Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy
Established	1998–99 NHL season
Current holder(s)	Alexander Ovechkin
Awarded to the	National Hockey League's top goal scorer

The Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, also known as the Maurice 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 hockey club in 1998–99 and is named in honour of the legendary Montreal Canadiens right winger Maurice "Rocket" Richard. The Trophy has been awarded at the end of ten seasons to nine different players. Three players, Pavel Bure, Jarome Iginla, and Alexander Ovechkin have won the Trophy more than once, and there was a three way tie in 2004 between Ilya Kovalchuk, Rick Nash, and Jarome Iginla. The current holder is Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, who scored 56 goals during the 2008–09 season to earn his second consecutive Richard Trophy.

Contents 1 History 2 Winners 3 Notes 4 References 5 See also

[edit] 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 only achieved by a handful of players since then. However, the scoring title eluded Richard, and the closest that he got to it was in 1954.^[2]

Although the NHL's leading points scorer often wins the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP, only Alexander Ovechkin has won both the Richard and the Hart in the same season, and has done so twice, in 2007-08, and 2008-09. Eleven players both won the Hart in the same season in which they led the league in goals before the Richard Trophy was first awarded.^[3]

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 Iginla, Ilya Kovalchuk and Rick Nash, the only tie in the short history of the trophy. Rick Nash is the youngest player to have won the trophy, being 19 years old upon receipt. Pavel Bure, Jarome Iginla and Alexander Ovechkin are the only players to have won the trophy twice.

[edit] Winners

Key

• ^(#) Including the number of scoring titles prior to the inception of the trophy

     Player is still active

Season	Winner	Team	Goals	#
1998–99	Teemu Selanne	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	47	1
1999–2000	Pavel Bure	Florida Panthers	58	1
2000–01	Pavel Bure	Florida Panthers	59	2
2001–02	Jarome Iginla	Calgary Flames	52	1
2002–03	Milan Hejduk	Colorado Avalanche	50	1
2003–04	Jarome Iginla[A]	Calgary Flames	41	2
	Ilya Kovalchuk[A]	Atlanta Thrashers	41	1
	Rick Nash[A]	Columbus Blue Jackets	41	1
2004–05	2004–05 NHL lockout No winner	-	-	-
2005–06	Jonathan Cheechoo	San Jose Sharks	56	1
2006–07	Vincent Lecavalier	Tampa Bay Lightning	52	1
2007–08	Alexander Ovechkin	Washington Capitals	65	1
2008–09	Alexander Ovechkin	Washington Capitals	56	2

[edit] Notes

^ A. During the 2003–04 season, there was a tie between Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames, Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atlanta Thrashers and Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

[edit] References

General

• Maurice Richard Trophy at NHL.com
• Maurice Richard Trophy at Legends of Hockey.net
• Dinger, Ralph (2004). National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book. Toront: Dan Diamond. ISBN 0-920445-84-5. 

Specific

[edit] See also

• List of NHL players
• List of NHL statistical leaders

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