Sheng Peng
Here’s how I voted for the 2025-26 NHL Awards.
For the first time since Erik Karlsson and 2022-23, it was a truly interesting year for the San Jose Sharks and the year-end awards, with Macklin Celebrini putting together an MVP-caliber campaign.
Here’s how I voted this year with some explanations — you can see how the rest of the PHWA voted here.
I’m proud to say that I’ve voted for the last nine straight years, see all my past votes here.
HART TROPHY
Winner: Nikita Kucherov
My Vote:
1) Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers
2) Macklin Celebrini – San Jose Sharks
3) Nikita Kucherov – Tampa Bay Lightning
4) Nathan MacKinnon – Colorado Avalanche
5) Zach Werenski – Columbus Blue Jackets
The margins were thin between these deserving MVP winners, especially the top-four.
When the margins are thin, you must have differentiators, or how else can you decide a winner?
Three of McDavid’s differentiators over Celebrini for me?
McDavid has an NHL-leading 138 points, 23 more than Celebrini. McDavid had a goal or an assist in 48.9 percent of the Oilers’ offense, which also led the league in offensive involvement, only ahead of Celebrini’s 46.2.
And yes, McDavid dragged Edmonton into the playoffs, while Celebrini just missed doing so.
In my mind, all this trumped Celebrini’s differentiators: Celebrini was on a far weaker team, for sure, but the Oilers had their share of major injuries and wouldn’t have made the post-season without McDavid.
Final Vote:
NORRIS TROPHY
Winner: Zach Werenski
My Vote:
1) Zach Werenski – Columbus Blue Jackets
2) Evan Bouchard – Edmonton Oilers
3) Rasmus Dahlin – Buffalo Sabres
4) Miro Heiskanen – Dallas Stars
5) Cale Makar – Colorado Avalanche
Speaking of differentiators…
When I selected Erik Karlsson for the Norris Trophy in 2022-23, it was on the strength of a major differentiator like Karlsson being the first defenseman since Brian Leetch in 1991-92 to eclipse 100 points.
So just like Celebrini just missing the playoffs was a differentiator, the same could be said about Bouchard being five points short of 100. It’s just a few points, but…
Werenski is a better all-around defender, and once again, if you have a handful of closely-qualified candidates, you do have to find small reasons to separate them. You have no choice but to do so.
Final Vote:
CALDER TROPHY
Winner: Matthew Schaefer
My Vote:
1) Matthew Schaefer – New York Islanders
2) Jakub Dobes – Montreal Canadiens
3) Ivan Demidov – Montreal Canadiens
4) Beckett Sennecke – Anaheim Ducks
5) Jimmy Snuggerud – St. Louis Blues
Final Vote:
LADY BYNG TROPHY
Winner: Cole Caulfield
My Vote:
1) Jake Sanderson – Ottawa Senators
2) Mark Stone – Vegas Golden Knights
3) Travis Sanheim – Philadelphia Flyers
4) Zach Werenski – Columbus Blue Jackets
5) Esa Lindell – Dallas Stars
The Lady Byng, in my opinion, should be an award given to a gentlemanly player who plays at a high level and has his sportsmanship tested by challenging minutes. It’s easier to avoid taking penalties when you don’t play hard defensive minutes, so I never vote for those offense-first types.
Final Vote:
SELKE TROPHY
Winner: Nick Suzuki
My Vote:
1) Shane Pinto – Ottawa Senators
2) Ryan O’Reilly – Nashville Predators
3) Jordan Staal – Carolina Hurricanes
4) Nico Hischier – New Jersey Devils
5) Alex Wennberg – San Jose Sharks
Suzuki is a terrific two-way center, but I think my top-five had a combination of harder defensive match-ups, more PK time, and/or more a greater percentage of 5-on-5 defensive zone faceoffs.
For what it’s worth, I filtered my Selke and Norris votes, my most challenging votes every year, through multiple NHL scouts.
Final Vote:
Masterton Trophy
Winner: Gabriel Landeskog
My Vote:
1) Gabriel Landeskog – Colorado Avalanche
2) Rasmus Dahlin – Buffalo Sabres
3) Ozzy Wiesblatt – Nashville Predators
All-Star Team
Winners:
My Vote:
CENTER — Three selections.
1) Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers
2) Macklin Celebrini – San Jose Sharks
3) Nathan MacKinnon – Colorado Avalanche
RIGHT WING — Three selections.
1) Nikita Kucherov – Tampa Bay Lightning
2) David Pastrnak – Boston Bruins
3) Matt Boldy – Minnesota Wild
LEFT WING — Three selections.
1) Jason Robertson – Dallas Stars
2) Cole Caulfield – Montreal Canadiens
3) Kirill Kaprizov – Minnesota Wild
DEFENSE — SIX selections.
1) Zach Werenski – Columbus Blue Jackets
2) Evan Bouchard – Edmonton Oilers
3) Rasmus Dahlin – Buffalo Sabres
4) Miro Heiskanen – Dallas Stars
5) Cale Makar – Colorado Avalanche
6) Moritz Seider – Detroit Red Wings
GOALTENDER — Three selections.
1) Andrei Vasilevskiy – Tampa Bay Lightning
2) Logan Thompson – Washington Capitals
3) Karel Vejmelka – Utah Mammoth
Final Vote:
NHL All-Rookie Team
Winners:
My Vote:
FORWARD —
Ivan Demidov – Montreal Canadiens
Beckett Sennecke – Anaheim Ducks
Jimmy Snuggerud – St. Louis Blues
DEFENSE —
Matthew Schaefer – New York Islanders
Alexander Nikishin – Carolina Hurricanes
GOALTENDER —
Jakub Dobes – Montreal Canadiens
Final Vote:
