 | |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Most Valuable Player to his team in regular season of the National Hockey League |
| History | |
| First award | 1924 |
| First winner | Frank Nighbor |
| Most wins | Wayne Gretzky (9) |
| Most recent | Connor Hellebuyck Winnipeg Jets |
The Hart Memorial Trophy, originally known as the Hart Trophy, is an annual award for the most valuable player to his team in the National Hockey League (NHL), voted by the members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. The original trophy was donated to the league in 1923 by David Hart, the father of Cecil Hart, the longtime head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. The Hart Trophy has been awarded 99 times to 61 different players since its beginnings in 1923–24.
History
The Hart Memorial Trophy is named in honour of Canadian Dr. David Hart. Dr. Hart, who donated the original trophy to the NHL, was the father of Cecil Hart, a former coach and general manager of the Montreal Canadiens. The trophy was first awarded at the conclusion of the 1923–24 NHL season to Frank Nighbor of the Ottawa Senators. The original Hart Trophy was retired to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1960, and the NHL began presenting a new trophy, which was dubbed the Hart Memorial Trophy in its place.[2]
Wayne Gretzky won the award a record nine times during his career, eight consecutively.[3] Gretzky and his Edmonton Oilers teammate Mark Messier are the only players to win the Hart Trophy with more than one team.[4] Eddie Shore and Herb Gardiner are the oldest winners of the award, each winning it at the age of 35.[5]
There have been two unanimous MVP wins, both with the Edmonton Oilers: Wayne Gretzky for the 1981–82 NHL season and Connor McDavid during the 2020–21 NHL season.[6][7]
Players from the Montreal Canadiens have won the award seventeen times; players from the Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers are second with thirteen winners. Joe Thornton became the only Hart Trophy winner to have switched clubs during his winning campaign during the 2005–06 season, having played for both the Bruins and San Jose Sharks that year. The defenseman with the most trophy victories is Eddie Shore, who won four times with Boston. By contrast, it is rare for a goaltender to win the award; only eight different goaltenders have won the Hart Trophy, nine times, with Buffalo Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek being the only two-time winner at that position.[4]
Voting
The voting is conducted at the end of the regular season by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, and each voter ranks their top five candidates on a 10-7-5-3-1 point(s) system.[8] Three finalists are named and the trophy is awarded at the NHL Awards ceremony after the playoffs.[9]
The closest the voting for the Hart Trophy has ever come was in the 2001–02 season, when Jose Theodore and Jarome Iginla tied in the total voting. The tiebreaker for choosing the Hart Trophy winner in such a case is number of first-place votes: Theodore claimed it as he had 86 first-place votes to Iginla's 82.[9]
Winners
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| ^ | Denotes player who is still active in the NHL |
| * | Denotes player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame |
| ~ | Denotes inactive player not yet eligible for Hockey Hall of Fame consideration |
| † | Denotes player whose team won the Stanley Cup that year |
| Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player had won the Hart Trophy at that time |
| Team (X) | Denotes the number of times a player from this team had won at that time |
See also
Notes
- ^ The 2005–06 winner, Joe Thornton, was traded from the Boston Bruins to the San Jose Sharks mid-season. To date, he is the only winner to have played for multiple teams during his winning season.
References
- ^ "Hart Memorial Trophy". Official website of Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
- ^ Hollander & Bock 1970, p. 311.
- ^ "99 Reasons Why Wayne Gretzky is "The Great One"". National Hockey League. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
- ^ a b "Hart Memorial Trophy". HHOF.com. Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
- ^ "NHL Hart Memorial Trophy Winners Complete List | Hockey-Reference.com". December 31, 2024. Archived from the original on January 16, 2025. Retrieved January 28, 2026.
- ^ "McDavid of Oilers wins Hart Trophy as NHL most valuable player". NHL.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
- ^ "Connor McDavid is the second unanimous winner of the NHL's MVP award in league history. It's a very rare accomplishment in sports". RMNB. June 30, 2021. Archived from the original on May 3, 2023. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
- ^ Dolezar, Jon (April 20, 2003). "Foppa shows the most Hart". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on December 5, 2007. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b "Hart Memorial Trophy". National Hockey League. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
Further reading
- "Hart Memorial Trophy". National Hockey League. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
- Hockey Hall of Fame. "Legends of Hockey - NHL Trophies - Hart Memorial Trophy". Legends of Hockey. Archived from the original on February 16, 2015. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
- "NHL Hart Memorial Trophy Winners". Hockey Reference. Archived from the original on February 12, 2023. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
- Hollander, Zander; Bock, Hal, eds. (1970). The Complete Encyclopedia of Ice Hockey. Prentice-Hall Inc. ISBN 0-13-159905-4.
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