RALEIGH, N.C. — The NHL’s regular season is 25 percent over, and the story of the campaign is coming into focus.
The league’s young stars are offering a glimpse of the latest changing of the guard, the Colorado Avalanche are a wagon, all the pending free agents are being signed and players should probably start eating at home because they’re not safe at restaurants or cookouts.
Also coming into focus are the NHL’s awards races, and since the Carolina Hurricanes are near the top of the league standings, they should have some players getting consideration. But will they? Here’s a look at each of the major awards and which Carolina players could be on the short list to win.
Hart Trophy
The Hurricanes are a win-by-committee team, and entering Friday’s game in Winnipeg, they did not have a player on an 82-point pace. With former winners such as Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid residing near the top of the scoring race, the chances of a Carolina player unseating one of them — or one of rising stars such as Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard shockingly dragging their team into the playoffs — are slim.
Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis, who is trending toward his first 40-goal season, have the best chance, but neither has reached a level that seriously warrants MVP consideration at this point.
Hart Trophy chances: Slim to none
Vezina Trophy
Carolina has employed an even 1A/1B rotation whenever possible in recent seasons, and the addition of Brendan Bussi has further diluted the chance of one goalie being handed the reins.
Coming into the season, the best odds would have gone to Frederik Andersen, who — if (big if) healthy — has the experience, skill and track record to put together a dominant season. He finished fourth in Vezina voting in 2022, his first year in Carolina.
But the 2025-26 season has been shaky so far for Andersen. He’s lost more games than he’s won (5-4-2) and has a save percentage of .883.
Enter Pytor Kochetkov, who has won all four of his starts after missing nearly four weeks to start the season with an injury. He has a .926 save percentage, a 1.70 goals-against average and one shutout (and was seconds away from a second). The two keys for Kochetkov have always been consistency and staying healthy.
Andersen’s mediocre play opens the door for Kochetkov to seize the No. 1 job, which would come with plenty of wins given the Hurricanes’ status as one of the NHL’s top teams.
Coach Rod Brind’Amour has expressed in the past a desire for a true No. 1 goalie, but Kochetkov already missed nearly a month and has never played more than 47 games.
Five goalies already have four times as many games played as him, and the Hurricanes’ philosophy of rotating their starts in recent years makes it unlikely Kochetkov will get the 50ish starts and 35 to 40 wins needed to make a case for the Vezina.
Vezina Trophy chances: Possible to unlikely.
Norris Trophy
Jaccob Slavin has received Norris Trophy votes in nine straight seasons but has already missed 18 games this year (and counting). And this won’t be the season that voters pick the league’s best defensive defenseman as the NHL’s top defenseman.
There’s also the matter of Cale Makar, who is not only making a case for his third Norris but is on track to get Hart Trophy consideration.
But hear me out: Shayne Gostisbehere.
Is the suggestion a pipe dream? Yes, but let’s look back at 2022-23. When Erik Karlsson ran away with the voting after that season, many acknowledged his defensive shortcomings but said a 100-point defenseman could not be denied the Norris.
Gostisbehere has dug himself a hole due to two injuries that cost him eight games, but consider this: He has 13 points in 11 games, and just two of them have been on the power play. If Gostibehere can stay healthy and somehow remain a point-per-game player outside the power play, that would give him 74 points. Tack on his two power-play points, and he’s up to 76.
Consider also that Gostisbehere finished last year with 23 power-play points on the league’s 25th-ranked power play. The Hurricanes’ power play has been even worse this year (tied for last), but should Carolina figure it out, there’s a chance Gostisbehere will push for 20-something points with the man advantage.
This is an everything-goes-right situation — and probably would also mean that Makar either drastically drops off or gets injured — but it’s one worth floating given the Karlsson precedent. If Gostisbehere somehow found his way to 100 points, it would be one of the most surprising seasons in a long time.
Norris Trophy chances: Unlikely to slim
Selke Trophy
Carolina is regarded as one of the best defensive teams, and while the team’s goals against are in the low 20s in the league, the Hurricanes are still in the top 10 in shot suppression.
They have three players who regularly get Selke votes: Jordan Staal, Jarvis and Aho.
Staal finished 11th in voting last season after being the runner-up the year before. The long-term injury to Florida’s Aleksander Barkov opens the door for Staal again. The biggest knock on Staal’s candidacy has always been that he doesn’t produce enough points, but through 20 games he’s trending toward a 20-goal season, which would be his first in more than a decade.
His underlying numbers while drawing the toughest defensive assignments most nights remain sparkling, even at age 37, and he’s still one of the league’s best faceoff men.
The other problem for Staal is Carolina’s penalty kill. The barrage of injuries to the defense — including being without Slavin most of the year — has the Hurricanes hovering around the middle of the league on the PK after being near the top in every year of the Brind’Amour era. I’d still expect the penalty kill to finish near the top of the league when all is said and done, and that will erase one argument against giving Staal the long-deserved award.
Staal could also see some vote splitting, should Jarvis and Aho land on plenty of ballots. Jarvis finished 12th, just behind Staal, in last year’s voting, and Aho was 20th and has received votes in each of the last five seasons.
Jarvis certainly has the offense box checked, so if he continues to be a threat shorthanded and Carolina’s PK moves back up the league rankings, he will get plenty of consideration. Aho will get some votes as well, and it’s totally possible that the Hurricanes will collectively have enough votes to win the Selke this year but not have a player get the award.
Selke Trophy chances: Possible
Calder Trophy
The Hurricanes have already played five rookies this season — only the New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks, with six, have used more — but none has been as impactful as Alexander Nikishin.
Nikishin has logged just under 20 minutes per game, behind only the New York Islanders’ Matthew Schaeffer among rookies, and he’s been handed a bigger role because of Carolina’s blue-line injuries. While Schaeffer and Montreal’s Ivan Demidov lead the rookies in scoring, Nikishin’s eight even-strength points match Schaeffer and are one behind Demidov, a forward.
Anaheim’s Bennett Sennecke and Montreal’s Oliver Kapanen are also off to good starts, but Nikishin’s impact is perhaps only rivaled by Schaeffer and Demidov among skaters.
Nikishin is in the top five in the entire league in plus/minus at plus-14 and ranks sixth in hits among NHL defensemen, and he’s also playing more than 100 seconds per game on the PK.
Carolina doesn’t want to overload Nikishin too early in his career, which is why he’s been used sparingly on the power play. He already has one of the league’s heaviest shots, so once the Hurricanes’ defense gets healthy and he’s given more opportunity on the PP, he probably will start scoring more frequently.
As for his Calder odds this year, Schaeffer is the front-runner due to his goals and points as an 18-year-old, but Nikishin’s game is understandably more complete given his KHL experience. If Schaeffer, like Lane Hutson a year ago, continues to pile up points, he’ll be tough to beat, but Nikishin is definitely in this race.
Calder Trophy chances: Finalist, and maybe more, within reach
Lady Byng Trophy
I’m on the record that Slavin should win this award every year. No player better exemplifies gentlemanly play, both in his ability to stay out of the penalty box despite playing the opposition’s best every night and in the respect he shows foes and officials between the whistles and after.
Missing at least a quarter of the season will hurt his odds, and some voters seem set on not voting for him for some reason. Even if Slavin only plays half the season, he deserves votes, but he may be hard-pressed to get his third Lady Byng and match Red Kelly for the most by a defenseman.
Jarvis is also a dark-horse candidate.
Lady Byng Trophy chances: Possible