Controversy Emerges in Hart Trophy Voting Around Nikita Kucherov

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov reacts during 2026 game.

Nikita Kucherov has done something remarkable over the last three months, and he did it very quietly.

The Tampa Bay Lightning winger got off to a slow start this season, and was as many as 22 points behind the NHL scoring lead. He then went on a 95-point run over a 45-game stretch, the most by any player in a 45-game span since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96, and has now pulled even with Connor McDavid atop the scoring race at 121 points apiece.

He's the betting favorite to win the Hart Trophy at -185, ahead of Nathan MacKinnon at +155 and McDavid at a shocking +2200, according to BetMGM.

By almost every measure, Kucherov is having one of the great individual seasons in recent NHL memory.

And yet, according to Jeff Marek, some voters are already planning to leave him off their ballots entirely, not because of his play, but because he didn't go to the Olympics, something he had no control over.

The Hart Trophy Controversy: Why Some Voters Are Reportedly Excluding Kucherov

Marek, speaking on Daily Faceoff Live, said he was told directly by voters that they intend to exclude Kucherov from Hart Trophy consideration because he received a midseason Olympic break while other players continued competing in high-intensity games.

Russia's ongoing IIHF ban kept Kucherov out of both this year's Olympics and last year's 4 Nations Face-Off.

I had people tell me they didn’t put Nikita Kucherov at the top of their ballot last year because they had him there the year before — the same season he put up 144 points & finished 54 points ahead of his next closest #GoBolts teammate.

What more does he need to do? pic.twitter.com/dSq9so0Y6S
— Diandra Loux (@Diandra_loux) March 24, 2026

Whether that's fair is another debate entirely, but the idea that voters would discount a player who leads the NHL in points per game at 1.81, has 40 goals and 81 assists, and just posted the most dominant 45-game scoring stretch in 30 years feels difficult to justify on the merits.

Jon Cooper put it simply after Kucherov's four-point performance against Edmonton last week: "That kid's on quite a run. I don't know how many players in this league have four points in a game, period, let alone the amount of times he gets them."

Kucherov vs. McDavid vs. MacKinnon: Breaking Down the Hart Trophy Race

The numbers paint a genuinely fascinating picture.

Kucherov leads the NHL in points per game, leads in four-point games with eight, leads in assists per game at 1.21, and holds a 46-point gap over Tampa Bay's second-leading scorer Jake Guentzel, which is a larger separation than McDavid holds over Draisaitl or MacKinnon holds over Martin Necas.

McDavid gets ROCKED then Kucherov takes it the other way for his FIRST CAREER SHORT HANDED GOAL 😳 pic.twitter.com/CE9ToY2UsN
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) March 22, 2026

MacKinnon leads the Rocket Richard race with 48 goals (117 total points) and has the advantage of anchoring the NHL's top team, which has historically mattered to Hart voters who weigh team success heavily.

McDavid, despite sitting tied with Kucherov in total points, has played six more games, giving the Lightning winger a solid efficiency edge with games still remaining.

NATHAN MACKINNON BREAKAWAY GOAL AFTER A STEAL ON THE OTHER END #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/nauYlnraA3
— PrimeMakar8 (@retro_colorado) March 25, 2026

Macklin Celebrini has also quietly crashed this conversation with 96 points on the San Jose Sharks, a 49-point gap over his nearest teammate that is nearly unprecedented for a 19-year-old.

He's gone ice-cold recently, however, as the Sharks plummet in the standings, recording just two assists in his last six games. Not shockingly, the Sharks have lost all six of those games. That tells you something.