The Hockey Writer's Mark Scheig Explains His 2025 NHL Awards Ballot
The 2025 NHL Award winners have been announced. THW's Mark Scheig explains what went into his voting process.
The winners of the 2025 NHL Awards have been announced. For one player, he capped a truly historic season given everything he won.
Winnipeg Jets' goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was announced as the winner of both the Vezina Trophy and the Hart Trophy on Thursday night in advance of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. He became the first player in NHL history to win both of those awards along with the Jennings Trophy and the President's Trophy in the same season.
What Hellebuyck was able to accomplish makes him a worthy winner of the league's most valuable player. However, he wasn't first on my Hart ballot.
Now that the winners have been made public, the Professional Hockey Writer's Association released the voting results of each ballot in the interest of transparency. Each season, I like to take it a step further and explain how I arrived at my ballot.
The PHWA votes on the winners of the Hart, Norris, Calder, Selke, Lady Byng and Masterton along with the NHL All-Star Teams and All-Rookie Teams. With multiple players having compelling cases, it's important to show you the fan what our mindset was even if you personally don't agree with the selections or the order.
Hart Trophy - Connor Hellebuyck
Here was my final ballot for the Hart Trophy.
1. Nikita Kucherov
2. Leon Draisaitl
3. Connor Hellebuyck
4. Nathan MacKinnon
5. Zach Werenski
Hellebuyck absolutely deserved to win and be among the top-three on my final ballot. I personally use Carey Price's MVP season as my gauge on how to evaluate a goaltender for the Hart.
While Hellebuyck won a lot of games and put up great numbers, it wasn't quite to the level of Price's season. It also in my mind takes away from the contributions of the players in front of him.
Was Hellebuyck the only reason the Jets won the President's trophy? The answer is no. He had a good defense including a player most consider one of the best in the league in Josh Morrissey in front of him. Then consider players like Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele up front.
The Jets were a complete team that was anchored by Hellebuyck. Although he was on top of my list for a lot of the season, what Kucherov and Draisaitl did slightly put them over the top.
The Hart Trophy is the player deemed most valuable to his team. Draisaitl reaching 50 goals given the up and down season the Oilers had was important for their playoff positioning. However, the presence of Connor McDavid does hurt him a little. Ask most anyone who the MVP of the Oilers is and you'll usually get the same answer. McDavid.
What Kucherov did this season in Tampa Bay was great. He won a second consecutive Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer while improving his defensive game. In my mind, taking him off the Lightning would hurt the most compared to the others.
MacKinnon had another outstanding season for the Avalanche although not quite what he was last season. And we'll speak more on Werenski during the Norris discussion. But his performance turned the Blue Jackets from a lottery team to an almost playoff team. He deserved recognition for the Hart.
Norris Trophy - Cale Makar
Here was my ballot for the Norris Trophy.
1. Zach Werenski
2. Cale Makar
3. Quinn Hughes
4. Josh Morrissey
5. Evan Bouchard
This was always a three-horse race. What was left to be determined was the order. Werenski from about the quarter point of the season on led this race.
