Art Ross Trophy

Art Ross Trophy

The Art Ross Trophy is awarded to the National Hockey League (NHL) player who leads the league in points at the end of the regular season. It was presented to the league by former player, General Manager, and head coach Art Ross. The trophy has been awarded 65 times to 27 players since its introduction in the 1947–48 NHL season. Ross is also known for his design of the official NHL puck, with slightly bevelled edges for better control.

The current holder is Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks, who scored 106 points in the 2015–16 season and became the first American-born player to win.

History

Main article: List of past NHL scoring leaders

The Art Ross Trophy was presented to the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1947 by Arthur Howey "Art" Ross, former General Manager and head coach of the Boston Bruins and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee as a player. Elmer Lach of the Montreal Canadiens was the winner of the first Art Ross Trophy, which was awarded at the conclusion of the 1947–48 season.

Players from the Pittsburgh Penguins have won the trophy 15 times (all within a 26-season span from 1988–2014); the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks are tied for second, as players from those teams have won it nine times each. Although Joe Thornton, winner from the 2005–06 season, started the season playing for the Boston Bruins, he finished with the San Jose Sharks and the award counts for the Sharks. Therefore, Boston Bruins have seven players winning the trophy to follow the Blackhawks and Canadiens.

From 1963 to 2001, Marcel Dionne and Bryan Trottier were the only single-time winners of the scoring title, while Stan Mikita, Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr, Guy Lafleur, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Jaromir Jagr had won it on multiple occasions. For two decades, from 1981 to 2001, only three players won the Art Ross Trophy: Gretzky, Lemieux, and Jagr. The streak ended when Jarome Iginla won the trophy in 2002.

Gretzky has won the trophy ten times, including seven consecutive, during his 20-year NHL career. Gordie Howe and Lemieux have each won it six times, while Esposito and Jagr each have five. Jagr, from the Czech Republic, has won the award the most times out of non-Canadians. Gretzky is the only player to win the trophy for more than one team, while Thornton is the only player to win it while playing for two different teams in one season. Stan Mikita is the only player in NHL history to win the Art Ross, Hart, and Lady Byng Trophies all in the same season, which he did twice (1966–67 and 1967–68, with Chicago; Hull, Gretzky, and Martin St. Louis all won each of those awards at least once and won a combination of two of them in the same season, but never all three together). Orr is the only defenseman to win the scoring title, doing so in 1970 and 1975 with Boston, and in 1970 he became the first player to capture four individual awards in a single season as he won the Hart, Norris, and Conn Smythe Trophies that year as well.

In 2007, Sidney Crosby became the youngest player to win the Art Ross Trophy at age 19, and also became the youngest scoring champion in any major North American professional sport. At almost twice Crosby's age, Martin St. Louis became the oldest player to capture the Art Ross at the age of 37, also having the longest gap between scoring titles (nine years). Henrik and Daniel Sedin are the only siblings to win the award, in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Since 2001, only three players, Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and St. Louis have won the award more than once: Crosby in 2007 and 2014, Malkin in 2009 and 2012, and St. Louis in 2004 and 2013.

The NHL rules stipulate three tiebreakers in case two or more players are tied in points:

1. Player with most goals
2. Player with fewer games played
3. Player scoring first goal of the season

Scoring ties happened in the 1961–62, 1979–80, and 1994–95 seasons, all of them being decided by the first tiebreaker of scoring more goals. The NHL's award to recognize the leading goal-scorer, the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, does not have a tiebreaker, allowing multiple winners to be recognized in any one season.

