It will be called the Wayne Gretzky Trophy. In theory. If the NHL head office reads this article…
A while ago, we did an article at VHCR about who the National Hockey League should name a trophy after, to be awarded to the player with the most assists during the regular season. Afterall, most points gets the Art Ross Trophy and most goals gets the Rocket Richard Trophy. Why should the top playmaker go unrecognized?
Read that article here: NHL Assist Trophy
We then put up a poll on the website to find out who the readers of VHCR thought was the best fit. I was gunning for Adam Oates. Turns out, Oates was the third most voted for, behind the Great One and Bobby Orr. I really ahve to thank the participants in the poll for not choosing Henrik Sedin. If Sedin won, I’d have to scrap this whole idea!
The Results
| Wayne Gretzky | 51.61% |
| Bobby Orr | 17.20% |
| Adam Oates | 9.68% |
| Stan Mikita | 8.60% |
| Other: | 8.60% |
| Gordie Howe | 2.15% |
| Frank Boucher | 1.08% |
| Henrik Sedin | 1.08% |
The ‘Other’ option is always my favourite. It turns out readers are A. Funny, B. Knowledgeable, C. Possibly Patronizing and D. Funny and Knowledgeable.
Let’s start with funny. Ken Dryden and Mikka Kiprusoff (spelled Kippersauf in the poll) are, of course, both goalies. Now, if I was going to choose a goalie, it wouldn’t be these two. it would probably be Grant Fuhr since the guy had 14 assists with the Oilers in 1983-84.
Ed Van Impe. The guy played defense in the NHL from 1966-67 to 1976-77 with Chicago, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. His best season was 1974-75 when he assisted on 17. In 700 NHL regular season games, he totalled 126 assists.
Now we move to knowledgeable. Bernie Federko, Mario Lemieux and Howie Morenz. All great playmakers and great options. Morenz was really the original superstar and should have something named after him. Federko was a bit of an unsung hero, stuck out in Missouri for most of his career. Mario, like Gretzky, really should have something named after him in the NHL.
Possibly Patronizing. If you’ve spent any time reading VHCR, you’ll know I’m a huge fan of Dennis Maruk. Dennis was the first real superstar of the London Knights (besides Darryl Sittler). Yet, the Hunter family refuses to honour him with a banner at the Budweiser Gardens. Maruk would be the choice of Washington Capitals fans. He was the first to score 60 for the Caps with Ovechkin being the only other. Maruk still owns the team record for most points in a season.
Funny and Knowledgeable? Newsy Lalonde (spelled Newsey Landoe in the poll). Lalonde played in the NHL from 1917-18 to 1921-22, the first five years of the league. He played all that time with the Montreal Canadiens and did return for one game with the New York Americans in 1926-27. Why is this funny? Back in the day, assists were not given out as freely as today. Newsy totalled just 27 assists in 99 career NHL games. However, he did score 124 goals in those 99 games.