The talent level in the NHL has never been higher, but there are still a handful of players that stand above the fray. The result is one of the most interesting scoring races of the last 25 years, something fans will have to pay attention to until the final day of the regular season.
With less than 20 games remaining in the regular season, Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov, and Connor McDavid are in a compelling race. At stake is the Art Ross Trophy, pride, and major legacy points.
Nathan MacKinnon
The Colorado Avalanche got several reinforcements at the trade deadline but this team runs through MacKinnon. He has been on a tear of late with 15 points in his last eight games, including four points against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday, putting him up to 108 on the season (1.71 points per game pace).
He also leads the NHL in goals with 44 through 63 games, holding a six-goal advantage on the Minnesota Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov. Winning the Rocket Richard Trophy would be nice for MacKinnon but it is likely not his most important individual pursuit.
MacKinnon is still in pursuit of his first scoring title despite having a season with 140 points to his name. MacKinnon is an otherworldly competitor, and it is safe to assume that he wants to beat two legendary contemporaries to earn his first Art Ross, something that would cement his legacy. Winning the scoring title in a season in which the Avalanche could realistically win their fourth Stanley Cup would be the cherry on top.
Connor McDavid
McDavid was throwing punches instead of scoring on Thursday, but he currently sits atop the NHL with 110 points. It is the sixth consecutive season in which McDavid has registered at least 100 points (ninth overall) and is currently on pace for nearly 137 points (his highest output since scoring 153 points in 2022-23).
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McDavid is McDavid. He has gone scoreless just 11 times in 66 games this season, and likely won’t have more than a couple of games down the stretch in which he is held without a point.
It has been three seasons since McDavid won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer and doing so this season would put him in truly rarified territory. With another win, he would tie Mario Lemieux and Gordie Howe for second all-time with six Art Ross wins. That is the kind of company that modern players simply do not keep.
Nikita Kucherov
Currently third in the scoring race with 106 points, Kucherov has the highest points-per-game average (1.77) of the three. He is also the defending back-to-back scoring champion, having won the Art Ross the past two seasons.
Though the Lightning have had the most team success of the three – and are serious contenders to win it all again – Kucherov has arguably the least help of the three. His ability to elevate his teammates has truly been special and his assist numbers show that.
Like McDavid, there is history on the line for Kucherov as well. With a victory, Kucherov would become just the third player since Wayne Gretzky’s seventh consecutive Art Ross – joining McDavid and Jaromir Jagr – to win at least three scoring titles in a row. It would also be his fourth win overall, making him just the eighth player in history with four or more scoring titles. Kucherov has somewhat quietly built an all-time resume and has a chance to add to it this season.
The Best Since the Last Time These Three Went at it
There have been some excellent scoring races over the last 25 years. A lot of them have been between two players – Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund in 2002-03, Joe Thornton and Jaromir Jagr in 2005-06, Thornton and Sidney Crosby in 2006-07 – but this is probably the best three-way race…since the last time these three did it.
In the 2023-24 season, Kucherov captured his second scoring title with an incredible 144 points and an NHL-record-for-wingers 100 assists. MacKinnon finished with 140 points and McDavid came in third with 132 points.
They might not reach quite those levels this season, but the winner will likely finish somewhere over the 130-point mark. The past three seasons, we have watched these three dominate the NHL in ways we haven’t seen since the glory days of Lemieux and Gretzky.
We’re Watching Generational Talents
When we look back at this period of league history, these three contemporaries will stand out as being in a class of their own with incredible legacies for each. All three are right around 30 years old (Kucherov is 32) and have at least a few more seasons of elite play ahead of them.
When all is said and done, we could be talking about more than 10 collective scoring titles and a half-dozen MVPs between them. It is the kind of competition that will define this generation of play for decades to come.
