Lightning Winger Nikita Kucherov Receives Latest Hart Finalist Nod

Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov has a chance to take home his second Hart Memorial Trophy. He was announced as a finalist on Friday alongside Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon and Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid.

Kucherov is also a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award, which is the player’s MVP. He took home that award last season, while the writers awarded the Hart to MacKinnon for the second-straight season. We’ll have to see what the consensus is this time around.

Kucherov’s first and only Hart came following the 2018-19 season, when he led the league with 128 points, taking home the Art Ross. He has been a finalist for the award three seasons in a row now, but he’s yet to win another.

He finished the season with 44 goals, 86 assists and 130 points. All of them were an improvement from last season. However, this time around, he didn’t lead the league in assists or win the Art Ross. McDavid beat him out this time around with 90 assists and 138 points. At the same time, MacKinnon took home the Rocket Richard Trophy after leading the league in goals scored (53).

That puts his case for the award in a peculiar spot compared to the other times in which he was a finalist or took home one of the MVP awards for the league.

Along with Kucherov being a finalist for the Hart and Ted Lindsay, other members of the Lightning have a shot at some hardware this season. Andrei Vasilevskiy is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, the award for the best goalie. Jon Cooper is a finalist for the Jack Adams Award, the award for the best head coach in the NHL. Anthony Cirelli is once again a finalist for the Selke Trophy, the award for the best two-way forward.