Hart Memorial Trophy

The Hart Memorial Trophy (originally known as the Hart Trophy) is awarded annually to the "player judged most valuable to his team" in the National Hockey League (NHL).

The Hart Memorial Trophy has been awarded 88 times to 54 different players since its beginnings in 1924.

Each year, members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association vote to determine the player who was the most valuable to his team during the regular season.

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 hockey club.

The Hart Trophy was first awarded at the conclusion of the 1923–24 NHL season. The winner of the first Hart Trophy was 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.

With the exceptions of Tommy Anderson, Al Rollins and Eric Lindros, every eligible player who won the Hart Trophy has been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Wayne Gretzky won the award a record nine times during his career, eight consecutively.

He has been named MVP more times than any other player in the history of the other three North American major professional leagues (Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, and National Football League). Barry Bonds is second, having won the MVP award seven times in Major League Baseball.

Gretzky and his Edmonton Oilers teammate Mark Messier are the only players to win the Hart Trophy with more than one team.

In 1990, Mark Messier took the Hart over Ray Bourque by a margin of two votes, the difference being a single first-place vote.

Players from the Montreal Canadiens have won the award sixteen times; players from Boston Bruins are second with twelve winners and the Detroit Red Wings and the Edmonton Oilers have seen players win the award nine times.

Joe Thornton became the first Hart Trophy winner to switch clubs during his winning campaign in 2005–06 NHL season, having played for both the Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks that year.

The voting is conducted at the end of the regular season by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, and each individual voter ranks their top five candidates on a 10-7-5-3-1 points system.

Three finalists are named and the trophy is awarded at the NHL Awards ceremony after the playoffs.

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, who had 86 first-place votes to Iginla's 82, claimed it.

In 2008, NHL.com's official online shop came under criticism after they placed a T-shirt advertising Alexander Ovechkin as the Hart winner on sale a week before the winner was revealed.

A spokesperson for the NHL said: "in an effort to offer our fans the merchandise they want in a timely manner following an event such as the NHL Awards, our licensees prepare product for all possible outcomes. In this situation, the link for one of the possible products became live early through an error by our e-commerce provider."

Ovechkin was later revealed to be the winner.

