Pittsburgh Penguins: Remembering the 2007 NHL Awards Show
By Rob Joncas
With the Pittsburgh Penguins off to a strong start to the 2018-19 season, let’s go back to when this era of dominance truly began – the 2007 NHL Awards.
If you had to dog-ear one of the pages in the Pittsburgh Penguins history book it would be June 14, 2007, at the NHL Awards show. This day marked the beginning of the franchise’s revival and put the phenomenal talent of the Penguins new stars on full display.
The Pens had just ended their postseason drought and the stable of young studs began to emerge to give a glimpse of hope to a long-suffering fan base. A couple of young Penguins stole the show and haven’t given it back since.
The Kid Cashes In
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Sidney Crosby was the big winner of the evening, as he added three trophies to his ever-growing collection of hardware. With 120 points (36 goals, 84 assists), an 18-point improvement over his rookie point-total (102), Crosby earned his first Art Ross Trophy and the distinction of being the youngest scoring champion in the history of North American sports.
He also became the second 19-year-old in league history to earn the Hart Trophy as league’s most valuable player with 91 first-place votes. Wayne Gretzky was five months younger than Crosby when he won the award in 1979-80. Mario Lemieux (three) and Jaromir Jagr (one) were the other Penguins players to receive the honour before Sid.
In his second season with the Penguins, his peers took notice and voted Crosby winner of the Lester B. Pearson Award. At 19 years old, he was (and still is) the youngest player to win the award and youngest since Lemieux won it in 1985-86 at the ripe young age of 20. He was also the third player from the Penguins to be named winner joining Lemieux (4), and Jagr (3).
Overall, Crosby was the seventh player in league history to pull off the trifecta of winning the Ross, Hart, and Pearson trophies in the same season.
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Russian Collusion
After he suffered an injury in the preseason, Evgeni Malkin fully delivered on the hype surrounding his arrival to the NHL, once he made his debut in mid-October of 2006. He set a modern NHL record by scoring a goal in each of his first six games and became the first player since 1917-18 to achieve the feat. His finest performance of the season was a five-point game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 20, 2007.
The 20-year-old Malkin led all rookies in goals (33), assists (52), and points (85) and was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy as the leagues top rookie with 120 first-place votes. Penguins head coach Michel Therrien accepted the award on behalf of Malkin, who was back home in Russia.
Honorable mention
Although Crosby and Malkin dominated storylines during the course of the season, there was another Penguin primed to make his presence known.
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Jordan Staal, the youngest of the Penguins trio of stars, had a phenomenal rookie season in 2006-07. He finished with 29 goals (seven short-handed) and 42 points. Staal also tied for second in rookie goal scoring. He also finished in third place in Calder Trophy with six first-place votes.