Nathan MacKinnon's 127-Point Season Earns Fifth Hart Trophy Nomination — And Reframes His Prop Value

Per the league's announcement Friday, Nathan MacKinnon is a Hart Trophy finalist for the fifth time in his career, joining Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov and Edmonton's Connor McDavid on the shortlist for the NHL's most valuable player award. MacKinnon closed the 2025-26 regular season with 53 goals and 74 assists — 127 points in total — claimed the Rocket Richard Trophy as the league's top goal scorer, and anchored a Colorado Avalanche team that posted a franchise-record 121 points and won the Presidents' Trophy. That's not a good season. That's an argument.

What separates this campaign from MacKinnon's previous monster years is the composition of the production. His 97 even-strength points led the entire NHL — a number that doesn't just reflect volume but dominance at the most competition-neutral situation in hockey. MacKinnon wasn't padding stats on the power play. He was dictating games at five-on-five, which is the hardest place to sustain that kind of output against prepared, locked-in opposition. McDavid may have taken the Art Ross, but MacKinnon's even-strength edge is the detail that makes his Hart case genuinely compelling.

Colorado's Presidents' Trophy run adds another layer. The Avalanche navigated injuries and roster flux throughout the season, and MacKinnon was the load-bearing wall the entire time. A team that wins 121 points doesn't do so without a center who can manufacture offense, protect leads, and absorb defensive attention that creates space for teammates. Cale Makar's Norris Trophy finalist nod tells part of that story — when your center commands that much attention, your defenseman gets cleaner looks. MacKinnon's gravity is a multiplier for everyone around him.

For bettors, this matters beyond the award itself. MacKinnon's shot volume, point production, and goal-scoring pace heading into the playoffs are all operating at career-best levels. His shots-on-goal prop lines have historically been underpriced relative to his actual deployment and usage when Colorado plays with a lead — and a Presidents' Trophy team plays with leads often. With 53 goals in the regular season, the anytime goal market on MacKinnon in deep playoff series deserves serious attention; he's converting at a rate that makes single-game goal props viable rather than speculative. His points prop in any given playoff game should be treated as a near-floor of 0.8 per game based on this year's pace, and books have been slow to fully adjust playoff lines to reflect peak-form MacKinnon versus the version they were pricing in October.

The Hart finalist announcement is a footnote to the real story: MacKinnon is playing the best hockey of his career at 30, and the market hasn't fully caught up. If Colorado advances deep into the postseason, expect his shots, goals, and points props to offer consistent value against lines calibrated for a slightly lesser version of this player.