Celebrini, Kucherov, McDavid named finalists for Ted Lindsay Award
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 players have spoken. Macklin Celebrini, Nikita Kucherov and Connor McDavid have been chosen by their peers as the 2025-26 #TedLindsayAward finalists: ply.rs/rmez14gihhd
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.
Celebrini is the lone finalist who has not won the award before, but is in the running for an award for the second-consecutive year after capturing the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s best rookie last season. He’ll 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.
Kucherov will look to win his second-consecutive Ted Lindsay award and third of his career after doing so in 2018-19 and 2024-25, and could become the eighth player to win the award three times in his career. He finished second in league scoring with 44 goals and 86 assists for 130 points in 76 games.
McDavid 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. He would join Wayne Gretzky as the only players to win the award five times in their career, and potentially set himself up to win a record-setting sixth down the road. 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.
The Ted Lindsay Award was first introduced in 1971, originally named the Lester B. Pearson Award after Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, who was also a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and a former player and head coach of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men’s ice hockey team. The award was renamed the Ted Lindsay Award after Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks legend Ted Lindsay, who played in the NHL from 1944 to 1965 and more notably played a key role in establishing the NHL Players’ Association.