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Draisaitl snubbed for major NHL award and Edmonton Oilers fans are not pleased

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
|
Apr 30 2025, 5:30 pm
Draisaitl snubbed for major NHL award and Edmonton Oilers fans are not pleased
Ed Mulholland/Imagn Images

Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl is considered a frontrunner for the Hart Trophy, but has been left off the ballot entirely for the Ted Lindsay Award.

This morning, the NHL announced that Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Nikita Kucherov were the three finalists for the Ted Lindsay Award, an award that is voted on by players and given out based on who they believe had the best individual season.

It’s hard to knock any of these selections, as all three had incredible seasons. Kucherov led the NHL in scoring with 121 points, while MacKinnon sat second with 116. Meanwhile, Makar scored a career-high 30 goals and 92 points from the back end.

That said, leaving Draisaitl off the ballot feels like a miss by his peers. The 29-year-old put the Oilers on his back all season long, finishing the campaign with a league-leading 52 goals, along with 106 points, in only 71 games. Had he remained healthy down the stretch, there was a real shot that he would hit the 60-goal marker for the first time in his career.

Given the impact Draisaitl had on a team that had its fair share of lulls this season, Oilers fans feel that he was robbed not only of being a finalist, but winning the award altogether.


Draisaitl has won the Ted Lindsay Award once in his career, back in the shortened 2019-20 season, when he put up 110 points in 71 games. That season also saw him win the Art Ross and Hart Trophies.


As disappointing as it must be for Draisaitl to be snubbed for this award, he and the Oilers have bigger things on their mind.

After putting themselves in a hole early in their first-round series versus the LA Kings, they have stormed back with three straight wins and will have a chance to punch their ticket to the second round on Thursday night. To little surprise, Draisaitl has played a huge part in their success, having managed three goals and 10 points through the opening five games.

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