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MacKinnon’s 88 points is two behind McDavid for the scoring lead, but MacKinnon’s Avs remain 10 points clear of the next-best team atop the standings. Celebrini had a relatively quiet week by his standards, but the 19-year-old has 74 points through 50 games.

Here I thought I’d be simply ordering Mac, Mc and Mack in the Hart Trophy race for the rest of the season — but a new contender is in hot pursuit.

That is Nikita Kucherov, who has 78 points through 46 games for the Eastern juggernaut Lightning. I’m sticking with my same three this week, but Kucherov is officially on watch because he could elbow Celebrini out of the running by going on a streak.

Social media post of the weekend

Is going to go off the board here and call out this excellent photo of two Mount Rushmore-caliber defensemen and a possible future one in Ray Bourque, Rob Blake and Cale Makar. Both because it’s an iconic photo that should probably be somewhere in the Hall of Fame but also because Bourque is just like us, standing on his tippy-toes trying not to look too short in the picture (albeit with Makar in skates). All short kings do it, no shame in that!

And an honorable mention this week: How did NJ Devil make this catch?

Stick taps

On Thursday, the NHL, NHLPA and ESPN’s Take Back Sports initiative held an innovation competition at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando. Hundreds of undergrad and graduate college students in the state of Florida submitted ideas to help grow the game of hockey at the grassroots level and tackle this question: “How can we strengthen the future of hockey by expanding participation, improving safe access, and making the game more fun and engaging for families and communities?”

It came down to six teams that presented in front of judges and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

Two awards were given out: the Innovator Award (the most out-of-the-box and transformative idea) and the Change Maker Award (most feasible and ready-to-implement award).

Hockey Unidos (Claire Maloney, Emma Mussante, Kylie Hafner and Anthony Costanzo) from the University of South Florida won the Change Maker Award. Their idea involved a culturally tailored hockey pop-up designed to engage Latino communities through festivals, food, language and family-driven activations.

AI Hockey Hubs (Demetrius Walker and Adolfo Acevedo) from Florida A&M University won the Innovation Award. Their idea was a portable, tech-enabled micro-rink that can turn small spaces into hockey skill zones using AI-supported training experiences.

Each winning student also won $2,000 and a VIP ticket experience to the 2026 NHL Stadium Series (or a Florida-based home game) along with VIP access to a special NHL, ESPN or Disney behind-the-scenes experience.

Congratulations to the winners!