Highlights
- Connor McDavid has clinched his sixth Art Ross Trophy after Nikita Kucherov failed to catch him in Tampa Bay’s regular-season finale.
- The sixth scoring title ties McDavid with Gordie Howe and Mario Lemieux for second all-time, behind only Wayne Gretzky and his ten.
- Read below to see the numbers behind McDavid’s latest piece of history, and why this one lands with extra weight.
Connor McDavid has wrapped up another Art Ross Trophy, and this one comes with serious company.
The Oilers captain sits at 134 points through 81 games, good for 48 goals and 86 assists. Nikita Kucherov went scoreless for the Tampa Bay Lightning in their 4-2 loss to the Rangers on Wednesday night, which closed out the Lightning’s regular season and took Kucherov out of the chase for good.
Edmonton still has one game left on Thursday, so the trophy becomes official then. The math is already done.
This is McDavid’s sixth scoring title, which puts him level with Gordie Howe and Mario Lemieux for second place all-time. Only Wayne Gretzky, with 10, has won more.
Howe spread his six titles across a legendary two-decade run. Lemieux stacked his six across a brilliant but injury-shortened career in Pittsburgh. McDavid has done it in 11 seasons, and he turned 29 in January.
Nathan MacKinnon, the other serious challenger down the stretch, also could not reel him in. McDavid’s late push included a five-point, hat-trick night against the Sharks on April 8 that effectively put the race out of reach, as we covered at the time.
The Art Ross has been a near-annual stop for McDavid. He won it in 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Add 2026 to the list.
Gretzky remains in a tier of his own with 10 scoring titles, most of them stacked during his Edmonton years in the 1980s. Catching The Great One is a stretch, but another three or four Art Rosses from McDavid is no longer a wild projection.
Attention shifts to the playoffs. The Oilers are locked into the Pacific, and McDavid will carry the same questions he’s carried every April since 2017. Stanley Cup or bust. The regular-season hardware keeps piling up in the meantime.
