NHL Trophy for Most Assists?

We are taught from a young age in the hockey world that an assist in just as, if not more, important than a goal. It seems the National Hockey League, with the creation of the Rocket Richard Trophy in 1998-99, doesn’t much agree. The NHL now awards the leader in goals and points but has no where in their greedy little hearts for the playmaker.

I propose the NHL fixes this issue, and now. But, who would you name the award after? My personal choice would be the ‘Adam Oates Playmaker Trophy’. Oates only led the league twice over his long career but was always among the top ten. Adam first led the league in 1992-93 with 97 assists with the Boston Bruins. It was the first time since Bryan Trottier of the New York Islanders in 1978-79 that Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux had not led the NHL in that department (Lemieux won it just once over that period).

Let the NHL know who you think the Assists Trophy should be named after in the poll to the right!

Of course, Vulcan logic would determine the award be called the ‘Wayne Gretzky Trophy’. The Great One led the NHL in assists 13 times. He has awards named after him in the Ontario Hockey League (two actually) but the NHL has yet to honour their greatest son. Maybe, it’s time to right some wrongs with the guy who took hockey to a whole different level.

In all, there are 12 players in the history of the NHL that have led the league in assists on three or more occasions. This is based on a single leader in each season. In case of ties, and there were ties, the player with the most total points would prevail. Just Gretzky and Bobby Orr have led more than three times with Bobby leading the league on five occasions over his drastically shortened career.

Three triple winners are still actively playing in 2012-13, so there may be a four time winner in a couple months. Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks has led the NHL in assists over the past three seasons. Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks and Jaromir Jagr of the Dallas Stars have also been assists leader three times.

For fun, help the NHL pick a name for their new trophy by participating in the poll in the sidebar to the right of this article. I’ve put up seven names: Gretzky, Oates, Orr, Sedin, Gordie Howe, Stan Mikita and Frank Boucher. All were 3+ time winners. Mikita won his three in consecutive years while setting up Bobby Hull in Chicago. Frank Boucher was the first two lead in consecutive seasons. Gordie Howe is just Gordie Howe – another legend that doesn’t have an award handed out in his honour. There is a slot for you to add a player not listed, if you so desire. This is my favourite function in polls because it bring to light someone truly deserving but was missed and it could also bring a good laugh.

Here’s the list: