Buffalo Sabres History: Art Ross Trophy Winners
The National Hockey League will hold its annual year-end awards ceremony this year on June 24 in Las Vegas. The league will celebrates its top players in both on-ice and off-ice performances, rewarding representatives from the top scorers to the best goaltenders and everything in between. As the NHL continues to announce its nominees for the yearly awards, we’ll take a look back at the history of each award and when – if ever – a member of the Buffalo Sabres franchise has won it.
Some of these awards have been given out for 90 years, while others are newer. Regardless, it’s a true honor for any player to receive these awards.
Today, we’ll look at the NHL’s Art Ross Trophy.
The Art Ross Trophy is presented annually to the player who leads the NHL in points at the culmination of the regular season. If players tie in points, there are a trio of tiebreakers, in this order: 1. Most goals 2. Fewer games played 3. Which player scored the first goal of the season.
It was first presented in 1947 to the NHL by Arthur Ross, former manager-coach of the Boston Bruins.
The 2015 winner of the NHL’s Art Ross Trophy is Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn.
Benn narrowly edged out NY Islanders captain John Tavares to win the title. He had 87 points on the season, compared to Tavares’ 86.
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Sidney Crosby had 84, while both Alexander Ovechkin and Jakub Voracek registered 81 points.
Benn’s race for the Art Ross included a four-point game on the final day of the regular season, bumping him from third in the running to the top.
Benn becomes the first player in Dallas Stars history to win the scoring title.
Since its inception, 26 different players have won the NHL’s Art Ross Trophy as the league’s scoring leader.
The winner has never been a member of the Buffalo Sabres organization.
To probably no one’s surprise, Wayne Gretzky has won the award most in NHL history, taking the title 10 times, including seven straight seasons between 1981 and 1987.
Gordie Howe and Mario Lemieux both won the Art Ross six times each in their respective careers, while both Phil Esposito and Jaromir Jagr have five Art Ross titles under their belts.
Other notable winners include Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull, Guy Lafleur, Bobby Orr and Jean Beliveau.
Orr is the only defenseman to have won the title, taking it in both 1970 and 1975.
Aside from Jagr, other current NHLers who have won the title include Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Martin St. Louis, Henrik and Daniel Sedin (who won it in back-to-back years) and Joe Thornton.
Next: Sabres' Ted Lindsay Award Winners
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