NHL Awards Rankings: New No. 1 in MVP race

1. Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning

Nikita Kucherov’s minus-3 is about the only blemish on his stat line, as everything else is almost picture-perfect. With 69 points, Kucherov not only leads the NHL, but he’s potentially on pace to break his career-best of 128 points set in 2018-19. And it foreshadows that the longer Kucherov will play, the better he may keep getting, a scary thought if you’re playing the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

Not only is Kucherov threatening his career-best points total, but he’s also well on pace to set a new standard in goals scored. Having found the net 28 times this season, Kucherov will have 54 goals by the end of the regular season if he keeps up his current pace, which will easily surpass the 41 he scored in 2018-19. 

Kucherov is also contributing in other areas like special teams, where he’s found the net 10 times on the man advantage. Kucherov also has five game-winning goals, which, along with the number of times he’s scored on the power play, also puts him on pace to achieve new career-bests. 

But most importantly, his contributions are a huge reason the Lightning are in contention at midseason. Few knew how well Tampa would fare this year in the always-competitive Atlantic Division, but so far, Kucherov has been a focal point in ensuring this team has exceeded expectations. 

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)