 115 points, had five first-place votes and finished fourth in balloting with 625 points. He received 103 fourth-place votes and also appeared on 182 of 198 ballots.
Celebrini’s point total was nearly twice that of the Sharks’ second leading scorer, Will Smith, who had 59 points in 69 games. Celebrini also scored or assisted on 46.2% of the Sharks’ 249 goals this season. But his Hart candidacy was likely hurt by the Sharks missing the playoffs by four points.
BREAKING: Nikita Kucherov has won the Hart Trophy, as the most valuable player to his team. Full voting table as selected by the PHWA. #GoBolts #NHLAwards pic.twitter.com/0Tfdz6UxTD
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— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) June 11, 2026
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