NHL Awards 2024: Ceremony Date, Start Time, Candidates and Predictions (2024)

In the wake of the Florida Panthers' epic Stanley Cup victory Monday night in Sunrise, the NHL will honor its best Thursday live from Fontainebleu Las Vegas with its annual award ceremony.

The league will recognize its top scorers, defensem*n, coaches, sportsmen, and MVP, as well as its most outstanding player as voted on by his peers through some of the most coveted individual awards in the sport.

Who are the finalists for this year's awards and which players should you expect to leave Sin City with well-earned hardware?

Find out with this preview, including when and where you can watch, as well as predictions for the most prominent of the ceremony's honors.

Date: Thursday, June 27

Time: 7:00 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Streaming: ESPN+

Art Ross Trophy (awarded to the player with the most points at season's end)

Winner: Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning (144 points)

Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy (awarded to the NHL's top scorer)

Winner: Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs (69 goals)

William M. Jennings Trophy (awarded to the goalies on the team allowing the fewest goals)

Winner: Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets (allowed 142 goals)

Candidates: Sergei Bobrovsky (Florida Panthers), Thatcher Demko (Vancouver Canucks), and Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg Jets)

Hellebuyck had a save percentage of .921 this season, the best among goalies with 30 starts or more.

That he allowed two or fewer goals in 36 of his starts, on a team that was not necessarily known for its defense in the same way Bobrovsky's Florida Panthers were, only enhances the impressive feat accomplished by the 31-year-old.

His goals-against per game (2.39) were the fewest since his 2017-18 season and his win-loss record of 37-19 was the best since that same campaign.

He was the best goalie in the league and while he may not have hoisted the Stanley Cup like Bobrovsky, or made it as far in the playoffs as Demko, he has earned his second Vezina.

Prediction: Hellebuyck

Candidates: Connor Bedard (F, Chicago Blackhawks), Brock Faber (D, Minnesota Wild), Luke Hughes (D, New Jersey Devils)

With great talent comes great expectations and Bedard lived up to his incredible pre-NHL Draft billing.

The No. 1 overall pick played for a bad Chicago Blackhawks team but showed fans, peers, and NHL executives flashes of the excellence to come.

He scored nearly one point per game, tallying 61 in 68 games played. He led all rookies in that category, doing so with the weight of one of the league's most storied franchises squarely on his shoulders.

That he accomplished those stats while also missing six weeks with a broken jaw makes his maiden season that much more impressive.

Hughes and Faber played more meaningful hockey for better teams but Bedard was the star Chicago needed him to be in an otherwise lost season.

Prediction: Bedard

Candidates: Rick Bowness (Winnipeg Jets), Andrew Brunette (Nashville Predators), Rick Tocchet (Vancouver Canucks)

Tocchet found himself in an unenviable position in January when the Canucks fired head coach Bruce Boudreau and hired him to take over what was, to that point, an underwhelming squad.

All Tocchet did was lead the team to the top of the Pacific Division, then to the Western Conference semifinals, where they went seven games with the conference's eventual Stanley Cup Finals representative Edmonton Oilers.

He got the best out of a middle-of-the-pack team, guided them to their most points in a decade, and had them one win away from competing for a conference championship.

None of that diminishes what Bowness and Brunette accomplished with their teams but given the circ*mstances, Tocchet more than earned this award.

Prediction: Tocchet

Candidates: Nikita Kucherov (F, Tampa Bay Lightning), Nathan MacKinnon (F, Colorado Avalanche), Connor McDavid (F, Edmonton Oilers)

McDavid is a three-time Hart Trophy winner while the award is the one significant accolade missing from MacKinnon's resume. While there is no denying the impact those players had on their team and the league, Kucherov is this year's MVP.

The 31-year-old right winger scored the most points of any player this season with 144, including an astonishing 100 assists. He is just the fifth player in the NHL's long and illustrious history to tally that many passes.

He was the unquestioned force of the Lightning, scoring 54 more points than the team's second-leading scorer, Brayden Point.

The centerpiece of a playoff team with Stanley Cup expectations, he was excellent and proved as valuable to his team throughout the regular season, if not more so, than the more celebrated players he shares his candidacy with.

Any one of the three could earn the award and the result would be accepted by fans and peers who respect the stars' contributions.

Still, this feels like the time to reward what was a historically great season for the Lightning great.

Prediction: Kucherov

Candidates: Kucherov (F, Tampa Bay Lightning), MacKinnon (F, Colorado Avalanche), Matthews (F, Toronto Maple Leafs)

Not since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny each achieved the feat in the 1992-93 season has a player scored 70 goals. It is an accomplishment that remains intact, but only by the slimmest of margins following an extraordinary scoring season from Toronto's Matthews.

The 26-year-old forward found the net 69 times in 2023-24 and added 38 assists for 107 total points. He accounted for over 20 percent of the team's total goals, an incredible feat in an age where offensive numbers are already high.

Matthews was a threat to find the goal anytime he had the puck in his possession, an electric and dangerous offensive player whose contributions to the Maple Leafs' playoff hopes and the NHL's overall excitement level were undeniable.

Some will argue that the Leafs' disappointing playoff exit (again) should diminish his odds of winning the award but this is very much an individual award and few captivated fans and nearly rewrote the history books like Matthews, who scored the most goals in a single season in his team's long and illustrious history.

Prediction: Matthews