Connor McDavid won the Art Ross Trophy after finishing the regular season with 138 points in 82 games, edging back to the top of the NHL scoring race and claiming the league’s points crown for the sixth time.
McDavid scored 48 goals and led the league with 90 assists, a total that put him ahead of Nikita Kucherov, who finished second with 130 points. Nathan MacKinnon was third with 127, while rookie Macklin Celebrini followed with 115 and Mark Scheifele was fifth with 103.
The win gives McDavid his first Art Ross Trophy since 2022-23, when he posted a career-high 153 points. It also ties him with Mario Lemieux for second-most Art Ross Trophy wins in NHL history at six, leaving Wayne Gretzky alone at the top with 10.
The result matters because it came after Kucherov led the league in points in the previous two seasons, and McDavid reclaimed the award in the 2025-26 regular season. The Art Ross Trophy goes to the player who records the most points in the regular season, so this finish is a direct measure of who drove the scoring race from opening night to the end.
McDavid does not need much more to be remembered as the most dominant scorer of his era. What remains now is the distance to Gretzky’s mark, and whether anyone active can seriously threaten 10 Art Ross Trophy wins.
