NHL Announces 2023-24 All-Star Teams
The NHL announced their annual season-ending All-Star teams as part of last night’s award festivities. The rosters, as voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, are as follows.
First All-Star Team
LW: Artemi Panarin (Rangers)
C: Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche)
RW: Nikita Kucherov (Lightning)
D: Quinn Hughes (Canucks)
D: Roman Josi (Predators)
G: Connor Hellebuyck (Jets)
Second All-Star Team
LW: Filip Forsberg (Predators)
C: Connor McDavid (Oilers)
RW: David Pastrňák (Bruins)
D: Adam Fox (Rangers)
D: Cale Makar (Avalanche)
G: Thatcher Demko (Canucks)
The First Team nod caps off quite a successful 24 hours for MacKinnon, who also swept both media-voted and player-voted MVP honors with the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. It’s his third All-Star nod, although his two prior ones were both Second Team honors in 2018 and 2020. The 28-year-old pivot led the Avs in scoring with 51 goals and 140 points this season and recorded a league-high 405 shots on goal.
Notably, the voting ledger (available in the league’s announcement) indicates Kucherov was the unanimous First Team selection at right wing. That’s the first time that’s happened since 2002, when the Flames’ Jarome Iginla was the across-the-board pick after also winning the Richard and Art Ross trophies. Like Iginla, Kucherov was crowned this year’s Art Ross winner after recording 144 points in 81 games. He tied with McDavid for a league-leading 100 assists, becoming the first winger in NHL history to hit the mark.
Absent from either team is Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews, whose 69 goals this season were the most of anyone since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. He also fell short of being a Hart Trophy finalist behind Kucherov, MacKinnon and McDavid. He was third in All-Star voting among centers, though, and did receive nine First Team and 55 Second Team votes out of 187 ballots. The only other center to receive consideration was the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, who only appeared on four ballots.
Nathan MacKinnon Wins 2023-24 Hart Trophy
After opening Awards Night with the Ted Lindsay Award as the MVP as voted by the players, Avalanche winger Nathan MacKinnon capped off the festivities with another victory. The league announced that MacKinnon has won the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team,” as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
It’s a fitting award for someone who blew past his career highs offensively, notching 51 goals and 89 assists, recording only the fifth 140-point campaign across the NHL over the last 30 years. MacKinnon became the sixth player in franchise history (including its time in Quebec) to reach the 50-goal mark while he comes in second in club history in assists, checking in three behind Peter Stastny back in the 1981-82 campaign. MacKinnon recorded at least one point in 69 of 82 games played during the regular season.
MacKinnon took home 137 of 194 first-place votes and appeared on all but one ballot. That helped get him a margin of victory of more than 500 voting points over Tampa Bay winger Nikita Kucherov, who had more assists and points than MacKinnon did this season. After Auston Matthews beat out Connor McDavid to be the third finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award, they were reversed for the Hart with McDavid coming in third and Matthews in fourth. A total of 14 players received at least one top-five vote.
It’s the fourth time MacKinnon has been a finalist for the award but his first time as the winner. He joins Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic as the only players in franchise history to win league MVP.
Nathan MacKinnon Wins 2023-24 Ted Lindsay Award
While the NHL has already revealed many of its award winners, there are still five awards being handed out today. The first of those is the Ted Lindsay Award which the league announced was won by Avalanche winger Nathan MacKinnon. The award is presented annually to “the most outstanding player in the NHL,” as voted by fellow members of the NHLPA.
This was the third time that the 28-year-old was a finalist for the award (2017-18 and 2019-20 were the others) but he is a first-time winner. MacKinnon blew past his previous career bests this season, scoring 51 goals and 89 assists; his 140 points were second-most in the NHL while setting a franchise record in the process. Not surprisingly, he led all Avalanche forwards in ice time.
MacKinnon had a 35-game home point streak, the second-longest streak in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky. He also led all scorers in even-strength points (92) and shots on goal (405), also new career highs. He becomes the second player in franchise history to win the award, joining Joe Sakic, who won back in 2000-01.
