At the end of every NHL season, the league gives out its most prestigious award, the Hart Trophy. <\/p>\n
The Hart Trophy is given to a player who is deemed the most valuable to their team in the regular season. \u200bThis season, there are numerous candidates for the award, as the league\u2019s overall success and talent continue to grow.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
\u200bHowever, three players have stood out the most, each with a strong argument for why they should win.<\/p>\n
\u200bWho are these three players, and which argument is the best?<\/p>\n
\u200b3. Nathan Mackinnon, Colorado Avalanche<\/p>\n
\u200bNathan Mackinnon won the Hart Trophy in the 2023-24 season and is once again playing at an MVP level.<\/p>\n
\u200bMackinnon leads the NHL<\/a> with 51 goals and a +57 plus\/minus rating and is third in the league in points, with 122. He is also on the best team in the NHL this season, the Colorado Avalanche, leading the league<\/a> with 110 points. <\/p>\n Being the best player on the best team is a pretty good argument for the Hart Trophy, but that doesn\u2019t tell the whole story.<\/p>\n \u200bMackinnon shares the ice with Cale Makar<\/a> and Scott Wedgewood<\/a>. Makar ranks third<\/a> among defensemen in points and is one of the favorites to win the Norris Trophy, which is given to the best defenseman in the league. Wedgewood leads the league<\/a> in save percentage and goals against average (minimum 10 games played), playing a significant role in the team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u200bMackinnon is also on a line with Martin Necas<\/a>, who has 92 points this season.<\/p>\n \u200bDoes having those players make Mackinnon less valuable? It most definitely does. Mackinnon isn\u2019t the sole reason for Colorado\u2019s success, and if you take him off the team, the Avs would still be top contenders.<\/p>\n \u200bThis doesn\u2019t mean Mackinnon isn\u2019t playing exceptionally this season, but it definitely hurts his case for an award that is meant for a player who is the most valuable for his team. The other players on this list are far more valuable to their teams than Mackinnon is.<\/p>\n \u200bLike Mackinnon, Nikita Kucherov has a teammate who\u2019s a favorite for another award, as goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy<\/a> is a nominee for the Vezina trophy. However, this situation is vastly different from the Mackinnon situation.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Vasilevskiy has nothing to do with the Lightning\u2019s offensive success. They are second<\/a> in the league in goals for, with 264, and unlike Mackinnon, Kucherov does not have a lot of help.<\/p>\n \u200bKucherov leads Tampa Bay with 125 points and has 41 more points than Jake Guentzel<\/a>, who is second on the team. Kucherov also leads the NHL with 1.79 points per game.<\/p>\n What makes his performance even more impressive is that throughout the entire season, his high-scoring teammates have been in and out of the lineup with injuries, giving him less help and more pressure to carry the team.<\/p>\n \u200bThe Bolts would not be where they are this season if it weren\u2019t for Kucherov, making him extremely valuable. However, there is one player this season whose value for his team is like none other.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u200bWithout a doubt, Macklin Celebrini should be the 2026 Hart Trophy recipient. Celebrini is in his second NHL season and is only 19 years old, but plays like he\u2019s a seasoned veteran. He is already in the top echelon of current players in the league.<\/p>\n \u200bCelebrini is in the top five in points with 105 and top 10 in goals with 40. The stats are impressive, but the circumstances behind them are even more remarkable.<\/p>\n \u200bCelebrini is playing for a Sharks team that finished dead last in the league last season with 52 points. This season, San Jose is fighting for a playoff spot, and currently holds the final wild card spot, solely because of Celebrini\u2019s breakout season.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u200bHe currently has 51 more points than his teammate Will Smith<\/a>, who is second on the team in points. Just one example that the Sharks rely on Celebrini, as he doesn\u2019t get much help.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u200bSome believe that if San Jose doesn\u2019t make the playoffs, Celebrini doesn\u2019t deserve the Hart, but that couldn\u2019t be any farther from the truth.<\/p>\n \u200bThis award is given to the player who is the most valuable to their team. If you were to take Celebrini off the Sharks, they wouldn\u2019t even be in the playoff conversation and would be a bottom-five team in the league once again.<\/p>\n \u200bCelebrini\u2019s value is unlike any other player\u2019s value in this league and is everything the Hart trophy is about.\u00a0<\/p>\n The post Who Are the Top Three Contenders for the 2026 Hart Trophy?<\/a> appeared first on The Lead<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the end of every NHL season, the league gives out its most prestigious award, the Hart Trophy.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[243,193,1116,192,144,5277,3543,5,1331,501,517,4,1335,168,2565,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-544951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-andrei-vasilevskiy","9":"tag-avalanche","10":"tag-cale-makar","11":"tag-colorado","12":"tag-colorado-avalanche","13":"tag-coloradoavalanche","14":"tag-hart-trophy","15":"tag-hockey","16":"tag-jake-guentzel","17":"tag-macklin-celebrini","18":"tag-nathan-mackinnon","19":"tag-nhl","20":"tag-nikita-kucherov","21":"tag-san-jose-sharks","22":"tag-scott-wedgewood","23":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116361709675831474","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}