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Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy

The Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, also known as the Rocket Richard Trophy, is awarded annually to the leading goal scorer in the National Hockey League (NHL). It was donated to the NHL by the Montreal Canadiens in 1998–99 and is named in honour of legendary Montreal Canadiens right winger Maurice "Rocket" Richard. First won by Teemu Selanne, it is currently held by Auston Matthews, who scored 69 goals during the 2023–24 NHL season.

History

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 achieved by only four other players since then. However, Richard never finished higher than second in points, his closest miss coming in 1954–55, when he finished one point behind teammate Bernie Geoffrion.

The winner of the Art Ross Trophy, given to the NHL's leading points scorer, often also wins the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player. In contrast, along with McDavid in 2022–23, only Auston Matthews, Alexander Ovechkin and Corey Perry have won both the Richard and the Hart trophies in the same season; Ovechkin has accomplished this three times, in 2007–08, 2008–09, and 2012–13. Eleven players won the Hart in the same season in which they led the league in goals before the Richard Trophy was first awarded. McDavid and Ovechkin are the only two player to have won the Hart, Rocket Richard, Art Ross and Ted Lindsay trophy in the same season.

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 41-goal scorers Jarome Iginla, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Rick Nash. The second time there was a tie for this award was in the 2009–10 season, when both Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos scored 51 goals each to win this award. In the shortened 2019–20 season, there was a tie between Ovechkin and David Pastrnak, though Ovechkin played in two fewer games than Pastrnak. Rick Nash is the youngest player to have won the trophy, being 19 years old upon receipt.

Auston Matthews (third Richard Trophy in 2023–24) and Alexander Ovechkin (ninth Richard Trophy in 2019–20) are the only players to have won the trophy at least three times. Only four other players (Pavel Bure, Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, and Steven Stamkos, with two trophies each) have won it more than once.

Winners

Key

^(#) Wins including leading goal scorers prior to the trophy's formal introduction
* Season shortened by the 2012–13 NHL lockout
** Season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic

References

General

Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy info at records.NHL.com
Maurice Richard Trophy winners at NHL.com
Dinger, Ralph (2004). National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book. Toronto: Dan Diamond. ISBN 0-920445-84-5.