Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov and Avalanche superstars Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar have been named the Ted Lindsay Award finalists for the 2024-25 season, the NHLPA announced today. The Lindsay Award is given to the league’s most outstanding player as voted on by his peers.
Now in his 11th NHL season, Kucherov became the 10th player in league history with three or more scoring titles. He’s the first player with back-to-back Art Ross Trophies not named Connor McDavid since Jaromír Jágr won four straight from 1998 to 2001. He finished the campaign with 37 goals, 84 assists, and 121 points in 78 games, not quite sniffing last year’s career-highs across the board but still leading the league in assists and points.
If Kucherov wins, it’ll be his second Lindsay after winning it alongside his first Art Ross-winning season in 2018-19. He’s also just the fourth player in league history to record three consecutive 80-assist seasons, joining Paul Coffey, Wayne Gretzky, and Bobby Orr.
It’s rare to see two players from the same club nominated for the same award, but the wording of “most outstanding” as compared to “most valuable” in the Lindsay fine print opens up the opportunity for this award compared to the media-voted Hart Trophy for league MVP. MacKinnon could be the first back-to-back winner of the Lindsay since McDavid in 2016-17 and 2017-18. He tied Kucherov’s league-leading 84 assists this year and added 32 goals in 79 games in what was a down season for him in the shooting department. MacKinnon’s sky-high 22:47 average time on ice per game led all forwards this year, and he led the league in shots on goal (320) for the fourth time in his 12-year career. MacKinnon totaled 116 points for his third straight season above the century mark.
As for Makar, he was announced as a Norris Trophy finalist just yesterday for the fifth time in his six-year NHL resume. He registered a career-high 30 goals and 92 points in 80 games to lead NHL defensemen, now poised to take home the Defenseman of the Year award for the second time while potentially adding a Lindsay to his trophy case. He faces some extremely long odds, though. A defenseman has only won the Lindsay once since it was introduced as the Lester B. Pearson Award in the 1970-71 campaign – Orr took it home in 1974-75. Carey Price (2014-15) is the only non-forward to win it in the last 28 years.
