The Greatest NHL Players to never win the Art Ross

Special Mention #3: Brett Hull

In 1990-91, Brett Hull scored 131 points, second only to Wayne Gretzky. That would have been good enough to win the Art Ross in nearly every other season. But The Great One was once again miles ahead of the competition that year. However, Hull was 16 points over 3rd place. If it wasn’t for Gretzky, he had a comfortable margin of victory.

Then the following year, he scored 109 points in an injury-shortened season. Adjusted for a full season, he would have scored 122, which would have put him right up there if it wasn’t for Mario Lemieux.

From the 1988-89 season through to the 1993-94 season, Hull scored 635 points in 470 games, averaging 111 points per game.

But Brett Hull is best known for being a prolific goal scorer. He’s one of the few players to score 50 goals in 50 games – not even his father (Bobby Hull, former Art Ross winner) did that. And his 766 goals is good for 4th all-time, behind only Jagr, Howe, and Gretzky.

Brett Hull even won the Hart in 1990-91, beating out tough competition from Lemieux and Gretzky. That year, he scored 86 goals, a feat only The Great One himself has ever exceeded. And Gretzky only did it two times, first by 6 goals, and then by an even narrower margin of just one.  Brett Hull, therefore, owns the 3rd best record for goals scored in a season.

On top of that all, he’s won the Stanley Cup twice.

Special Mention #2: Andy Bathgate

Andy Bathgate played his best known years for the New York Rangers in the 50s and 60s, but don’t count that against him. The Rangers struggled in that era, but Bathgate certainly wasn’t the reason.

For 8 straight seasons, Bathgate finished in the top five in scoring. And he kind of even won the Art Ross, in 1961-62, losing to Bobby Hull on a technicality. That technicality being: when two players are tied at the end of the year, the player with more goals breaks the tie.

The following year, Bathgate again finished second, this time just five points behind Gordie Howe.

Aside from Bobby Hull and Howe, Bathgate had Jean Beliveau and Dickie Moore to compete with every year. And most of those years, Bathgate finished ahead of each of them in points. There just wasn’t one year where he had more than all of them at the same time.

As close as he got, he was rewarded in his career with the Hart Trophy and a Stanley Cup with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1963-64. And, in 1969-70, well outside of his prime, Bathgate scored an outstanding 108 points with the then-fledgling Vancouver Canucks.

Special Mention #1: Eric Lindros

Like Andy Bathgate, Eric Lindros tied Jaromir Jagr for most points in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season but scored fewer goals. He was rewarded instead with the Hart Trophy that year.

But had injuries not slowed Lindros down, he would have actually been much closer than Bathgate in the years that followed.

Adjusting for full seasons, Lindros would have scored:

1. 129 in 1995-96, 3rd to Jagr and Lemieux
2. 125 in 1996-97, 3 points ahead of Lemieux, for the win
3. 92 in 1997-98, 2nd to Jagr
4. 107 in 1998-99, 2nd again to Jagr.

So had things turned out slightly different, there’s a good chance Eric Lindros could have won an Art Ross Trophy in the late 1990s.

Runner-Up #3: Peter Statsny

Many younger fans today might see the name and think I made a typo. This fact is not notorious enough. Paul Statsny’s a distinguished NHL player, but Paul’s father Peter was one of the all-time greats.  He was also the first major star to break out of the Soviet Bloc and, unquestionably, the greatest Slovakian player to ever play.

From the 1980-81 season through to the 1987-88 season, the elder Statsny scored 713 points in 463 games, averaging 126 points per season.

In the 1981-82 season, he scored an incredible 139 points, which would have won him an Art Ross in every one of the last 23 seasons. He didn’t win, of course, since that was one of the years Gretzky scored over 200. But that should only serve to remind us how completely out of this world Wayne Gretzky was.

Over a career of 984 games, Peter Statsny has the 7th highest All-Time PPG (Points Per Game). That also makes him the player with the highest PPG to not win the Art Ross Trophy.

Runner-Up #2: Bobby Clarke

Few hockey images are as memorable as a toothless-grinning Bobby Clarke.

He was one of the premier scoring forwards in his day. In the 1972-73 season, he was second only to Phil Esposito. At the time, Esposito was shattering the scoring records set in previous eras. But Bobby Clarke was a perennial contender.

From 1972-73 until 1977-78, he scored 605 points in 462 games, averaging 107 points per game. That would have been good enough to win the Art Ross Trophy each year it was awarded from 1947-48, all the way to 1966-67, the first year Esposito won. That means Bobby Clarke averaged more points than Stan Mikita, more than Bobby Hull, and more than Gordie Howe ever scored in any one year.

