The NHL has announced that San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini, Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov and Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid have been named as the finalists for the Ted Lindsay Award.
The Ted Lindsay Award is awarded to the “most outstanding player in the NHL as voted by fellow members of the National Hockey League Players’ Association”. It is currently the only NHL award voted on by the players.
🏆 The players have spoken.
— NHLPA (@NHLPA) April 28, 2026
Macklin Celebrini, Nikita Kucherov and Connor McDavid have been chosen by their peers as the 2025-26 #TedLindsayAward finalists: https://t.co/1EXaG0erI5 pic.twitter.com/2Yz7vdTe3a
Celebrini will look to become the first player since McDavid in 2016-17 to win the Ted Lindsay Award in his sophomore season. Celebrini finished fourth in league scoring with 45 goals and 70 assists for 115 points in 82 games. He captured the Calder Memorial Trophy last season as the NHL's best rookie.
Kucherov sat second in league scoring with 44 goals and 86 assists for 130 points in 76 games. He will look to win his second-consecutive Ted Lindsay award and third of his career after doing so in 2018-19 and 2024-25. Kucherov can become the eighth player in NHL history to win the award three times.
McDavid already captured his sixth Art Ross Trophy this season after leading the league in scoring with 48 goals and 90 assists for 138 points in 82 games. He will look to win his first Ted Lindsay Award in three years, and the fifth of his career, having also done so in 2016-17, 2017-18, 2020-21 and 2022-23.