History of the Vancouver Canucks and the Art Ross Trophy
We take a look into the history books, for a review of how the Vancouver Canucks have fared over the years when it comes to winning the Art Ross Trophy.
The Vancouver Canucks have been playing in the NHL since the 1970-71 season. In that time the team has enjoyed decent success, albeit they still haven't won the Stanley Cup. Their success includes 11 Division Championships, two Presidents' Trophies and three Western Conferences.
Individually speaking, Canucks playes have also enjoyed some success over the years. This includes two Ted Lindsay Awards, two Calder Memorial Trophies, one Hart Memorial Trophy and most recently a Jack Norris Memorial Trophy, which was won this past season by Quinn Hughes.
What about the Art Ross Trophy, which is awarded to the player who leads the NHL in scoring each season? Well, it's been going since 1947-48, and has been won twice by Canucks players. The players in question are the Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel.
Henrik was the first to achieve the feat, in 2009-10. That campaign proved to be a career-year for him, as he set single-season bests with 29 goals, 83 assists and a +35 rating. Most importantly though for the purposes of this article, he had 112 total points, to pace the NHL in scoring.
The 2009-10 season was also special for the three-time All-Star winning the Hart Memorial Trophy as MVP of the NHL regular season. He is the first -- and so far only -- Canucks player to take home the award. In addition, he was named to the NHL first All-Star team for the first time.
Not to be outdone by his twin brother, Daniel would proceed to also win the Art Ross Trophy the very next season, in 2010-11. Similar to Henrik, the three-time NHL All-Star had a career year, with single season bests of 41 goals and 63 assists. Again most importantly of all though, his career-high 104 points were tops in the NHL.
The 43-year-old would additionally become the second Canuck in team history to win the Ted Lindsay Award. Given to the most outstanding player during the regular season, the previous Canuck to win it was Markus Naslund, in 2002-03. Daniel would also earn his only career selection to the NHL first All-Star team.
In respect of the current roster, Canucks fans may be wondering or predicting who is capable of becoming the third player in team history to win the Art Ross Trophy? Possibilities include J.T. Miller, coming off a career-best 103 points and Elias Pettersson, who scored a career-high 102 a season earlier. However, the reality is that while a certain Connor McDavid's around, it's going to be tough for any Canucks player to even get close to joining the Sedin twins on such a prestigious list.
N.B. All statistics courtesy of Hockey Reference