Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy

Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy
Established	1998–99 NHL season
Current holder(s)	Corey Perry
Awarded to the	National Hockey League's top goal scorer

The Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, also known as the Maurice Richard Trophy^[1] is awarded annually to the leading goal scorer in the National Hockey League (NHL). It was donated to the NHL by the Montreal Canadiens hockey club in 1998–99 and is named in honour of the legendary Montreal Canadiens right winger Maurice "Rocket" Richard and was first won by Teemu Selänne. The current holder is Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks, who scored 50 goals during the 2010–11 season.

History

Main article: List of past NHL scoring leaders

The Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy was donated by the Montreal Canadiens to the NHL in 1999, and was first awarded at the end of the 1998–99 season. It is one of the newest of the NHL's trophies and is named in honour of the legendary right winger Maurice "Rocket" Richard, who spent his eighteen-season career with the Canadiens. He led the NHL in goal scoring five times and was the first NHL player to reach the 500 goal milestone. In 1944–45, Richard became the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in one season, doing so in just 50 games, the latter feat only achieved by a handful of players since then. However, the scoring title eluded Richard, and the closest that he got to it was in 1954.^[2]

Although the NHL's leading points scorer often wins the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP, only Alexander Ovechkin and Corey Perry have won both the Richard and the Hart in the same season; Ovechkin has done so twice, in 2007-08, and 2008-09. Eleven players both won the Hart in the same season in which they led the league in goals before the Richard Trophy was first awarded.^[3]

Unlike the Art Ross Trophy, there are no tiebreakers for the Richard Trophy. As a result, it is possible for several players to share the award, such as when the 2003–04 season featured a three-way tie between Jarome Iginla, Ilya Kovalchuk and Rick Nash. The second time there was a tie for this award was in the 2009-2010 season when both Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos scored 51 goals each to win this award. Rick Nash is the youngest player to have won the trophy, being 19 years old upon receipt. Pavel Bure, Jarome Iginla and Alexander Ovechkin are the only players to have won the trophy twice.

Winners

Jarome Iginla, two-time winner.

Alexander Ovechkin, two-time winner.

Key

• ^(#) Not including leading goal scorers prior to the inception of the trophy

  Player is still active

Season	Winner	Team	Goals	#
1998–99	Teemu Selanne	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	47	1
1999–2000	Pavel Bure	Florida Panthers	58	1
2000–01	Pavel Bure	Florida Panthers	59	2
2001–02	Jarome Iginla	Calgary Flames	52	1
2002–03	Milan Hejduk	Colorado Avalanche	50	1
2003–04	Jarome Iginla	Calgary Flames	41	2
2003–04	Ilya Kovalchuk	Atlanta Thrashers	41	1
2003–04	Rick Nash	Columbus Blue Jackets	41	1
2004–05	2004–05 NHL lockout No winner	-	-	-
2005–06	Jonathan Cheechoo	San Jose Sharks	56	1
2006–07	Vincent Lecavalier	Tampa Bay Lightning	52	1
2007–08	Alexander Ovechkin	Washington Capitals	65	1
2008–09	Alexander Ovechkin	Washington Capitals	56	2
2009–10	Sidney Crosby	Pittsburgh Penguins	51	1
2009–10	Steven Stamkos	Tampa Bay Lightning	51	1
2010–11	Corey Perry	Anaheim Ducks	50	1

See also

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

References

General

• Maurice Richard Trophy at NHL.com
• Maurice Richard Trophy at Legends of Hockey.net
• Dinger, Ralph (2004). National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book. Toront: Dan Diamond. ISBN 0-920445-84-5. 

Specific

1. ^ "Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy history". NHL.com. http://www.nhl.com/trophies/richard.html. Retrieved 2007-08-21. 
2. ^ "Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy history". Legendsofhockey.net. http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/silver_splashrocketrichard.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-31. 
3. ^ "Hart Memorial Trophy history". NHL.com. http://www.nhl.com/trophies/hart.html. Retrieved 2007-08-22.