The Hockey Writer's Mark Scheig Explains His 2026 NHL Awards Ballot
The 2026 NHL Award winners have been announced. THW's Mark Scheig explains what went into his voting process.
The winners of the 2026 NHL Awards have been announced. As expected, the Hart Trophy was decided by the slimmest of margins.
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov edged out Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid by just 10 points in the voting. Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon finished in third but still got over 25% of the possible first-place votes.
It was the first time in NHL history that all three finalists for the Hart Trophy each got at least 25% of the possible first-place votes.
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 - Nikita Kucherov
Here was my final ballot for the Hart Trophy.
1. Nathan MacKinnon
2. Nikita Kucherov
3. Connor McDavid
4. Macklin Celebrini
5. Zach Werenski
The three finalists all had compelling cases to win the Hart. No matter who won the award, they would have been deserving.
But of course, only one player can win. Kucherov’s season helped the Lightning to 51 wins while helping his team overcome many injuries to key players. His impact on team success was hard to ignore. His 1.71 points per game was the most in the NHL.
Another factor to consider for Kucherov was how much of a gap there was to second place in Lightning scoring. He outscored Jake Guentzel by 42 points.
Kucherov also turned in a stretch of 104 points in a 50-game span. In today’s game, that is an absurd scoring rate. No else else matched that pace.
This was a hard choice for me. I chose MacKinnon ultimately because of 53 goals and his overall 5-on-5 impact. He outscored the opposition a whopping 100-42 at 5-on-5 when he was on the ice. For comparison sake, Kucherov was 86-48 and McDavid was 75-68.
The other 5-on-5 factor that set MacKinnon apart was his point total. Per Nat Stat Trick, he was the only player in the NHL to eclipse 70 5-on-5 points this season. He had 75. Kucherov was second with 69. That is why Kucherov was second on my ballot.
While McDavid’s impact especially without Leon Draisaitl in the lineup was incredible, he wasn’t as effective as the other two candidates defensively. I try to factor all components together when trying to separate players with compelling cases. It’s not just about the final point total.
The story though is Celebrini. Although the Sharks faded at the end, he absolutely deserved to be on the ballot as a 19-year old. While he only got five first-place votes, the fact he got those says how valuable he is and will be moving forward. He truly might be the next one.
And for a second year in a row, what Werenski did to help the Columbus Blue Jackets had to be recognized. He led all Blue Jackets in points again and had a sizeable gap on their best scoring forward in Kirill Marchenko. More on Werenski below.
Norris Trophy - Zach Werenski
Here was my ballot for the Norris Trophy.
1. Zach Werenski
2. Cale Makar
3. Evan Bouchard
4. Lane Hutson
5. Quinn Hughes
Werenski put himself on the map last year in finishing as a runner up. He used the 2025-26 season to get better. He won the Norris Trophy pretty convincingly.