Winners

Wayne Gretzky, ten-time winner and career leader in NHL scoring

Gordie Howe, six-time winner

Mario Lemieux, six-time winner

Jaromir Jagr, five-time winner

Stan Mikita, four-time winner

Daniel Sedin (front) and Henrik Sedin (back), both one-time winners

  Player is still active in the NHL

Art Ross Trophy winners

Season	Winner	Team	Points	Win #
1947–48	Elmer Lach	Montreal Canadiens	061	1 (2)
1948–49	Roy Conacher	Chicago Black Hawks	068	1
1949–50	Ted Lindsay	Detroit Red Wings	078	1
1950–51	Gordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	086	1
1951–52	Gordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	086	2
1952–53	Gordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	095	3
1953–54	Gordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	081	4
1954–55	Bernie Geoffrion	Montreal Canadiens	075	1
1955–56	Jean Beliveau	Montreal Canadiens	088	1
1956–57	Gordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	089	5
1957–58	Dickie Moore	Montreal Canadiens	084	1
1958–59	Dickie Moore	Montreal Canadiens	096	2
1959–60	Bobby Hull	Chicago Black Hawks	081	1
1960–61	Bernie Geoffrion	Montreal Canadiens	095	2
1961–62	Bobby Hull	Chicago Black Hawks	084	2
1962–63	Gordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	086	6
1963–64	Stan Mikita	Chicago Black Hawks	089	1
1964–65	Stan Mikita	Chicago Black Hawks	087	2
1965–66	Bobby Hull	Chicago Black Hawks	097	3
1966–67	Stan Mikita	Chicago Black Hawks	097	3
1967–68	Stan Mikita	Chicago Black Hawks	087	4
1968–69	Phil Esposito	Boston Bruins	126	1
1969–70	Bobby Orr	Boston Bruins	120	1
1970–71	Phil Esposito	Boston Bruins	152	2
1971–72	Phil Esposito	Boston Bruins	133	3
1972–73	Phil Esposito	Boston Bruins	130	4
1973–74	Phil Esposito	Boston Bruins	145	5
1974–75	Bobby Orr	Boston Bruins	135	2
1975–76	Guy Lafleur	Montreal Canadiens	125	1
1976–77	Guy Lafleur	Montreal Canadiens	136	2
1977–78	Guy Lafleur	Montreal Canadiens	132	3
1978–79	Bryan Trottier	New York Islanders	134	1
1979–80	Marcel Dionne	Los Angeles Kings	137	1
1980–81	Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	164	1
1981–82	Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	212	2
1982–83	Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	196	3
1983–84	Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	205	4
1984–85	Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	208	5
1985–86	Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	215	6
1986–87	Wayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	183	7
1987–88	Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh Penguins	168	1
1988–89	Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh Penguins	199	2
1989–90	Wayne Gretzky	Los Angeles Kings	142	8
1990–91	Wayne Gretzky	Los Angeles Kings	163	9
1991–92	Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh Penguins	131	3
1992–93	Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh Penguins	160	4
1993–94	Wayne Gretzky	Los Angeles Kings	130	9910
1994–95	Jaromir Jagr	Pittsburgh Penguins	70	1
1995–96	Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh Penguins	161	5
1996–97	Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh Penguins	122	6
1997–98	Jaromir Jagr	Pittsburgh Penguins	102	2
1998–99	Jaromir Jagr	Pittsburgh Penguins	127	3
1999–2000	Jaromir Jagr	Pittsburgh Penguins	096	4
2000–01	Jaromir Jagr	Pittsburgh Penguins	121	5
2001–02	Jarome Iginla	Calgary Flames	096	1
2002–03	Peter Forsberg	Colorado Avalanche	106	1
2003–04	Martin St. Louis	Tampa Bay Lightning	094	1
2004–05	—	—	—	—
2005–06	Joe Thornton	Boston Bruins/San Jose Sharks	125	1
2006–07	Sidney Crosby	Pittsburgh Penguins	120	1
2007–08	Alexander Ovechkin	Washington Capitals	112	1
2008–09	Evgeni Malkin	Pittsburgh Penguins	113	1
2009–10	Henrik Sedin	Vancouver Canucks	112	1
2010–11	Daniel Sedin	Vancouver Canucks	104	1
2011–12	Evgeni Malkin	Pittsburgh Penguins	109	2
2012–13	Martin St. Louis	Tampa Bay Lightning	60	2
2013–14	Sidney Crosby	Pittsburgh Penguins	104	2
2014–15	Jamie Benn	Dallas Stars	87	1
2015–16	Patrick Kane	Chicago Blackhawks	106	1

See also

• List of National Hockey League awards
• List of NHL players
• List of NHL statistical leaders

References

General

• Art Ross Trophy history at NHL.com
• Art Ross Trophy history at Legends of Hockey.net

Specific