The Art Ross Trophy is a National Hockey League award given to the player who leads the league in points at the NHL’s regular-season conclusion. It is named after the legendary Art Ross, a former player, head coach, and General Manager. The trophy has been awarded annually since its inception in the 1947-48 NHL season.
The Trophy
It is a large grandiose silver bowl adorned with two handles on either side mounted on top of a two-tiered wood base. The winner’s names are inscribed on silver puck-shaped plaques. The top floor consists of 24 pucks (six on each of the four sides); the lower, more extensive base holds 36 puck-shaped plaques, nine per all four sides. The bowl’s face is inscribed with its name and the league to which it is presented.
History
The first recipient of the Art Ross Trophy was Elmer Lach of the Montreal Canadians at the end of the 1947-48 NHL regular season. Players from the Pittsburgh Penguins have won the trophy 15 times, more than any other team. The Edmonton Oilers have three players winning the hardware 10 times, and the Montreal Canadians and Chicago Blackhawks are tied for third, with players from those teams having won the award 9 times apiece.
Wayne Gretzky has won the Art Ross Trophy ten times, including seven consecutive times over the course of his twenty-year NHL career. Gordie Howe is in second place tied with Mario Lemieux with six wins, Phil Esposito won the award five times in six years (1969, 71, 72, 73, 74) and is tied with Jaromir Jagr, who won the trophy five times in seven years (1995, 98, 99, 00, 01).
In 2016 Patrick Kane became the only American-born player to win the trophy. Joe Thornton is the only player to win the award while playing with two teams in one season (Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks). Wayne Gretzky remains the only player to win the trophy for more than one team. Stan Mikita of the Chicago Blackhawks is the only player to have won the Art Ross Trophy, Hart, and Lady Byng Trophies all in the same season, doing so on two occasions (1966-67, 1967-68). Bobby Orr is the only defenseman to win the Art Ross (1969-70, 1974-75).
In 2007, at the age of 19, Sydney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins became the youngest player in NHL history to win the Art Ross. Martin St-Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning became the oldest player to win the hardware in 2012-13; he previously won the award in 2003-04. The Sedin twins of the Vancouver Canucks won the trophy back to back, with Henrik Sedin winning in 2009-10 and his brother Daniel winning in 2010-11.
Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers is the most recent Art Ross recipient, winning in 2019-20, his Oiler teammate and Captain Connor McDavid won the silverware back to back in 2016-17 and again in 2017-18, giving the Oilers three Art Ross titles in the last four years.
An amazing fact to consider is that Wayne Gretzky won the Art Ross in the 1980s in ’82-’83, ’85-’86, and ’86-87, he accumulated more assists than the second-place point-getter had total points, Gretzky could have gone the entirety of those seasons without scoring a goal, and he still would have won the scoring title. He won 10 scoring titles in his incredible 20 year NHL career, the most in NHL history.
When Bobby Orr won the Art Ross in 1969-70, his mother insisted that the puck/plaque’s inscription bearing her son’s name reads Robert Orr.
NHL Rules
Art Ross and his two sons, Art Jr., and John, presented the trophy to the Board of Governors in 1948, making it the fifth trophy in the NHL’s award collection (along with the Hart, Lady Byng, Calder, and Vezina). Two years earlier, the NHL had implemented a program that had the league pay the leading scorer a cheque for $1,000, the same amount given to the other individual award winners.
In the event of a tie for the scoring title their are three rules to break the tie.
- The player with the most goals.
- The player with fewer games played.
- The player scoring the first goal of the season.
Only three times in NHL history did the league have to go to the tie-breaker rules, 1961-62, 1979-80, and 1994-95 seasons, all of them were decided by the first tie-breaker rule. In those seasons, Bobby Hull won over Andy Bathgate, Marcel Dionne over Wayne Gretzky, and Jaromir Jagr over Eric Lindros. Conversely, the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy does not have a tie-breaker rule, allowing several players to share in the award.
Winners
Wayne Gretzky, ten-time winner and career leader in NHL scoring Gordie Howe, six-time winner Mario Lemieux, six-time winner Jaromir Jagr, five-time winner Stan Mikita, four-time winner Henrik Sedin (top) and Daniel Sedin (bottom), back-to-back winners Player is still active in the NHL.
Bold Player with the most points ever scored in a season.
