Trophy Tracker: MacKinnon favorite to win Hart after scorching start for Avalanche

To mark the first quarter of the 2025-26 regular season, NHL.com is running its second installment of the Trophy Tracker series. Today, we look at the race for the Hart Trophy, given annually to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team selected in a vote by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association.

Nathan MacKinnon is one-upping himself this season.

In his 13th NHL season, the 30-year-old Colorado Avalanche center is off the best start of his career with 41 points (19 goals, 22 assists) in 24 games.

MacKinnon leads the NHL in goals and points and is tied for second in assists. He is NHL.com's favorite at the quarter-mark of the season to win the Hart Trophy as the League's most valuable player to his team, earning 14 out of a possible 16 first-place votes and finishing with 70 voting points, 30 more than anyone else.

"He's consistent with everything he does all the time, professionally at least," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "I think those habits and that discipline leads to consistency."

MacKinnon won the Hart Trophy in 2023-24. He has never won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer, finishing second to Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov the past two seasons.

Maybe this is the season he gets both, especially if the Avalanche maintain their status as the League's best team.

They are 17-1-6 through the first 24 games, leading the NHL in wins and points (40).

"I see a lot of similarities in everything he's doing on the offensive side of it, but to this point in the season it's the best checking year he's had in his career," Bednar said of MacKinnon. "I believe the better you check the more chances you're going to get. You're playing with the puck more. I think it's him, it's our team all kind of with that same mentality so it's leading to a lot of offense. And when you get a guy like Nate with the ability that he has with the puck on his stick more often good things are going to happen."

That MacKinnon is besting himself this season is further indication of the level of consistent excellence he has displayed for a decade.

"You've just got to watch him," said Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard, who finished second in the in NHL.com’s Hart Trophy voting. "He's obviously one of the most talented players in the league. He seems like an extremely competitive guy. I think he's motivated every game to be the best he can."

MacKinnon's ability to stay at the top of the League year after year after year without falling into the trap of a slow start is a model for young players like Bedard, San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini and now New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer.

Bedard (2023), Celebrini (2024) and Schaefer (2025), like MacKinnon in 2013, were No. 1 picks in their respective draft years.

Schaefer, in fact, is coached by Patrick Roy, who was the Avalanche coach when MacKinnon was drafted and playing in the NHL as an 18-year-old.

Like MacKinnon did under Roy -- improving daily and earning more ice time -- Schaefer's game continues to elevate with his ice time.

"They both have that quality," Roy said of MacKinnon and Schaefer. "I mean, players that are capable of bringing their game to another level day after day and maintain that level. It's impressive. Sometimes you want to protect them, but they force you."

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And then they start to one-up themselves, which is exactly what MacKinnon is doing this season.

"All the great players in the league, you want to see that consistency," Bedard said. "He's extremely talented and it seems like he is someone who is always working on his game and trying to get better and perform at his highest level."

Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1- basis): Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche, 70 points (14 first-place votes); Connor Bedard, Chicago Blackhawks, 40; Macklin Celebrini, San Jose Sharks, 34; Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers, 28; David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins, 26 (2); Leo Carlsson, Anaheim Ducks, 18; Mikko Rantanen, Dallas Stars, 5; Cale Makar, Avalanche, 4; Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights, 4; Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins, 3; Bo Horvat, New York Islanders, 3; Sidney Crosby, Penguins, 1; Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens, 1; Cole Caufield, Canadiens, 1; Scott Wedgewood, Avalanche, 1; Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets, 1

NHL.com independent correspondents Stefen Rosner, Bruce Miles and Ryan Boulding contributed to this story.