Skip to content

NHL awards refresh: Picking new names for hockey’s greatest honors

  • by

The NBA, as usual, gets to have all the fun.

The league announced an award overhaul, either renaming or naming its most important trophies — MVP, defensive player of the year, rookie of the year, sixth man and most improved player — in honor of some basketball legends. The Jerry West Award for clutch play was also introduced, and the trophies themselves were redesigned.

Naturally, we ported that concept over to hockey, where the MVP award is named after the father of a guy who coached the Montreal Canadiens in the 1920s. All due respect to Cecil Hart, but it’s probably past time to use those trophies as a way of educating folks on the all-time great players, rather than (largely) owners, executives and donors.

Will this ever happen? Almost certainly not. If the league made it through its centennial in 2017 without a refresh, they’re probably not going to randomly opt for it in, say, Year 107. But the principle of using the awards to celebrate the biggest names in history is still worth discussing. .

With that in mind, here’s our crack at renaming eight NHL awards and creating three new ones. There are plenty of debatable points here. We’re mentally prepared for arguments.

Hart Trophy (MVP)

The obvious choice: Wayne Gretzky
The dark horse choice: Gordie Howe

We’ve already opted not to litigate Gretzky’s no-doubt, true GOAT status in these parts; Our “NHL99” project carries that name for a reason. He won the Hart nine times in his career, including eight in a row from 1980-87. So, yeah, lock it up. Probably best not to overthink it. That said, if you want to start down a separate path from the jump, Howe is worth some consideration. He won six Harts on his own, and all the league’s major records were his until Gretzky came along. In his own way, he’s as singular as No. 99. Maybe you save the points trophy for Gretzky. Either way, Howe has to be involved here — and if something like this ever came to pass, it’s a mortal lock that he would be.

Norris Trophy (top defenseman)

The obvious choice: Bobby Orr
The dark horse choice: Nicklas Lidstrom

New rule: If you redefine your position, the NHL renames its trophy after you. The league hadn’t seen anything like Orr, who played nine healthy seasons and won the Norris in eight of them. It may not have seen anything like him since. Meanwhile, one of the best arguments for Lidstrom is that he managed to finish his career with just one fewer Norris than Orr. Honoring him here would be a nice nod to European players and the guy who, for the foreseeable future, will be the platonic ideal for a modern defenseman.

The Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy (most goals)

The obvious choice: Revisited in 20 years
The dark horse choice: Maurice Richard

The NHL has an issue that the NBA doesn’t, in that a few guys they might want to rename trophies after are still playing in the league. The most obvious example: Alex Ovechkin and the Rocket Richard trophy.

No player has won this award more than Ovechkin’s nine. Keep in mind that it was only instituted in 1999, which wipes several options off the page. Even if that weren’t true, Ovechkin would still be the obvious choice. He’s already third all time in NHL scoring (797), three goals away from the 800-goal club. Only Gretzky and Howe have hit that milestone.

Barring disaster, Ovechkin will pass Howe (801) this season. Then, only Gretzky (894) will remain. He’s legitimately chasing what many thought was an untouchable mark. It only makes sense to wait for Ovechkin to retire to rename the goal scorer’s award.

Of course, staying put is an option, too. The award honors Maurice Richard, the first player in league history to score 50 goals in 50 games, 50 goals in a season and 500 in a career. That means something. And, “The Rocket Richard” is probably the best name currently on the books.

Art Ross Trophy (most points)

The obvious choice: Gordie Howe
The dark horse choice: Mario Lemieux

If the Hart becomes the Gretzky, this is the next logical landing spot for Howe. He’s second all time in scoring titles — you don’t get to 1,850 points strictly as a compiler. Plus, even though this is a single-season award, it’d also serve as a nod to his remarkable overall total. Howe’s since been passed by Gretzky, Mark Messier and Jagr, and Gretzky has lapped everyone by nearly 1,000. That kind of cushion is, obviously, undeniable. But Howe, when adjusting for era, closes the gap considerably.

If you want to cut out Howe entirely, or maybe honor him with one of the conference championship trophies, Lemieux is the no-brainer next choice. He had as many scoring titles as Howe (six from 1988-97) and was the first to break Gretzky’s stranglehold on the award. In 1992-93 alone, he had 160 points despite missing 22 games due to cancer treatment. It’s painful, frankly, not to write him in here with a felt-tip pen and move on, but Howe needs to be involved. So Lemieux waits.

