 The Richard Trophy on display at theHockey Hall of Fame | |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | National Hockey League's top goal scorer |
| History | |
| First award | 1998–99 NHL season |
| First winner | Teemu Selanne |
| Most wins | Alexander Ovechkin (9) |
| Most recent | Leon Draisaitl (1) Edmonton Oilers |
TheMaurice "Rocket"Richard Trophy, also known as theRocket Richard Trophy,[1] is awarded annually to the leading goal scorer in theNational Hockey League (NHL). It was donated to the NHL by theMontreal Canadiens in1998–99 and is named in honour of legendary Montreal Canadiensright wingerMaurice "Rocket" Richard. First won byTeemu Selanne, it is currently held byLeon Draisaitl, who scored 52 goals during the2024–25 NHL season.
The Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy was donated by theMontreal Canadiens to the NHL in 1999, and was first awarded at the end of the1998–99 season. It is one of the newest of theNHL's trophies and is named in honour of the legendaryright wingerMaurice "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 the500-goal milestone. In1944–45, Richard became the first player in NHL history to score50 goals in one season, doing so injust 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 in1954–55, when he finished one point behind teammateBernie Geoffrion.[2]
The winner of theArt Ross Trophy, given to the NHL's leading points scorer, often also wins theHart Memorial Trophy as the league'smost valuable player. In contrast, onlyAuston Matthews,Alexander Ovechkin,Corey Perry, andConnor McDavid have won both the Richard and the Hart trophies in the same season; Ovechkin has accomplished this three times, in2007–08,2008–09, and2012–13. 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 the2003–04 season featured a three-way tie between 41-goal scorersJarome Iginla,Ilya Kovalchuk, andRick Nash. The second time there was a tie for this award was in the2009–10 season, when bothSidney Crosby andSteven Stamkos scored 51 goals each to win this award. In the shortened2019–20 season, there was a tie between Ovechkin andDavid 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.
Auston Matthews (third Richard Trophy in2023–24) andAlexander Ovechkin (ninth Richard Trophy in2019–20) are the only players to have won the trophy at least three times. Only four other players (Pavel Bure,Sidney Crosby,Jarome Iginla, andSteven Stamkos, with two trophies each) have won it more than once.
The goal scoring leader for the NHL's inaugural1917-18 season wasJoe Malone.