But what really sets Bobby Clarke from the pack is his three Hart Trophies (awarded to the most valuable player each year by the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association).

That puts him in the same company as Bobby Orr, Mario Lemieux, and Alex Ovechkin. And that’s more Harts than Sidney Crosby, and Connor McDavid each have (there’s still time, Connor).

That makes Bobby Clarke the only player (within my criteria) to have won that many Harts without an Art Ross Trophy. The only players to have won more Harts than Clarke are Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky (and Eddie Shore, who won 4, but he’s a defenseman).

So I rank Clarke’s three Harts highly. In fact, the Art Ross winner usually wins the Hart as well. That has happened in 4 out of the last 5 years and 40 times in the last 72.

And Clarke did something no Art Ross Trophy winner has – he’s won the Frank Selke Trophy for best defensive forward. While that may ironically hurt his chances at winning the Art Ross, that certainly shouldn’t count against his legacy.

In addition to that, he captained the Flyers to the first two Stanley Cups won by a modern-era expansion team. Twenty years would pass before another team from that expansion class won a Cup (that would be the Penguins, in 1992-93).

Runner-Up #1: Steve Yzerman

In the 1988-89 season, Steve Yzerman scored 155 points. That tally would have been good enough to win the Art Ross in every one of the 72 years it was awarded, except for 11 of them, all of which were won by either Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux. In fact, Gretzky and Lemieux are the only two players to have ever scored more than 155 points.

From the 1987-88 season to 1992-93, Yzerman scored 732 points in 466 games, averaging 129 points per year. Incidentally, 129 points would have been enough to win the Art Ross Trophy in 48 of 72 seasons.

And he won both the Calder (best Rookie) and Conn Smythe (Playoff MVP), along with three Stanley Cups, captaining the Red Wings to all three championships.

And like Bobby Clarke, Yzerman also won the Selke later in his career. I give the edge to Yzerman, of course, because even though he never won the Hart Trophy (let alone 3), his point production was unreal, and that is what the Art Ross Trophy measures, after all.

Honorable Mentions

Before I get into the Big 3, I just wanted to rattle off a few notable players I took a look at (in chronological order):

• Syl Apps: great player of the 1930s and 1940s, winner of three Cups with the Leafs, consistently ranks high on many all-time greatest lists
• Sid Abel: Won a Hart Trophy, three Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings, linemate to Gordie Howe, finished second in scoring to him one year
• Frank Mahovlich: a perennial top-10 scorer in the late 60s, early 70s. In one of those years, he scored 49 goals. He was also a six-time Cup winner
• Denis Savard: from 1983-84 to 1987-88, he scored 657 points in 462 games, averaging 117 points per season. One-time Cup Winner
• Luc Robitaille: all-time highest-scoring left winger
• Mike Modano: all-time US-born leader in goals and points, captained the Dallas Stars to a Cup
• Sergei Fedorov: great two-way player, two-time Selke winner, three-time Cup winner with the Red Wings, finished second to Gretzky in scoring for 1993-94, winning the Hart Trophy that year for Most Valuable Player
•  Joe Sakic: legendary wrist-shot, two-time 50-goal scorer, captained the Colorado Avalanche to two Stanley Cups.

The Greatest: Mark Messier (#3)

The Moose!

You may recall that Bobby Clarke had two Stanley Cups, while Steve Yzerman had three. Well, Mark Messier had six, including two without Wayne Gretzky, both on teams which he captained. In fact, he is the only player in NHL history to captain two different teams to the Cup. And his leadership is the stuff of hockey legend.

In addition to winning a Conn Smythe, Messier also won the Hart Trophy – twice.

From 1985-86 to 1991-92, he scored 696 points in 487 games, averaging 117 per season. His 1887 points are the third most all-time – next to Jagr and Gretzky. He is, therefore, the highest-scoring player to not win the Art Ross Trophy.

I also noticed that Yzerman only scored more than Messier in years where Messier didn’t play a full season. In 1987-88, 1989-90, and 1991-92 Messier had more points than Yzerman.

And for that reason, I can’t give the edge to Yzerman, even though he averaged more points over a similar stretch. Messier makes the third entry on my list because he won two more Harts and twice as many Cups.

The Greatest: Mike Bossy (#2)

From 1980-81 to 1985-86, Mike Bossy scored 837 points in 461 games, averaging 132 points per season. That’s the highest six-season average I could find for any player that didn’t win the Art Ross Trophy

Bossy got there by scoring 50 goals in a season, 9 straight times. In fact, his Career Goals per Game is the highest of any player, ever.

