2025-26 NHL Awards Watch at the Quarter-Season Mark

We highlight which players could be up for the Hart, Norris and Calder Trophies so far this season.

Welcome to our first NHL Awards Watch of the 2025-26 season. Every quarter, we will release an updated version of this to highlight which players are potentially in the running for key awards.

With most teams having 19-22 games completed as of this writing, we are starting to get enough of a sample size to have an idea of what these races will look like.

I am an NHL Awards voter based out of Columbus. The 2025-26 season, should I be invited to vote again, will be my third season holding this distinct honor.

Before we jump into the watch list, I want to lay out a little bit of the process I have when it comes to determining not only who makes this list, but who I may eventually vote for when the time comes to cast our ballots.

My Process

The obvious thing we have to do as writers is watch as many games as possible. This is accomplished in a couple of ways.

First, we go to the games. In my case, I am at every Blue Jackets’ home game plus a select number of road games. I’ll be in Detroit for Saturday’s game against the Red Wings.

This will be my first chance to see a player like Emmitt Finnie play. He’s off to an impressive start for the Red Wings and will garner some Calder Trophy consideration for it. To make the team is one thing. To be a top-six presence is another altogether.

Then if I’m not at the games, I am watching games. A lot of them. Certain Saturdays allow me the chance to watch 3-4 games that day.

Then if there’s a player of interest in a game I didn’t watch, I will pull the game from ESPN+ the day after and watch the film. I will do this specifically to monitor growth and development especially in the Calder race. I want to see how they were in November and then how they were in March.

Are they still making the same kind of impact? Or is the long season catching up to them?

For the Norris and Hart, it’s more check ins on the contenders. Several factors ultimately go into each award and the criteria I’m looking for.

Now that you have an idea of the process I follow, let’s dive into the NHL Awards Watch for the first quarter of the 2025-26 season.

For this edition, we will evaluate the Hart, Norris and Calder Trophies as those are the three major awards members of the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association vote on. We also vote on the Selke and Lady Byng Trophies. We’ll discuss the Selke more in depth at the halfway mark of the season. We will not discuss the Lady Byng in this space.

I will share four players for each trophy with a quick snippet as to why they are in the conversation. Then I’ll share some other names to watch.

Hart Trophy

Nathan MacKinnon

The winner of the 2024 Hart Memorial Trophy is up to his old tricks again. He’s the best player on the best team in the standings at the time of this writing.

The Avalanche have just lost once in regulation in 19 games. Only Carolina and New Jersey (13) have more wins than the Avalanche have in just regulation alone (12.)

MacKinnon’s been dominant. Even with help from players like Cale Makar and others, MacKinnon has put the NHL on notice. Teams will have to go through the Avalanche in order to go far in the playoffs.

Macklin Celebrini

Remember when the Sharks couldn’t win a game early in the season. As of this writing, they have climbed above .500 for the season. Why? Look no further than Celebrini.