Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has been named the 2026 Hart Trophy winner, the annual award for the top player in the National Hockey League. The honors were announced this evening on ESPN’s “The Point” prior to Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Awarded to the player selected in a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers Association in all NHL cities upon the end of the regular season, Kucherov takes home the MVP for the second time in his career, the first coming in 2019. The soon-to-be 33-year-old beat out other finalists Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid.
Final voting totals were revealed by The Athletic’s Chris Johnston, with Kucherov’s 1,436 points just ahead of McDavid’s 1,426, a razor thin margin. His four more first-place ballots over the Edmonton captain were the difference. MacKinnon came away with 1,297 points, while San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini finished fourth (625 points, five first-place votes) and Montreal’s Nick Suzuki rounded out the top five (102 points), netting one first-place vote.
Kucherov continues to produce at an incredible level, coming away second in the league with 130 points (44 goals, 86 assists) in 76 regular season games. Dishing out an absurd number of helpers, he always evoked fear in goaltenders when looking toward the net instead, shooting at a 19.0% clip, with 44 goals as eighth highest in the NHL. The Russian winger’s 1.71 points-per-game stands out as the league best out of qualified players, and on that rate, had he not missed six contests Kucherov would have been on track to surpass the first ranked McDavid’s 138 points in 82 games. The fourth straight season in which he recorded at least 80 assists, the winger came away second behind McDavid in that statistical category.
Based on those metrics, Kucherov stood out to voters after a 2025-26 where he helped carry the Lighting through what was an injury-riddled campaign along their way to 50 wins. He wasn’t the only Tampa Bay star to take major honors, as Andrei Vasilevskiy won the 2026 Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender. As if that wasn’t enough, head coach Jon Cooper received honors as the 2026 Jack Adams Award winner for best coach. Despite the regular season hardware, the Lightning’s season ended in a Game 7 defeat of the opening round at the hands of the tenacious Montreal Canadiens.
The unceremonious ending aside, Kucherov’s tremendous campaign adds to an already deep trophy shelf, with two Stanley Cups and three Art Ross trophies as top league scorer. Even at age 32, he beat out point totals from his 2018-19 Hart-winning season, going nuclear then in year six of his NHL career with 128 points in 82 games.
An award reserved for the best of the best, Kucherov is in an exclusive company for his position. Only he and Corey Perry (2011) are forwards who won the award in the past 20 years who were not chosen in the top three selections of the NHL draft. A heist by the Lightning at 58th overall in 2011, one has to look back to 2004 as the last time a non-first round forward won the Hart besides Kucherov, that being fellow franchise legend Martin St. Louis.
An unrestricted free agent after 2026-27, Kucherov needs just 13 more points to beat out Steven Stamkos as #1 all time in Tampa Bay franchise history. At the pace he’s going, that should be another accolade in his pocket very soon next fall. From there, he’ll look to lead the Bolts back into a deep playoff run for the first time since 2022, as there’s little doubt they’ll continue to be among the NHL’s best teams next season, boasting the top head coach, best goaltender, along with the most valuable player.
Image Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Well my day is ruined. I hate this little rat with passion.
Really? Maybe you should try to not take this stuff so seriously. It’s only hockey. That said, watching you get bitter and angry over it is quite amusing.
Wow, a razor thin win too. 1,436 for Kucherov and 1,426 for McDavid.
I had to LOL at Nick Suzuki receiving a 1st place vote. Excellent season but that voter is clearly a biased Habs fan.
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha….that is a joke right?
Congratulations to Nikita Kucherov! A truly well-deserved achievement for Kuch, who arguably should have claimed his second Hart Trophy long ago. Anyway, his numbers this regular season were highly impressive as the article states his 1.71 points-per-game stands out as the league best out of qualified players, and on that rate, had he not missed six contests (due to illness) Kucherov would have been on track to surpass the first ranked Connor McDavid’s 138 points in 82 games. To all the nonsensical haters, you can shove it up your a$$.