Vezina Trophy (top goaltender)

The obvious choice: Dominik Hasek
The dark horse choice: Patrick Roy

Hasek’s six Vezinas are the most in the modern era; until 1981, the award went to the goalie who played the most games for the team that allowed the fewest goals.

This is his by most measures. He’s the career league leader in save percentage, posted .930 or better in five of six seasons with Buffalo from 1993-99, then won two Cups with the Red Wings. It’s also hard to imagine any goalie having more SportsCenter “Top 10” appearances, and he blazed a trail for European goalies. There was nobody like him.

Frank J. Selke Trophy (top defensive forward)

The obvious choice: Patrice Bergeron
The dark horse choice: Bob Gainey

The Selke is probably the other tricky award, given Patrice Bergeron is still playing and dominating as a defensive center. Bergeron is matching his defensive output from last season, which won him a fifth Selke trophy — passing Bob Gainey (4) for the record. It is, again, Bergeron’s Selke Trophy to lose. He keeps winning this award in dominant fashion, it only makes sense to rename it after him.

That being said, Gainey won the Selke in each of the first four years that it was awarded and was the consensus best defensive forward in the post-expansion era until Bergeron came along. Maybe we rename it the Bob Gainey Trophy for now, and then The Bergeron in 20 years?

Jack Adams Award (top coach)

The obvious choice: Scotty Bowman
The dark horse choice: Al Arbor

No head coach has more wins (1,244), more games coached (2,141) or more Stanley Cups (9) than Scotty Bowman. He’s the only head coach to lead three different teams (Montreal, Pittsburgh, Detroit) to Stanley Cup victories, and won the Jack Adams Award twice, in 1977 and 1996. His eight losses in 1976-77 are a modern record for the fewest in a season. And his teams made it to the Stanley Cup Final a record 13 times, and the semis a record 16 times.

Al Arbor, we’re sorry, but let’s just call this award what it is.

Calder Trophy (top rookie)

The obvious choice: Mario Lemieux
The dark horse choice: Teemu Selanne

This is the landing spot for Lemieux. He came into the league with more fanfare than anyone before him and delivered, putting up 100 points and winning the All-Star Game MVP. Maybe he can get that one, too, as compensation.

Tough break for Selanne, who scored 76 goals with the Jets as a 22-year-old in 1992-93. That ties him for fifth-most all-time, and he’s not on track to drop anytime soon. He and Mike Bossy are the two pure goal-scorers that feel like the most egregious omissions.

Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP)

The obvious choice: Jean Beliveau
The dark horse choice: Patrick Roy

By the way, of all the trophies on the list, none should be easier to rename than this one. Smythe, as the owner of the Maple Leafs from 1927 to 1961, allegedly said during the 1938-39 season that he would sign Herb Carnegie “tomorrow” if he could “turn him white.” Carnegie never made it to the NHL but was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2020 as a builder.

The award didn’t exist until Beliveau was 33. By that point, he was already a five-time Cup champion. Naturally, he was the first to win it. This would recognize both his individual greatness — he’s a consensus top-10 player of all time — and the Canadiens’ organizational history.

You could say something similar for Roy, the only three-time Conn Smythe winner. The first two came with Montreal, and the third with Colorado. No goalie has more career playoff games (247) or wins (151). This, maybe more than anything, feels like a coin flip.

As for the new ones

The Rod Langway Defensive Defenseman Award

A mandatory inclusion, all things considered.

And really, it’s time. Give Langway, who won the full-fledged Norris twice with Washington, his flowers. Down the line, we can look into whether it turns into the Jaccob Slavin Award or whatever, but this one has felt like a no-brainer for a while, even as voting for the Norris has become more nuanced.

The Marian Hossa “Selke for Wingers” Award

OK, maybe this isn’t necessary. But how many good defensive wingers never get a sniff at the Selke, simply because they don’t play up the middle?

One of the hallmarks of Hossa’s Hall of Fame career was that he was a premier defensive player, fFinishing in the top 20 of Selke Trophy voting 10 times. Still, he never won the award. So let’s name one after him instead!

The Pavel Datsyuk Playmaker Award

We’re all about celebrating fun here The Athletic NHL. And what was more fun than watching prime Pavel Datsyuk?

Sometimes lost in the scoring titles are the assist numbers and the eye-popping plays that come with them. Sometimes, the play leading up to the goal is better than the goal itself. Adding an award for the league’s best passers could be a lot of fun, and bring on some great debates at the end of the year.

Alternatively: The Peter Forsberg.

(Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

.

Tags: