Connor McDavid, Macklin Celebrini Headline 2026 NHL Ted Lindsay Award Finalists

Macklin Celebrini, Nikita Kucherov and Connor McDavid have been chosen by fellow NHL Players' Association members as the league's most outstanding players this season.

Celebrini, Kucherov and McDavid were named finalists for the 2025-26 Ted Lindsay Award on Tuesday by the NHLPA.

The award is given annually to the NHL's "most outstanding player" as voted on by players.

Kucherov is the reigning Ted Lindsay Award honoree, while McDavid is a four-time winner.

Celebrini is a first-time nominee who could become the first San Jose Sharks player to win the trophy. McDavid could join Wayne Gretzky as the only NHL players to win the award five times.

All three Ted Lindsay finalists were integral to their teams' success in the 2025-26 season.

Celebrini recorded at least a point in 60 of his 82 games for the Sharks, setting a franchise scoring record and ranking fourth in the NHL with 115 points.

The Sharks went 37-18-5 in games where Celebrini recorded at least a point, and 2-17-3 when he was held off the scoreboard entirely.

McDavid ranked first in the NHL with 138 points while helping the Edmonton Oilers qualify for the playoffs despite missing Leon Draisaitl down the stretch of the regular season.

His most impressive stretch of the season came from Dec. 4 to Jan. 13, when he posted 46 points (19 goals and 27 assists) over a 20-game point streak.

Kucherov led the Tampa Bay Lightning and ranked second behind only McDavid after posting 130 points.

He hit that total despite sitting out six games, giving him an NHL-best 1.71 points-per-game average.

One of Kucherov's most dominant stretches of the regular season came when he posted 25 points during a 10-game stretch in late December.

Kucherov and McDavid both helped push their teams into the playoffs, while Celebrini helped the Sharks improve from 20 wins to 39 wins between his first and second NHL seasons.

One notable player excluded from the list of finalists is the Colorado Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon, who led the NHL with 53 goals and ranked third behind McDavid and Kucherov with 127 points this season.

The trio of Ted Lindsay finalists, as well as MacKinnon, could receive more nominations when other NHL awards are announced later this week.

Finalists for the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded to "to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team" by the Professional Hockey Writers Association, will be announced on Friday, May 8.