The other finalists for the award were Toronto’s Auston Matthews (who led the NHL in goals) and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (who tied for the league lead in assists while recording the most points). Edmonton’s Connor McDavid won the award last year but didn’t quite make the top three in player balloting.
NHL Announces Ted Lindsay Award Finalists
The National Hockey League has announced the three finalists for the 2024 Ted Lindsay Award given to the most outstanding player in the NHL as voted on by the players. The finalists are Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, and Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Connor McDavid was last year’s winner and Matthews previously won the award in 2022. Kucherov and MacKinnon are both finalists for the Hart Trophy as well.
Kucherov was the NHL’s leading scorer this season, tallying 44 goals and 100 assists in 81 games. His 144 points were the highest total ever for a Lightning player surpassing his own record of 128 points in 2018-19. Kucherov has already taken home the Art Ross Trophy for the most points in an NHL season and previously won the Ted Lindsay Award back in 2019, along with the Hart Trophy.
MacKinnon’s presence was of massive importance to the Avalanche this season as they dealt with a slew of injuries to key players. MacKinnon played in every regular season game and finished with 51 goals and 89 assists for 140 points, all of which were career-highs. It was the second consecutive season that the 28-year-old has topped 100 points.
Finally, Matthews had an incredible season leading the league with 69 goals and setting a career high with 107 points. On top of his goal-scoring prowess, Matthews also took on increased responsibility on the penalty kill playing nearly 58 minutes of short-handed ice time compared to just 3:29 for the whole season a year ago. Matthews increased defensive awareness led to him also being nominated as a finalist for the Frank J. Selke Trophy, given to the League’s best defensive forward.
The winner of the award will be announced in late June.
NHL Announces 2024 Hart Trophy Finalists
The Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, the Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon and the Oilers’ Connor McDavid have been named the finalists for the 2024 Hart Trophy, per Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek.
When the final votes come out, this will likely be one of the closest ballots in recent memory. Out of the gate, there’s no clear favorite. Kucherov finds himself back among the finalists for the second time, winning his only previous nomination in 2019. He, along with McDavid, was the first player to reach 100 assists in a single season since Wayne Gretzky in 1990-91. Adding 44 goals, he took home the Art Ross Trophy with 144 points in 81 games. He also led the league in both assists and points when he won the Hart in 2019. Kucherov averaged 21:40 per game, a career-high at age 30. He also had 54 more points than Brayden Point, who finished second on the Lightning with 90.
MacKinnon becomes a Hart finalist for the fourth time (2018, 2020, 2021) but presents a much stronger case than in years past. He’s coming off a truly career-defining season, rattling off 51 goals, 89 assists and 140 points – all career-highs by a decent margin – while playing in all 82 games. He led the league with 405 shots on goal and averaged nearly 23 minutes per game, helping the Avs stay afloat while dealing with the lengthy absences of important secondary scorers like Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin.
McDavid earns his fourth straight nomination after a down year for him in the goal-scoring department. His 32 goals were his fewest in seven years, and he only managed 263 shots on goal after breaching 300 the past two years. But, like Kucherov, he was on another level in the assist department, totaling 132 points in 76 games. He’ll aim to take home the trophy for the fourth time in his career, although he’s arguably more of a dark horse this year compared to Kucherov and MacKinnon.
The Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews did not finish top three in Hart voting despite scoring 69 goals, the most in a single season since Mario Lemieux in 1996.
Poll: Which Player Should Win The Hart Memorial Trophy?
In a season to remember for individual accomplishments, this year’s vote on the eventual winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy will be one of the most complicated in recent memory. However, the vote can be widdled down to four players, which include Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche.
Winning two out of the last three Hart Memorial Trophies, McDavid’s goal-scoring was cut in half this season, as he only managed 32 on the year, placing him tied for 14th in the Western Conference with Wyatt Johnston. However, McDavid was able to do something he had failed to do even during his incredible season last year; crack the 100-assist marker which had previously only been done by Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Bobby Orr. Helping the Oilers return to this year’s playoffs after a difficult start to the year, McDavid’s claim for Most Valuable Player may be overshadowed by his teammate, Zach Hyman, who was able to score 54 goals for Edmonton this season.
