{"id":599032,"date":"2026-06-15T04:06:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T04:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/599032\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T04:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T04:06:22","slug":"my-2025-26-nhl-awards-ballot-why-i-chose-mcdavid-over-celebrini-for-mvp-wennberg-selke-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/599032\/","title":{"rendered":"My 2025-26 NHL Awards Ballot: Why I Chose McDavid Over Celebrini for MVP? Wennberg Selke Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s how I voted for the 2025-26 NHL Awards.<\/p>\n

For the first time since Erik Karlsson and 2022-23, it was a truly interesting year for the San Jose Sharks and the year-end awards, with Macklin Celebrini putting together an MVP-caliber campaign.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how I voted this year with some explanations \u2014 you can see how the rest of the PHWA voted here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m proud to say that I\u2019ve voted for the last nine straight years, see all my past votes here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

HART TROPHY<\/p>\n

Winner: Nikita Kucherov<\/p>\n

My Vote:<\/p>\n

1) Connor McDavid \u2013 Edmonton Oilers
2) Macklin Celebrini \u2013 San Jose Sharks
3) Nikita Kucherov \u2013 Tampa Bay Lightning
4) Nathan MacKinnon \u2013 Colorado Avalanche
5) Zach Werenski \u2013 Columbus Blue Jackets<\/p>\n

The margins were thin between these deserving MVP winners, especially the top-four.<\/p>\n

When the margins are thin, you must have differentiators, or how else can you decide a winner?<\/p>\n

Three of McDavid\u2019s differentiators over Celebrini for me?<\/p>\n

McDavid has an NHL-leading 138 points, 23 more than Celebrini. McDavid had a goal or an assist in 48.9 percent of the Oilers\u2019 offense, which also led the league in offensive involvement, only ahead of Celebrini\u2019s 46.2.<\/p>\n

And yes, McDavid dragged Edmonton into the playoffs, while Celebrini just missed doing so.<\/p>\n

In my mind, all this trumped Celebrini\u2019s differentiators: Celebrini was on a far weaker team, for sure, but the Oilers had their share of major injuries and wouldn\u2019t have made the post-season without McDavid.<\/p>\n

Final Vote:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

NORRIS TROPHY<\/p>\n

Winner: Zach Werenski<\/p>\n

My Vote:<\/p>\n

1) Zach Werenski \u2013 Columbus Blue Jackets
2) Evan Bouchard \u2013 Edmonton Oilers
3) Rasmus Dahlin \u2013 Buffalo Sabres
4) Miro Heiskanen \u2013 Dallas Stars
5) Cale Makar \u2013 Colorado Avalanche<\/p>\n

Speaking of differentiators\u2026<\/p>\n

When I selected Erik Karlsson for the Norris Trophy in 2022-23, it was on the strength of a major differentiator like Karlsson being the first defenseman since Brian Leetch in 1991-92 to eclipse 100 points.<\/p>\n

So just like Celebrini just missing the playoffs was a differentiator, the same could be said about Bouchard being five points short of 100. It\u2019s just a few points, but\u2026<\/p>\n

Werenski is a better all-around defender, and once again, if you have a handful of closely-qualified candidates, you do have to find small reasons to separate them. You have no choice but to do so.<\/p>\n

Final Vote:<\/p>\n

\"\"CALDER TROPHY<\/p>\n

Winner: Matthew Schaefer<\/p>\n

My Vote:<\/p>\n

1) Matthew Schaefer \u2013 New York Islanders
2) Jakub Dobes \u2013 Montreal Canadiens
3) Ivan Demidov \u2013 Montreal Canadiens
4) Beckett Sennecke \u2013 Anaheim Ducks
5) Jimmy Snuggerud \u2013 St. Louis Blues<\/p>\n

Final Vote:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

LADY BYNG TROPHY<\/p>\n

Winner: Cole Caulfield<\/p>\n

My Vote:<\/p>\n

1) Jake Sanderson \u2013 Ottawa Senators
2) Mark Stone \u2013 Vegas Golden Knights
3) Travis Sanheim \u2013 Philadelphia Flyers
4) Zach Werenski \u2013 Columbus Blue Jackets
5) Esa Lindell \u2013 Dallas Stars<\/p>\n

