Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid has been nominated for the Ted Lindsay Award, given annually to the most outstanding player in the NHL as voted by the NHL Players' Association. He faces stiff competition from San Jose Sharks rookie sensation Macklin Celebrini and Tampa Bay Lightning star forward Nikita Kucherov, who won the award last season and in 2018-19.
McDavid's Stellar Season
The Oilers captain claimed his sixth Art Ross Trophy, leading the league with 138 points (48 goals, 90 assists) — eight points ahead of Kucherov — while playing all 82 regular-season games. His efforts helped an up-and-down Oilers squad secure a second-place finish in the Pacific Division.
Numbers-wise, the only better season McDavid has had was in 2022-23, when he earned career highs of 64 goals and 153 points. McDavid has four previous Ted Lindsay Awards on his resume (2016-17, 2017-18, 2020-21, 2022-23) and has been nominated seven times. Only Wayne Gretzky has won it five times.
Team and Coach Reactions
Even with the team on the brink of elimination heading into Game 5 of their opening-round playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks, the Oilers took time to celebrate McDavid's efforts. "That's about the least surprising thing I've heard all morning," Leon Draisaitl said at morning skate following the announcement.
"I believe production-wise, it was his second-best year," Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said. "He led the NHL in scoring and really had a tremendous second half or three-quarters of the season. Especially at the end of the year when our season was on the line and we're missing Draisaitl, who is another star in this league, where he really elevated his game and got our team into the playoffs."
Playoff Struggles
The post-season has been another story for McDavid, unfortunately, with a goal and three assists, along with a minus-4 goal differential heading into Game 5. He was held off the scoresheet in Game 1 against Anaheim, which marked the first time all season the Oilers won a game without him earning at least a point, as well as a Game 2 loss to the Ducks.
In that game, McDavid injured his ankle in a collision with teammate Mattias Ekholm, which has appeared to hamper him, though he has continued to play through it. McDavid was listed as a game-time decision for Tuesday night after sitting out the morning skate.
"Not one guy is going to replace him, and we have some guys that are banged up and they're continuing to play and doing the best that they can do," Knoblauch said. "But ultimately everybody's got to step it up a little bit. Playoffs is a tough time to play, it's tight checking, there's not much room and we're playing a good team with Anaheim and right now we need those guys that are healthy being able to pick up the slack for the guys that can't play like they want to."