Having already scored 60 goals once in his career, Matthews cemented himself as the league’s current best goal-scorer, putting up 69 markers this season. Although he failed to reach 70, Matthews’ regular season was the 15th best all-time in terms of goal-scoring. Unlike McDavid, it is more than unlikely that Matthews will be overshadowed by his teammates with such an incredible season, as the second-closest goal scorer on the team, William Nylander, generated nearly 30 fewer tallies than Matthews in the category.
Having arguably the best case for the award, there is no question that Kucherov led the way for the Lightning this year. Not only did Kucherov tie McDavid in assists this season with 100, he has already captured the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top point-scorer with 144 on the year. While setting the bar for points in any given year is impressive, the gap between Kucherov and his teammates in Tampa Bay was massive, placing himself 54 points above the next highest-scorer.
Setting a record of his own this year, MacKinnon was able to generate at least a point in 35 consecutive home games for the Avalanche this season, which is five less than the record Gretzky set during the 1988-89 season with the Los Angeles Kings. Over that stretch, MacKinnon went on an incredible run, scoring 27 goals and 46 assists through the team’s first 35 games at Ball Arena. On the year, MacKinnon scored 51 goals and 89 assists over 82 games, and may have the case of putting together the most complete season compared to the other candidates.
If the matter was up to you, who would you vote for to win this year’s Hart Memorial Trophy?
Which Player Should Win The Hart Memorial Trophy?
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Nathan MacKinnon (COL) 42% (432)
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Nikita Kucherov (TB) 36% (377)
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Auston Matthews (TOR) 11% (119)
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Connor McDavid (EDM) 10% (107)
Total votes: 1,035
If you can’t see the poll embedded above this, click here to vote.
Injury Notes: O’Connor, MacKinnon, Ekblad, Tavares
The Colorado Avalanche will be without the services of forward Logan O’Connor tomorrow night, as Meghan Angley of DNVR Avalanche reports the team will hold him out of the lineup so that he can play more continuously when fully healthy. O’Connor has missed the last two games for Colorado as he suffered a lower-body injury in the team’s recent contest against the Florida Panthers.
Amid a career year offensively, the typical bottom-six player for the Avalanche has already reached a career-high total in goals with 13 and is only one point behind his career-high in points with 25. Shaping up to be an integral part of their postseason aspirations, O’Connor still has one year and $1.05MM remaining on his contract after this season.
Either in practice or in the team’s most recent game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now reports that Nathan MacKinnon had broken his nose after taking a puck to the face. MacKinnon is not expected to miss any time with the injury but could be seen wearing a bubble on his helmet tomorrow night.
Other injury notes:
- Before their game tonight against their in-state rivals, the Panthers announced that defenseman Aaron Ekblad would miss the game due to a lower-body injury. Ekblad had previously missed the majority of the start to the 2023-24 campaign due to offseason shoulder surgery. Upon his return in mid-November, Ekblad has regained most of his previous form, scoring three goals and 14 points in 37 games while averaging over 21 minutes a night for the Panthers.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without their captain tonight, as John Tavares is reportedly considered day-to-day with a minor injury (X Link). Taking a bit of a step back from his previous scoring pace in Toronto, Tavares still sits fifth on the team in scoring with 15 goals and 40 points in 51 games.
Central Notes: MacKinnon, Bedard, Gustafsson, Plandowski
Colorado Avalanche announcer Conor McGahey tweeted that Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon is okay after hitting his face on the ice on Saturday night in a game against the Florida Panthers. The 28-year-old superstar didn’t practice today due to a different minor tweak, but the team is hopeful that he’ll be able to play tomorrow night against the Washington Capitals.
MacKinnon is currently second in NHL scoring with 32 goals and 53 assists in 53 games but has been held pointless in three straight games.
In other Central Division notes:
- Chicago Sun-Times reporter Ben Pope tweeted that the Chicago Blackhawks expect to get rookie phenom Connor Bedard back into the lineup next week. Bedard has a final imaging appointment a week from today and if the appointment goes well Bedard could be back into action by the middle of next week. Bedard’s return will be a welcome development for himself and the Blackhawks as the 18-year-old hasn’t played since January 5th and has 15 goals and 18 assists in 39 games this season.
