NHL Awards watch: Predictions for the 2025-26 season
Photo courtesy of 5of7/Wikimedia Commons
Nathan MacKinnon continues his MVP-caliber season, leading the NHL in points and powering the Colorado Avalanche’s dominance as the frontrunner for the Hart Memorial Trophy.
Every National Hockey League (NHL) season, the question on everyone’s minds is which players will rise to the occasion and take home the league’s top honors. For the sake of keeping this article within the given space, I will be giving my predictions for the Calder, Norris, Hart, and Vezina Trophies.
Calder Memorial Trophy: Matthew Schaefer
There is no doubt in my mind that 18-year-old defenseman Matthew Schaefer will be taking home this year’s Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year. Long story short—he is insane. Currently, he is sitting at a total of 56 points with 22 goals and 24 assists through 75 games.
If the impact of play he brings to the New York Islanders cannot be seen through his points, then perhaps I can persuade you with his Time on Ice (TOI). On Mar. 24 against the Chicago Blackhawks, Schaefer played a whopping 31:59 total minutes, the most by a teenager in NHL history since the league started tracking TOI. Since the start of his rookie season, Schaefer has been breaking records left and right; this is surely just the beginning of a legendary career.
James Norris Memorial Trophy: Zach Werenski
This pick may come as a surprise, but it should not be. When it comes to the best defenseman in the league, we always hear names like Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes, but Werenski’s level of play this season for the Columbus Blue Jackets has been instrumental in their success.
Werenski has racked up 21 goals and 56 assists, for a total of 77 points so far this season. While his numbers do not necessarily stack up like Makar’s have this season, relative to his teammates, they are outstanding. He earned some spotlight in Team USA’s gold medal victory in the Olympics, and deservedly so. If the Blue Jackets make a playoff push, the possibility of Werenski winning the Norris might become a reality.
Hart Memorial Trophy: Nathan MacKinnon
The Colorado Avalanche have led the league in points since October, and the catalyst behind that success is none other than center Nathan MacKinnon. He has been putting up MVP numbers this season and is leading the NHL in points with 49 goals and 71 assists for a total of 120 points.
A little fun fact regarding MacKinnon’s success not just this season, but in his entire career, is that fewer than 114 players in NHL history have ever scored 400 goals out of around 9,000 who have played in the league. MacKinnon reached that this season, meaning that he hit a stat that about one percent of every NHL player that has ever played has done what MacKinnon has done.
Vezina Trophy: Andrei Vasilevskiy
The league’s top goaltender award could go a couple of different ways, but in my opinion, the obvious choice is Vasilevskiy. The Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender has a 35-12-4 record, a 2.33 Goals Against Average (GAA), and a .913 save percentage. A stellar season and a Vezina-winning conversation in the making after coming in second behind Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.
No goaltender in the league this season is more valuable to his team than Vasilevskiy is to the Lightning. The team only won two of the seven games when he was sidelined with an injury and had a subpar record of 10-9-1 without him in net.
As the regular season nears its conclusion, debates over award winners will only continue to grow louder across the NHL. The final decision now rests in the hands of voters, but the conversation is far from over.