The Maurice Richard Trophy or Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy is awarded annually to the player scoring the most goals in a given season. It was donated to the NHL in 1998-99 by the Montreal Canadians in honor of the iconic Montreal Canadians right-winger Maurice Richard.
History
The first recipient of the Maurice Richard Trophy was Teemu Selanne of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 1998-99; he finished the season as the league’s number one goal scorer, scoring 47 goals and edging out runners-up Tony Amonte (Chicago Blackhawks) 44 Goals, Jaromir Jagr (Pittsburgh Penguins) 44 Goals and Alexei Yashin (Ottawa Senators) 44 Goals. It is one of the NHL’s newest awards.
Richard spent his entire 18-year career with the Montreal Canadians. He led the NHL in scoring five times and was the first player to reach the 500 goal milestone. In addition, he was the first player to score 50 goals in 50 games, accomplishing the milestone in 1944-45. Joe Malone of the Montreal Canadians owned the previous record for most season goals, scoring 44 in 20 games in 1917-18. Only four other players have achieved the milestone. Thirty-six years later, Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders became the second player in NHL history to notch fifty goals in fifty games when on January 24th, 1981, with time running out in a game against the Quebec Nordiques and needing two goals to reach the 50 in 50 plateaux, Bossy broke through dramatically, with five minutes left in the game Bossy beat John Grahame twice. Richard was on hand to congratulate Bossy for this achievement. Bossy finished the season with 68 goals in 79 games played.
After Mike Bossy, Wayne Gretzky reached the Milestone three times, Mario Lemieux once in 1989, Brett Hull twice.
Wayne Gretzky
- 1981–82: 61 in 50 games (50 in 39)
- 1983–84: 61 in 50 games (50 in 42)
- 1984–85: 53 in 50 games (50 in 49)
Mario Lemieux
- 1988–89: 54 in 50 games (50 in 46)
Brett Hull
- 1990–91: 52 in 50 games (50 in 49)
- 1991–92: 50 in 50 games (50 in 50)
The Maurice Richard Trophy is a trophy shared by players, as there is no tiebreaker. The first time the Trophy was shared was at the end of the 2004 season when there was a three-way tie between 41 goal scorers Rick Nash, Jarome Iginla, and Ilya Kovalchuk. Sydney Crosby and Steven Stamkos tied for the Trophy in 2009-10, scoring 51 goals, and in 2019-20, Alexander Ovechkin and David Pastrnak tied for the trophy, having scored 48 goals.
Rick Nash is the youngest player to have won the trophy, receiving it at the age of 19. No player has won the trophy more than Alexander Ovechkin, Having won it 9 times and four consecutive years from 2013-2016.
I met Maurice Richard in Regina, Saskatchewan, at an autograph signing after an old-timers game in February 1991. He was reticent, soft-spoken, and polite, rather shy and humble.
Maurice Richard Trophy (winners list)
| Season | Winner | Team | Goals | Games | # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998–99 | Teemu Selanne | Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | 47 | 75 | 1 (3) |
| 1999–2000 | Pavel Bure | Florida Panthers | 58 | 74 | 1 (2) |
| 2000–01 | Pavel Bure | Florida Panthers | 59 | 82 | 2 (3) |
| 2001–02 | Jarome Iginla | Calgary Flames | 52 | 82 | 1 |
| 2002–03 | Milan Hejduk | Colorado Avalanche | 50 | 82 | 1 |
| 2003–04 | Rick Nash | Columbus Blue Jackets | 41 | 80 | 1 |
| Ilya Kovalchuk | Atlanta Thrashers | 41 | 81 | 1 | |
| Jarome Iginla | Calgary Flames | 41 | 81 | 2 | |
| 2004–05 | No winner was named due to the lockout. | ||||
| 2005–06 | Jonathan Cheechoo | San Jose Sharks | 56 | 82 | 1 |
| 2006–07 | Vincent Lecavalier | Tampa Bay Lightning | 52 | 82 | 1 |
| 2007–08 | Alexander Ovechkin | Washington Capitals | 65 | 82 | 1 |
| 2008–09 | Alexander Ovechkin | Washington Capitals | 56 | 79 | 2 |
| 2009–10 | Sidney Crosby | Pittsburgh Penguins | 51 | 81 | 1 |
| Steven Stamkos | Tampa Bay Lightning | 51 | 82 | 1 | |
| 2010–11 | Corey Perry | Anaheim Ducks | 50 | 82 | 1 |
| 2011–12 | Steven Stamkos | Tampa Bay Lightning | 60 | 82 | 2 |
| 2012–13* | Alexander Ovechkin | Washington Capitals | 32 | 48 | 3 |
| 2013–14 | Alexander Ovechkin | Washington Capitals | 51 | 78 | 4 |
| 2014–15 | Alexander Ovechkin | Washington Capitals | 53 | 81 | 5 |
| 2015–16 | Alexander Ovechkin | Washington Capitals | 50 | 79 | 6 |
| 2016–17 | Sidney Crosby | Pittsburgh Penguins | 44 | 75 | 2 |
| 2017–18 | Alexander Ovechkin | Washington Capitals | 49 | 82 | 7 |
| 2018–19 | Alexander Ovechkin | Washington Capitals | 51 | 81 | 8 |
| 2019–20** | Alexander Ovechkin | Washington Capitals | 48 | 68 | 9 |
| 2019–20** | David Pastrnak | Boston Bruins | 48 | 70 | |
| 2020–21** | Auston Matthews | Toronto Maple Leafs | 41 | 52 | 1 |
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