Hart Trophy winner accidentally leaked early.

The National Hockey League has ruined the big surprise when it comes to its biggest award of the season.

Over the weekend a photograph has started to make the rounds which appears to show, rather clearly, a man who looks very much like Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. The man in that photo can be seen posing alongside a pair of trophies which look very much like the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the most valuable player, and the Vezina Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL's best goaltender.

You can see the photo and judge for yourself:

This is of course not a great look for the NHL given that Darcy Kuemper of the Los Angeles Kings and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning are still technically in the running for the Vezina while Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers and Nikita Kucherov, also of the Lightning, are finalists for the Hart.

In spite of the fact that the league has made no announcement it seems clear that Hellebuyck has already been presented with both awards, taking away any suspense there may have been about a potential upset when the awards are officially announced.

There's no question Hellebuyck is a deserving winner after 63 starts this season in which he recorded a 2.00 goals against average and a .925 save percentage.

It is important to note that both awards account only for regular season performance meaning that Hellebuyck's shaky performance in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs, where he recorded a 3.08 goals against average and a .866 save percentage, did not factor into either of these awards.