NHL Tough Guy’s (Chris “Knuckles” Nilan)
| Season | Winner | Team | Points | Win # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947–48 | Elmer Lach | Montreal Canadiens | 61 | 1 (2)[a] |
| 1948–49 | Roy Conacher | Chicago Black Hawks | 68 | 1 |
| 1949–50 | Ted Lindsay | Detroit Red Wings | 78 | 1 |
| 1950–51 | Gordie Howe | Detroit Red Wings | 86 | 1 |
| 1951–52 | Gordie Howe | Detroit Red Wings | 86 | 2 |
| 1952–53 | Gordie Howe | Detroit Red Wings | 95 | 3 |
| 1953–54 | Gordie Howe | Detroit Red Wings | 81 | 4 |
| 1954–55 | Bernie Geoffrion | Montreal Canadiens | 75 | 1 |
| 1955–56 | Jean Beliveau | Montreal Canadiens | 88 | 1 |
| 1956–57 | Gordie Howe | Detroit Red Wings | 89 | 5 |
| 1957–58 | Dickie Moore | Montreal Canadiens | 84 | 1 |
| 1958–59 | Dickie Moore | Montreal Canadiens | 96 | 2 |
| 1959–60 | Bobby Hull | Chicago Black Hawks | 81 | 1 |
| 1960–61 | Bernie Geoffrion | Montreal Canadiens | 95 | 2 |
| 1961–62 | Bobby Hull | Chicago Black Hawks | 84 | 2 |
| 1962–63 | Gordie Howe | Detroit Red Wings | 86 | 6 |
| 1963–64 | Stan Mikita | Chicago Black Hawks | 89 | 1 |
| 1964–65 | Stan Mikita | Chicago Black Hawks | 87 | 2 |
| 1965–66 | Bobby Hull | Chicago Black Hawks | 97 | 3 |
| 1966–67 | Stan Mikita | Chicago Black Hawks | 97 | 3 |
| 1967–68 | Stan Mikita | Chicago Black Hawks | 87 | 4 |
| 1968–69 | Phil Esposito | Boston Bruins | 126 | 1 |
| 1969–70 | Bobby Orr | Boston Bruins | 120 | 1 |
| 1970–71 | Phil Esposito | Boston Bruins | 152 | 2 |
| 1971–72 | Phil Esposito | Boston Bruins | 133 | 3 |
| 1972–73 | Phil Esposito | Boston Bruins | 130 | 4 |
| 1973–74 | Phil Esposito | Boston Bruins | 145 | 5 |
| 1974–75 | Bobby Orr | Boston Bruins | 135 | 2 |
| 1975–76 | Guy Lafleur | Montreal Canadiens | 125 | 1 |
| 1976–77 | Guy Lafleur | Montreal Canadiens | 136 | 2 |
| 1977–78 | Guy Lafleur | Montreal Canadiens | 132 | 3 |
| 1978–79 | Bryan Trottier | New York Islanders | 134 | 1 |
| 1979–80 | Marcel Dionne | Los Angeles Kings | 137 | 1 |
| 1980–81 | Wayne Gretzky | Edmonton Oilers | 164 | 1 |
| 1981–82 | Wayne Gretzky | Edmonton Oilers | 212 | 2 |
| 1982–83 | Wayne Gretzky | Edmonton Oilers | 196 | 3 |
| 1983–84 | Wayne Gretzky | Edmonton Oilers | 205 | 4 |
| 1984–85 | Wayne Gretzky | Edmonton Oilers | 208 | 5 |
| 1985–86 | Wayne Gretzky | Edmonton Oilers | 215 | 6 |
| 1986–87 | Wayne Gretzky | Edmonton Oilers | 183 | 7 |
| 1987–88 | Mario Lemieux | Pittsburgh Penguins | 168 | 1 |
| 1988–89 | Mario Lemieux | Pittsburgh Penguins | 199 | 2 |
| 1989–90 | Wayne Gretzky | Los Angeles Kings | 142 | 8 |
| 1990–91 | Wayne Gretzky | Los Angeles Kings | 163 | 9 |
| 1991–92 | Mario Lemieux | Pittsburgh Penguins | 131 | 3 |
| 1992–93 | Mario Lemieux | Pittsburgh Penguins | 160 | 4 |
| 1993–94 | Wayne Gretzky | Los Angeles Kings | 130 | 10 |
| 1994–95[b] | Jaromir Jagr | Pittsburgh Penguins | 70 | 1 |
| 1995–96 | Mario Lemieux | Pittsburgh Penguins | 161 | 5 |
| 1996–97 | Mario Lemieux | Pittsburgh Penguins | 122 | 6 |
| 1997–98 | Jaromir Jagr | Pittsburgh Penguins | 102 | 2 |
| 1998–99 | Jaromir Jagr | Pittsburgh Penguins | 127 | 3 |
| 1999–2000 | Jaromir Jagr | Pittsburgh Penguins | 96 | 4 |
| 2000–01 | Jaromir Jagr | Pittsburgh Penguins | 121 | 5 |
| 2001–02 | Jarome Iginla | Calgary Flames | 96 | 1 |
| 2002–03 | Peter Forsberg | Colorado Avalanche | 106 | 1 |
| 2003–04 | Martin St-Louis | Tampa Bay Lightning | 94 | 1 |
| 2004–05[c] | — | — | — | — |
| 2005–06 | Joe Thornton | Boston Bruins/San Jose Sharks | 125 | 1 |
| 2006–07 | Sidney Crosby | Pittsburgh Penguins | 120 | 1 |
| 2007–08 | Alexander Ovechkin | Washington Capitals | 112 | 1 |
| 2008–09 | Evgeni Malkin | Pittsburgh Penguins | 113 | 1 |
| 2009–10 | Henrik Sedin | Vancouver Canucks | 112 | 1 |
| 2010–11 | Daniel Sedin | Vancouver Canucks | 104 | 1 |
| 2011–12 | Evgeni Malkin | Pittsburgh Penguins | 109 | 2 |
| 2012–13[d] | Martin St-Louis | Tampa Bay Lightning | 60 | 2 |
| 2013–14 | Sidney Crosby | Pittsburgh Penguins | 104 | 2 |
| 2014–15 | Jamie Benn | Dallas Stars | 87 | 1 |
| 2015–16 | Patrick Kane | Chicago Blackhawks | 106 | 1 |
| 2016–17 | Connor McDavid | Edmonton Oilers | 100 | 1 |
| 2017–18 | Connor McDavid | Edmonton Oilers | 108 | 2 |
| 2018–19 | Nikita Kucherov | Tampa Bay Lightning | 128 | 1 |
| 2019–20[e] | Leon Draisaitl | Edmonton Oilers | 110 | 1 |
