Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy

The Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, also known as the Rocket Richard Trophy,^[1] 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 Connor McDavid, who scored 64 goals during the 2022–23 NHL season.

Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy

The Richard Trophy on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame
Sport	Ice hockey
Awarded for	National Hockey League's top goal scorer
History
First award	1998–99 NHL season
Most wins	Alexander Ovechkin (9)
Most recent	Connor McDavid Edmonton Oilers (1st trophy)

History

 

Teemu Selanne, inaugural winner of the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy

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.^[2]

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 Alexander Ovechkin, Corey Perry and Auston Matthews 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.^[3] 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.

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

Winners

 

Alexander Ovechkin, nine-time winner

 

Pavel Bure, two-time winner, the first repeat winner

 

Sidney Crosby, two-time winner

 

Jarome Iginla, two-time winner

 

Steven Stamkos, two-time winner

 

Auston Matthews, two-time winner

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

  Player is still active

  Eligible player not yet elected to Hockey Hall of Fame

  Inactive player not yet eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame

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	Season cancelled due to the 2004–05 NHL 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
	David Pastrnak	Boston Bruins	48	70	1
2020–21**	Auston Matthews	Toronto Maple Leafs	41	52	1
2021–22	Auston Matthews	Toronto Maple Leafs	60	73	2
2022–23	Connor McDavid	Edmonton Oilers	64	82	1

See also

• List of past NHL scoring leaders
• List of NHL scoring leaders by season

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.

Specific

1. "NHL Records". records.nhl.com. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
2. . Legendsofhockey.net. Archived from the original on 2010-04-25. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
3. . NHL.com. Archived from the original on 2006-04-27. Retrieved 2007-08-22.