Notable NHL Award Winners

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Jun 19, 2012

Notable NHL Award Winners

Bobby Orr

The 1966-67 Calder Trophy-winner (rookie of the year), later credited with revolutionizing the game by becoming a feared offensive force from the blueline, won the Norris Trophy (best defenseman) a record eight times. His one-season hardware haul while skating for Boston in 1969-70 speaks of the enormity of his talent: Art Ross Trophy (scoring title), Hart Trophy (MVP), and the Norris. He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP that season.

Nicklas Lidstrom, Doug Harvey, Randy Carlyle

Nicklas Lidstrom, the Red Wings' nonpareil captain, won the Norris seven times, trailing only Bobby Orr by one and tying Doug Harvey (center), the Canadiens' superb Hall of Famer who some feel may have been even better than Orr. Randy Carlyle (right), current coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, has the distinction of beating out New York Islanders Hall of Famer Denis Potvin for the Norris in 1981 while playing for Pittsburgh. It was Carlyle's only Norris during his 17-year NHL career.

Wayne Gretzky

The Great One owned the Hart (eight straight from 1980-87; nine in all) and Ross (seven straight from 1981-87; 10 in all) and also bagged the Lady Byng Trophy (gentlemanly play) five times. Due to his playing a season in the rival World Hockey Association prior to the Edmonton Oilers joining the NHL in 1979, Gretzky did not qualify as a rookie and therefore never won the Calder. Defenseman Raymond Bourque of the Bruins was the winner for the 1979-80 season.

Markus Naslund, Mike Liut

Worthy players can be overlooked by the voters of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, but sometimes their peers rectify it with the Pearson Award (MVP as chosen by the players). In 2003, Markus Naslund won the Pearson after scoring 104 points for Vancouver but finished second to Peter Forsberg (106) in the Hart voting. Goaltender Mike Liut had no shot for the Hart against the likes of Wayne Gretzky (164 points) in 1981, but was awarded the Pearson for his stellar 33-14-13, 3.34 GAA season for St. Louis.

Dominik Hasek

One of the few goaltenders to bag a major award other than the Vezina Trophy (he won six), The Dominator took the Hart in back-to-back years (1997-98) before backstopping Buffalo to the Stanley Cup Final in 1999. He was also awarded the Pearson in each of those seasons.

Jose Theodore

An anomaly among Hart winners, the Montreal goaltender beat out Calgary's Jarome Iginla in 2002 while winning the Vezina with a record of 30-24-10, seven shutouts, a 2.11 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage. Theodore has since struggled to approach that level of excellence with the Colorado Avalanche, Washington Capitals, Minnesota Wild and Florida Panthers.

Jim Carey

Among the many goaltending luminaries (Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Jacques Plante) in the ranks of Vezina winners is Jim Carey, a Washington Capitals netminder who beat out Chris Osgood of the Red Wings for the trophy in 1996. Carey posted excellent numbers (35-24-9, 2.26 GAA, 9 shutouts), but never had another winning season and was out of hockey by 1999.

Al Rollins

Perhaps the most mind-bending Hart winner of all, this Chicago Blackhawks goaltender won the Vezina in 1951 but took MVP honors in 1954 with a record of 12-47-7 and a 3.23 GAA. Five of his 12 wins were shutouts, which were pretty much what Rollins had to pitch in order to win behind a thoroughly awful team.

Alex Ovechkin, Mario Lemieux, Ken Dryden

Among the most famous Calder-winners are Alex Ovechkin, who beat out Sidney Crosby in 2006, and Mario Lemieux (1985) who went on to win three Harts, four Pearsons, six Ross, two Smythes and the 1993 Masterton Trophy for perseverance and dedication to hockey. Dryden, Montreal's Hall of Fame netminder, holds the distinction of winning the Calder the year (1972) after he won both the Stanley Cup and the Smythe as a late-season call-up. Dryden also won five Vezinas during his career.

Sergei Samsonov, Andrew Raycroft, Barret Jackman

Sometimes, winning the Calder is not an indication of future success. Sergei Samsonov (1998) and Andrew Raycroft (2004), both of whom won the trophy while playing for the Boston Bruins, never fully delivered on their promise and became journeymen. Barret Jackman, a presumably defensive blueliner for St. Louis, was later slowed by injuries, and posted successive -17 and -12 campaigns from 2007 to 2009. He was chosen in 2003 over Detroit's superb two-way forward Henrik Zetterberg.

Bob Gainey, Jere Lehtinen, Pavel Datsyuk

Bob Gainey, the Canadiens' Hall of Famer, may have been the finest two-way forward of all-time, as his four successive Selke Trophies (1878-81) attest. Jere Lehtinen came close with three of his own before retiring in December 2010. Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings (2008-10) is the only active three-time winner. As of the 2012 awards ceremony, he'd been named a finalist in five successive seasons, a feat achieved by Gainey (1978-82) and Montreal's Guy Carbonneau (1986-90).

Jonathan Cheechoo

The Rocket Richard Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL's leading goal-scorer, is most often the property of snipers such as Teemu Selanne, Pavel Bure and Steven Stamkos. In 2006, Ilya Kovalchuk (52 goals), Jaromir Jagr (54) and Alex Ovechkin (52) were edged out by Jonathan Cheechoo, the San Jose Sharks winger who scored 56. Cheechoo's production promptly began to decline from 56 to 37 to 23 to 12 to 5 in 2009-10, after which he was relegated to the AHL.

Scotty Bowman, Jacques Demers, Bob Francis

Scotty Bowman, who won a record nine Stanley Cups, earned the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year twice (1977, 1996 -- with Montreal and Detroit, respectively) during his illustrious career. Jacques Demers is the only repeat winner (1987, 88 with Detroit) while Bob Francis remains one of the more obscure choices. Francis earned the Adams in 2002 while guiding the Phoenix Coyotes to a 40-27-9-6 mark, but lasted only another season-and-a-half and has been out of the NHL ever since.