Nikita Kucherov has won the 2026 Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded to the player voted as the NHL’s MVP for the 2025-26 season.
The Russian winger now has two MVP trophies to his name after previously winning the honor in 2019. Kucherov finished second in the NHL in scoring, but led the league with a points-per-game average of 1.71. He also led the Lightning in goals, assists, and points.
Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid were revealed as the three finalists for the trophy last month.
Kucherov finished with 42 more points than his closest teammate, leading the Lightning to their ninth straight playoff appearance. According to the NHL, his 42-point edge was the second-largest gap between a team’s top two scorers in 2025-26, trailing just the 56-point difference between Macklin Celebrini (115) and Will Smith (59) of the San Jose Sharks.
The Lightning’s superstar forward notched at least one point in 60 of his 76 games played, and ranked first in the NHL in even-strength assists (57) and multi-assist performances (25). He also became only the 10th player in League history to record multiple 130-point seasons, and the 17th-fastest player in NHL history to reach both the 1,000-point (809 games) and 1,100-point (863 games) milestones.
Kucherov is one of only four active players to have won multiple Hart Trophies, joining Alex Ovechkin (3), Connor McDavid (3), and Sidney Crosby (2). He earned 72 first-place votes out of the 198 available, finishing just 10 points ahead of McDavid. For the first time since the current points system was established for the 1995-96 campaign, all three finalists received at least 25 percent of all first-place votes.
2026 Hart Memorial Trophy voting
Kucherov was surprised with the trophy by Keeper of the Cup Phil Pritchard at the Lightning’s practice facility.
The lone representative from the Washington Capitals in the voting was goaltender Logan Thompson, who tied for 23rd place with one fifth-place vote. Thompson, who did not finish in the top three in Vezina Trophy voting, went 31-21-6 with a 2.44 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage, and four shutouts this past year. The 58 games he appeared in were the most he has played in a single season in his career and were 15 more than he played in the 2024-25 season.
According to MoneyPuck, Thompson was the top goalie in the NHL in goals saved above expected, recording 29.3, which was the most by a goalie not named Connor Hellebuyck since Juuse Saros posted 46.7 during the 2022-23 campaign.
Thompson also received consideration for the Lady Byng Trophy, giving him votes for three different awards this spring.