- The Winnipeg Jets have activated forward David Gustafsson off the injured reserve and loaned him to their AHL affiliate the Manitoba Moose for conditioning purposes. The 23-year-old has missed the previous 18 games with a lower-body injury and hasn’t dressed since December 22nd. He has just two assists in his last 21 games and hasn’t scored a goal since October 30th. In 27 games this season the native of Tingsryd, Sweden has just two goals and two assists.
- The Arizona Coyotes have extended the contract of Director of Amateur Scouting Darryl Plandowski. No terms of the deal were released, but the extension will keep Plandowski with the Coyotes for the foreseeable future. Plandowski was a big part of the Tampa Bay Lightning as he spent 12 years with the organization and was part of the club during their two Stanley Cup championships. He worked his way through the Lightning organization into the role of Assistant Director of Amateur Scouting before eventually joining Arizona in 2020.
Morning Notes: Skills Results, Lacher, Coyotes
The NHL’s All-Star Skills Competition was held on Friday night in a revamped format that saw a dozen players compete in a head-to-head format while taking part in at least four of the events. Oilers center Connor McDavid took home the title and $1MM while the rest of the results were as follows.
Fastest Skater: McDavid (Oilers, 13.408 seconds)
One-Timers: Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche, 23 points)
Passing Challenge: Elias Pettersson (Canucks, 25 points)
Hardest Shot: Cale Makar (Avalanche, 102.56 mph)
Stick Handling: McDavid (Oilers, 25.755 seconds)
Accuracy Shooting: McDavid (Oilers, 9.158 seconds)
One-On-One: William Nylander (Maple Leafs, 9 points), Alexandar Georgiev (Avalanche, 9 saves)
Obstacle Course: McDavid (Oilers, 40.666 seconds)
Other early news from around the hockey world:
- Former Bruins goaltender Blaine Lacher passed away on Friday at the age of 53, the team announced (Twitter link). Lacher made an immediate impact in the NHL, coming up as Boston’s starter in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 campaign, putting up a 2.41 GAA in 35 games to earn him a top-five finish in Calder Trophy voting. However, Lacher only made seven appearances at the top level after that. No cause of death was revealed.
- On Friday, the NHLPA expressed its frustration with Arizona’s search for a new arena site, stating that they’ve missed two deadlines already while not engaging with the PA on numerous fronts. However, it appears the team remains on track to purchase a parcel of land as the team confirmed (Twitter link) a report from ABC15’s Taylor Rocha that they are moving forward with a plan to buy in North Phoenix. At this point, multiple arena sites are still being considered which means we’re still likely a little while away from having more clarity on that front.
Afternoon Notes: NHL Three Stars, Faber, Rafferty
As we head into the All-Star break the NHL announced its Three Stars for January. The first star of the month was Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon who posted 12 goals and 14 assists in just 12 games to lead the Avalanche to a 9-3 record in the month of January.
Following him was Edmonton Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner who had a perfect month going 9-0 with a 1.33 goals-against average and .953 save percentage as he helped guide the Oilers on their current 16-game win streak. It’s been a remarkable turnaround for Skinner after he started the season with losses in seven of his first eight games.
Finally, Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson rounds out the top-3 as he finished January with 14 goals and seven assists in 13 games and he will be headed to Toronto for his fourth NHL All-Star Game this weekend.
In other afternoon notes:
- Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber was named the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for January. The 21-year-old moved into the Calder Trophy conversation by posting two goals and 11 assists in 14 games during the first month of 2024 and averaged over 25 minutes of ice time per game. Faber became the first player in Wild history to take home the honor and led all NHL rookies in multiple statistical categories including points, time on ice, shots (with 31), blocked shots (with 38) and assists. Faber now has four goals and 25 assists in 49 games this season with the Wild.
- The Detroit Red Wings have assigned defenseman Brogan Rafferty to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League. The move was made this morning and is most likely a paper move to allow the Wings to bank cap space during the All-Star break after their 3-2 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators last night. The 28-year-old has been a healthy scratch during his recalls this season and hasn’t played an NHL yet this year. Rafferty has two goals and 14 assists in 38 AHL games this season.