Colorado Avalanche

Wayne Gretzky Has No Doubt About Who Should Win the Hart Trophy

Wayne Gretzky revealed his Hart Trophy pick on Wednesday night.

by
Jackson Weber
April 16, 2026

The Hart Trophy race has been back and forth all season long, with arguably the three best players in the world—Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Nikita Kucherov—being the usual suspects in the running for the prestigious award.

One of those three has won the MVP in four of the last seven seasons, and that’s soon to be five of the last eight. All have had incredible years, racking up massive point totals while leading their teams to the playoffs. Picking between them is splitting hairs, but the Great One, Wayne Gretzky—who knows a thing or two about winning Hart Trophies—has no doubt that it should be McDavid who takes home hardware for the fourth time in his career.

Gretzky said:

“The three guys are the three usual guys. Kucherov has been unbelievable in Tampa Bay. How can you not vote for MacKinnon? First place overall, another stellar year. But my vote would go to Connor McDavid on the basis of Edmonton has had kind of an up-and-down year all year. They’ve made a lot of changes, he’s missed Hyman and Draisaitl for a great period of time, but he’s still putting up numbers, and he’s still the best player in the National Hockey League, so I would vote for Connor McDavid if I had a vote,”

The 29-year-old McDavid enters Thursday night’s regular-season finale with a league-leading 134 points (48 goals, 86 assists) in 81 games played.

FanDuel currently has MacKinnon as an ever-so-slight favorite ahead of McDavid, with Kucherov as a clear third. MacKinnon has the Rocket Richard Trophy with 53 goals and counting, while McDavid has the Art Ross Trophy with 134 points and counting.

Ultimately, and as Gretzky noted, it could and should come down to McDavid’s ability to carry Edmonton down the stretch without Leon Draisaitl. The Oilers were spiraling, and their place in the postseason was far from guaranteed. An injury to Draisaitl could have been disastrous, but instead the best player in the world elevated his game to another level. That’s what the most valuable player does, and we’ve seen it play a major role in the voting in the past.

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