The NHL kicked off award season today, announcing that Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks, Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers have been named finalists for the Ted Lindsay Award.
Although the Hart Memorial Trophy has more name recognition, there’s a concrete argument that the Ted Lindsay Award carries more weight for the players. It’s awarded annually to the most outstanding player of the regular season as voted on by members of the NHL Players Association. Instead of being judged by writers, the winning player receives the award as judged by their peers.
Even if he doesn’t win, Celebrini’s finish as a finalist is a testament to the year he had. The 19-year-old had an outstanding season, scoring 45 goals and 115 points in 82 games, almost single-handedly leading the Sharks to the postseason. It wasn’t enough to crack the top-three in scoring leaders for the NHL, but he led the under-25 group by a long shot. The next closest was Wyatt Johnston (22) of the Dallas Stars, who scored 45 goals and 86 points in 82 games.
It would be a disservice to write about Celebrini’s regular season with the Sharks without also mentioning his performance with Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Despite falling to the United States in the Gold Medal game, Celebrini was unstoppable, scoring five goals and 10 points in six contests throughout the international tournament.
Meanwhile, Kucherov’s spot as a finalist for the award is par for the course. The high-scoring Russian is the defending winner of the award, also winning it in the 2018-19 season after leading the league in scoring. Unfortunately, unlike the past two seasons, Kucherov didn’t lead the league in scoring or the assist category, which has become a common occurrence for him. Regardless, with the amount of injuries the Lightning sustained this season, it’s hard to argue that Kucherov’s play provided the stability the team needed to remain competitive.
Then there’s McDavid. If he hasn’t done so already, the 29-year-old may want to invest in another trophy closet relatively soon. He’s already claimed the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer, something he has already done five additional times. Furthermore, regarding the Ted Lindsay Award, McDavid has already had that honor on four occasions.
Given their seasons, it’s hard to argue against any of the finalists. Still, although it’s difficult to remove any of the finalists, it’s surprising that Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche didn’t finish in the top three of votes. MacKinnon was the most dominant player on the most dominant team, scoring 53 goals and 127 points in 80 games with a +57 rating.
The Makar effect. Not surprised he wasn’t top 3.
Celebrini absolutely deserves it.
McDavid will probably get it.
Celebrini would be ok with me as he doesn’t have as good a support cast. Plus he is new and a fresh face.
Seems a little silly to dismiss MacKinnon because of Makar. Each of the Big three have great players on their teams and wouldn’t be as great if they didn’t have help. Is Makar the best defenseman, Draisaitl the best secondary forward and Vasilevskiy the best goalie… yes. Point, Bouchard and Necas are good too.
I’m ok with MacKinnon being left out of the list as long as someone puts the clipping in the Avs locker room before each game. I’m sure he would rather go after the Conn Smythe anyway.
Do you really believe that Nathan MacKinnon needs to be motivated during the playoffs?
Dumb question. If he feels slighted, it could motivate him even more.
I dumbed it down so you could keep up.
You’ve never played sports I’m willing to bet. HOF troller though.
Sidney Crosby with an honourable mention
Meh, I gotta disagree with yall. MacKinnon should be here, point blank
I can’t be the only one who winces a little bit at these things being announced during playoff series. McDavid is great! He’s also down 3-1 to a team absolutely no one thinks can win the Cup, in a season he lost in the Olympics to a team whose best players didn’t even make the playoffs.
Is that fair? Probably not. It’s at least simplifying a complicated issue. But McDavid as the agreed upon ‘best player in the world’ is a tricky thing given the on ice results of Edmonton. And the timing of these announcements makes it hard for me to not think about this stuff.
It’s amazing how often people forget hockey is a team sport. The Oilers have had incredibly flawed rosters for years, yet McDavid has taken them to the finals two years in a row. Are you suggesting that if you replaced McDavid on the Oilers roster with a different player they’d be more successful?
No, I’m suggesting that maybe they should separate the point in time that they announce awards from the timing of playoff games. This article talks about McDavid needing a new trophy case for all his numerous individual trophies, while he’s 60 minutes from being eliminated by the Anaheim Ducks in just a few hours. That’s objectively strange, and a little funny, and can be solved by just announcing the awards before or after the playoffs, and not during.
(Though, fair or not, the ‘greatest in the world’ arguments in sports are always solved by championships. It’s not a hockey thing – it’s a sports thing. You wanna be immortalized? Win it all, and preferably do it more than everyone else. I don’t think Connor himself would take issue with that standard.)
@ashlandateam – “…in a season he lost in the Olympics to a team whose best players didn’t even make the playoffs.”
Last I checked, Jake Guentzel, Jack Eichel, Matt Boldly, & Brady Tkachuk all made the playoffs from team USA & many would consider these names among the best players on that team. Your statement on that is grossly misguided.
Are we going to pretend that Connor Hellebuyck and Jack Hughes/Zach Werenski weren’t the guys who won that gold medal game? Come on. I don’t believe you didn’t know what I meant or why.
You seem to be overthinking this. These are simply the final lists of players eligible to win some regular season awards. Nothing to do with the playoffs.
Celebrini is deserving of being a finalist though arguments could be made for MacKinnon being in that spot. Celebrini I don’t see winning it because he didn’t get into the playoffs. However, I feel this is going to either Kucherov or McDavid (who are truly the top 2 guys in the NHL IMO). I think it’s leaning towards Kucherov (you never can fully tell despite the hunches that are out there) as he’s also the leading favorite to potentially finally get his rather long, overdue second Hart Trophy.
You’re also the biggest homer this site has ever seen. And its by a wide stretch. No one else comes close to it. There is that Pens guy, but he’s miles behind.
@wreckage – I wouldn’t be able to tell, as it takes one to know one. However, it’s clear you embody the traits of a complete clown. Furthermore, the points I made in my original post are valid, but your lack of understanding and ignorance seem incapable of processing such reasoning. I’m not at all surprised when it involves you though.
“it takes one to know one”. Brilliant retort. Is your dad tougher than his dad? You must dominate at recess.
Lol that ad hominem attack has all the merit of saying “you’re a doodoohead”.
@Doghockey – You have proven my point in what I stated about you in another post. It’s like clockwork. Ultimately, you embody arrogance without substance—a hollow figure irrelevant to meaningful discourse.
All the people saying Big MacK got jobbed are forgetting this award is voted on by the players. The rest of the players in the league feel these 3 are the top 3. Not the media, not the GMs, not the fans. The guys who play against them nightly.