Hart Memorial Trophy Winners

Positions key

C	Centre
LW	Left Wing
D	Defence
RW	Right Wing
G	Goaltender

Season	Winner	Team	Position	Win #
1923–24	Nighbor, FrankFrank Nighbor	Ottawa Senators	C	1
1924–25	Burch, BillyBilly Burch	Hamilton Tigers	C	1
1925–26	Stewart, NelsNels Stewart	Montreal Maroons	C	1
1926–27	Gardiner, HerbHerb Gardiner	Montreal Canadiens	D	1
1927–28	Morenz, HowieHowie Morenz	Montreal Canadiens	C	1
1928–29	Worters, RoyRoy Worters	New York Americans	G	1
1929–30	Stewart, NelsNels Stewart	Montreal Maroons	C	2
1930–31	Morenz, HowieHowie Morenz	Montreal Canadiens	C	2
1931–32	Morenz, HowieHowie Morenz	Montreal Canadiens	C	3
1932–33	Shore, EddieEddie Shore	Boston Bruins	D	1
1933–34	Joliat, AureleAurele Joliat	Montreal Canadiens	LW	1
1934–35	Shore, EddieEddie Shore	Boston Bruins	D	2
1935–36	Shore, EddieEddie Shore	Boston Bruins	D	3
1936–37	Siebert, BabeBabe Siebert	Montreal Canadiens	D	1
1937–38	Shore, EddieEddie Shore	Boston Bruins	D	4
1938–39	Blake, ToeToe Blake	Montreal Canadiens	LW	1
1939–40	Goodfellow, EbbieEbbie Goodfellow	Detroit Red Wings	D	1
1940–41	Cowley, BillBill Cowley	Boston Bruins	C	1
1941–42	Anderson, TommyTommy Anderson	Brooklyn Americans	D	1
1942–43	Cowley, BillBill Cowley	Boston Bruins	C	2
1943–44	Pratt, BabeBabe Pratt	Toronto Maple Leafs	D	1
1944–45	Lach, ElmerElmer Lach	Montreal Canadiens	C	1
1945–46	Bentley, MaxMax Bentley	Chicago Black Hawks	C	1
1946–47	Richard, MauriceMaurice Richard	Montreal Canadiens	RW	1
1947–48	O'Connor, BuddyBuddy O'Connor	New York Rangers	C	1
1948–49	Abel, SidSid Abel	Detroit Red Wings	C	1
1949–50	Rayner, ChuckChuck Rayner	New York Rangers	G	1
1950–51	Schmidt, MiltMilt Schmidt	Boston Bruins	C	1
1951–52	Howe, GordieGordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	RW	1
1952–53	Howe, GordieGordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	RW	2
1953–54	Rollins, AlAl Rollins	Chicago Black Hawks	G	1
1954–55	Kennedy, TedTed Kennedy	Toronto Maple Leafs	C	1
1955–56	Beliveau, JeanJean Beliveau	Montreal Canadiens	C	1
1956–57	Howe, GordieGordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	RW	3
1957–58	Howe, GordieGordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	RW	4
1958–59	Bathgate, AndyAndy Bathgate	New York Rangers	RW	1
1959–60	Howe, GordieGordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	RW	5
1960–61	Geoffrion, BernieBernie Geoffrion	Montreal Canadiens	RW	1
1961–62	Plante, JacquesJacques Plante	Montreal Canadiens	G	1
1962–63	Howe, GordieGordie Howe	Detroit Red Wings	RW	6
1963–64	Jean|Beliveau}	Montreal Canadiens	C	2
1964–65	Hull, BobbyBobby Hull	Chicago Black Hawks	LW	1
1965–66	Hull, BobbyBobby Hull	Chicago Black Hawks	LW	2
1966–67	Mikita, StanStan Mikita	Chicago Black Hawks	C	1
1967–68	Mikita, StanStan Mikita	Chicago Black Hawks	C	2
1968–69	Esposito, PhilPhil Esposito	Boston Bruins	C	1
1969–70	Orr, BobbyBobby Orr	Boston Bruins	D	1
1970–71	Orr, BobbyBobby Orr	Boston Bruins	D	2
1971–72	Orr, BobbyBobby Orr	Boston Bruins	D	3
1972–73	Clarke, BobbyBobby Clarke	Philadelphia Flyers	C	1
1973–74	Esposito, PhilPhil Esposito	Boston Bruins	C	2
1974–75	Clarke, BobbyBobby Clarke	Philadelphia Flyers	C	2
1975–76	Clarke, BobbyBobby Clarke	Philadelphia Flyers	C	3
1976–77	Lafleur, GuyGuy Lafleur	Montreal Canadiens	RW	1
1977–78	Lafleur, GuyGuy Lafleur	Montreal Canadiens	RW	2
1978–79	Trottier, BryanBryan Trottier	New York Islanders	C	1
1979–80	Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	C	1
1980–81	Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	C	2
1981–82	Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	C	3
1982–83	Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	C	4
1983–84	Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	C	5
1984–85	Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	C	6
1985–86	Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	C	7
1986–87	Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky	Edmonton Oilers	C	8
1987–88	Lemieux, MarioMario Lemieux	Pittsburgh Penguins	C	1
1988–89	Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky	Los Angeles Kings	C	9
1989–90	Messier, MarkMark Messier	Edmonton Oilers	C	1
1990–91	Hull, BrettBrett Hull	St. Louis Blues	RW	1
1991–92	Messier, MarkMark Messier	New York Rangers	C	2
1992–93	Lemieux, MarioMario Lemieux	Pittsburgh Penguins	C	2
1993–94	Fedorov, SergeiSergei Fedorov	Detroit Red Wings	C	1
1994–95	Lindros, EricEric Lindros	Philadelphia Flyers	C	1
1995–96	Lemieux, MarioMario Lemieux	Pittsburgh Penguins	C	3
1996–97	Hasek, DominikDominik Hasek	Buffalo Sabres	G	1
1997–98	Hasek, DominikDominik Hasek	Buffalo Sabres	G	2
1998–99	Jagr, JaromirJaromir Jagr	Pittsburgh Penguins	RW	1
1999–2000	Pronger, ChrisChris Pronger	St. Louis Blues	D	1
2000–01	Sakic, JoeJoe Sakic	Colorado Avalanche	C	1
2001–02	Theodore, JoseJose Theodore	Montreal Canadiens	G	1
2002–03	Forsberg, PeterPeter Forsberg	Colorado Avalanche	C	1
2003–04	St. Louis, MartinMartin St. Louis	Tampa Bay Lightning	RW	1
2004–05Template:Efn	Template:Sort dash	Template:Sort dash	Template:Sort dash	Template:Sort dash
2005–06	Thornton, JoeJoe Thornton	Boston Bruins/San Jose Sharks	C	1
2006–07	Crosby, SidneySidney Crosby	Pittsburgh Penguins	C	1
2007–08	Ovechkin, AlexanderAlexander Ovechkin	Washington Capitals	LW	1
2008–09	Ovechkin, AlexanderAlexander Ovechkin	Washington Capitals	LW	2
2009–10	Sedin, HenrikHenrik Sedin	Vancouver Canucks	C	1
2010–11	Perry, CoreyCorey Perry	Anaheim Ducks	RW	1
2011–12	Malkin, EvgeniEvgeni Malkin	Pittsburgh Penguins	C	1
2012–13	Ovechkin, AlexanderAlexander Ovechkin	Washington Capitals	RW	3
2013–14	Crosby, SidneySidney Crosby	Pittsburgh Penguins	C	2
2014–15	Price, CareyCarey Price	Montreal Canadiens	G	1
2015-16	Kane, PatrickPatrick Kane	Chicago Blackhawks	RW	1
2016–17	McDavid, ConnorConnor McDavid	Edmonton Oilers	C	1