The Lady Byng, in my opinion, should be an award given to a gentlemanly player who plays at a high level and has his sportsmanship tested by challenging minutes. It\u2019s easier to avoid taking penalties when you don\u2019t play hard defensive minutes, so I never vote for those offense-first types.<\/p>\n

Final Vote:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"SELKE TROPHY<\/p>\n

Winner: Nick Suzuki<\/p>\n

My Vote:<\/p>\n

1) Shane Pinto \u2013 Ottawa Senators
2) Ryan O\u2019Reilly \u2013 Nashville Predators
3) Jordan Staal \u2013 Carolina Hurricanes
4) Nico Hischier \u2013 New Jersey Devils
5) Alex Wennberg \u2013 San Jose Sharks<\/p>\n

Suzuki is a terrific two-way center, but I think my top-five had a combination of harder defensive match-ups, more PK time, and\/or more a greater percentage of 5-on-5 defensive zone faceoffs.<\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, I filtered my Selke and Norris votes, my most challenging votes every year, through multiple NHL scouts.<\/p>\n

Final Vote:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Masterton Trophy<\/p>\n

Winner: Gabriel Landeskog<\/p>\n

My Vote:<\/p>\n

1) Gabriel Landeskog \u2013 Colorado Avalanche
2) Rasmus Dahlin \u2013 Buffalo Sabres
3) Ozzy Wiesblatt \u2013 Nashville Predators<\/p>\n

All-Star Team<\/p>\n

Winners:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My Vote:<\/p>\n

CENTER \u2014 Three selections.<\/p>\n

1) Connor McDavid \u2013 Edmonton Oilers
2) Macklin Celebrini \u2013 San Jose Sharks
3) Nathan MacKinnon \u2013 Colorado Avalanche<\/p>\n

RIGHT WING \u2014 Three selections.<\/p>\n

1) Nikita Kucherov \u2013 Tampa Bay Lightning
2) David Pastrnak \u2013 Boston Bruins
3) Matt Boldy \u2013 Minnesota Wild<\/p>\n

LEFT WING \u2014 Three selections.<\/p>\n

1) Jason Robertson \u2013 Dallas Stars
2) Cole Caulfield \u2013 Montreal Canadiens
3) Kirill Kaprizov \u2013 Minnesota Wild<\/p>\n

DEFENSE \u2014 SIX selections.<\/p>\n

1) Zach Werenski \u2013 Columbus Blue Jackets
2) Evan Bouchard \u2013 Edmonton Oilers
3) Rasmus Dahlin \u2013 Buffalo Sabres
4) Miro Heiskanen \u2013 Dallas Stars
5) Cale Makar \u2013 Colorado Avalanche
6) Moritz Seider \u2013 Detroit Red Wings<\/p>\n

GOALTENDER \u2014 Three selections.<\/p>\n

1) Andrei Vasilevskiy \u2013 Tampa Bay Lightning
2) Logan Thompson \u2013 Washington Capitals
3) Karel Vejmelka \u2013 Utah Mammoth<\/p>\n

Final Vote:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

NHL All-Rookie Team<\/p>\n

Winners:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My Vote:<\/p>\n

FORWARD \u2014<\/p>\n

Ivan Demidov \u2013 Montreal Canadiens
Beckett Sennecke \u2013 Anaheim Ducks
Jimmy Snuggerud \u2013 St. Louis Blues<\/p>\n

DEFENSE \u2014<\/p>\n

Matthew Schaefer \u2013 New York Islanders
Alexander Nikishin \u2013 Carolina Hurricanes<\/p>\n

GOALTENDER \u2014<\/p>\n

Jakub Dobes \u2013 Montreal Canadiens<\/p>\n

Final Vote:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s how I voted for the 2025-26 NHL Awards. For the first time since Erik Karlsson and 2022-23,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[5631,5523,155,58,3543,5,501,4,62244,519,168,5306,5305,3641,1780],"class_list":["post-599032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose-sharks","tag-alex-wennberg","tag-awards","tag-connor-mcdavid","tag-featured","tag-hart-trophy","tag-hockey","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-nhl","tag-phwa","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sanjose","tag-sanjosesharks","tag-selke-trophy","tag-sharks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116752153929517368","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599032","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=599032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}