The NHL unveiled the winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy on Thursday ahead of Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, with the trophy going to Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov.

As a result, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid finished second in voting for the Hart Trophy, finishing only 10 points behind Kucherov for the award. Colorado Avalanche centre Nathan MacKinnon fell a bit more behind that with 1,297.

McDavid finished with 68 first-place votes, 62 second-place votes, 56 third-place votes, 10 fourth-place votes and two fifth-place votes. He had only four fewer first-place votes than Kucherov, while his 62 second-place votes were the most of any player, and just two more than Kucherov.

The Richmond Hill, Ontario native misses out on winning his fourth Hart Trophy, which would put him in the elite company of Eddie Shore (four), Gordie Howe (six) and Wayne Gretzky (nine) as the only players to win the award four or more times.

McDavid finds himself as a finalist this year, after Kucherov, teammate Leon Draisaitl, and eventual winner Connor Hellebuyck edged him out for last season’s award. That snapped a streak of four consecutive seasons as a finalist for the Hart. He’s finished as a finalist for the award seven times in his 11-season NHL career, and has finished in the top five in all but two seasons in his career.

However, McDavid didn’t leave the season empty-handed in the trophy department, as he secured the Art Ross Trophy for leading the league in scoring, and won the Ted Lindsay Award as the most outstanding player, as voted on by his peers.

McDavid is coming off one of his strongest seasons, as he had 48 goals and 90 assists for 138 points in 82 games, carrying the load for the Oilers down the stretch as Draisaitl’s injuries kept him out of the lineup. His 48 goals and his 138 points are the second-most in his career, both falling short of his 2022-23 totals of 64 goals and 153 points.

It was an underwhelming Stanley Cup Playoffs for McDavid, as he had just one goal and five assists for six points in six games as his Oilers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Anaheim Ducks.

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