He also has the 3rd highest PPG of all time, behind only Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

But he played in an era that included Gretzky and Lemieux, as well as Peter Statsny and Marcel Dionne. In fact, the six-season sample I took (which were Bossy’s best years) included all four years Gretzky scored over 200 points.

Bossy’s acumen includes the Calder, a Conn Smythe, and four Cups with the Islanders’ Dynasty of 1978-79 to 1981-82.

The Greatest: Maurice Richard (#1)

Most have heard the name. But some may find it surprising that despite his many achievements, Maurice Richard never once led the league in points.

Even in the 1944-45 season, when he scored 50 goals in 50 games, had the Art Ross Trophy been awarded that year, he wouldn’t have won it.

In my opinion, Richard is the 4th greatest player of all time, behind only Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe, and Wayne Gretzky (in that order). I say that because he played before all of them, and when he did, he was the consensus greatest player. And certainly the biggest star the game had seen up to that time.

Consensus, you say? The man was given a state funeral. He is a hockey icon of the highest order, in a pantheon that (in my view) only includes Gretzky, Howe, Orr, Lemieux, and Valeri Kharlamov.

So I shouldn’t have to try and convince anyone of Richard’s greatness, but I will anyway.

I’ve already mentioned he scored 50 goals in 50 games. He was the first to do this and was the only one for almost four decades, until the aforementioned Mike Bossy. Even today, only three other NHL players have done this: (Brett) Hull, Lemieux, and Gretzky.

Richard also won eight Stanley Cups, including four as captain. Curiously, he only won a single Hart Trophy.

The trophy for most goals scored in a regular season is named after him. He himself led the league in goals five times.  Only Alex Ovechkin has done this more. Mike Bossy only did it twice.

And when Richard retired, his 544 goals were the most of any player, blowing away the previous record of 324. That’s 67.9% more career goals –  for comparison, Gretzky finished his career with 54.4% more points than Howe.

Even still, from the 1943-44 season to the 1950-51 season, Richard only scored 469 points in 453 games, averaging 85 points per 82 game season. Compared to the other names on this list, that may seem light.

It’s worth mentioning that Richard was a heavily penalized player. Without Time on Ice stats, it would be impossible to say just how many more minutes he could have spent out of the penalty box scoring goals. But during that same clip where he averaged 85 points per 82 game season, he also averaged 112 penalty minutes. Today, that would put him among the league leaders in that category.

This was also a time when the regular season had only 50 games until the 1946-47 season, 60 games until the 1948-49 season, and then only 70 games until the 1967-68 season. Back then, 60 points over 50 games, or 70 points over 60 games, was enough to win the Art Ross.

And Richard legitimately came close to winning it, finishing second in five seasons, and third in another two. In both the 1946-47 and 1954-55 seasons, Richard was only a single point back of the lead.

But when we think of Richard, we, of course, think of the goal-scoring. In the 1944-45 season, he scored at a pace of 1.00 Goals per Game. Since then, only three other players have ever matched this feat– Gretzky, Lemieux, and Brett Hull. And Richard was once again, the only one for four decades.

The year he did it, the second most goals was 29. That’s 72.4 percent more goals than second place – for comparison, the biggest gap Gretzky left for points was in 1983-84, when he scored 63.5% more than second place.

There is also a grander argument here. The farther back you dig through NHL history, the more important goals become compared to assists.

For example, in 1923-24, Cy Denneny won the scoring race. He tallied 22 goals in 21 games, finishing the year with only a single assist.  Second place belonged to Billy Boucher, finishing with 16 goals in 23 games and just six assists.

But in the 1920s, it was routine for players to score vastly more goals than assists. At the time, goals were all that really mattered. Of course, before the 1927-28 season, forward passing wasn’t allowed.

Even after it was introduced, the top scorers still tended to score more goals than assists. It was only by the late 1930s that assists and goals began to balance out evenly.

But, when Richard came onto the scene in the 1940s, forwards were still very much judged primarily on their ability to score goals. After all, that is how you win a game.

It was an issue of style. The hockey of Richard’s era was more like the beer leagues of today. The emphasis was on individual performance. Players tended to carry the puck through the neutral zone and create their own scoring chances. It was not nearly as much of a team game, as NHL hockey is now.

Even when Gordie Howe was leading the league in scoring in the early 1950s, he typically scored as many goals as assists – what we would today call a pure goal scorer. Stan Mikita might have been the first true premier playmaker,  consistently scoring many more assists than goals in the late 1960s.

And that’s why Richard’s goal-scoring accomplishments were regarded so highly. The game was less about passing and playmaking and more about individual effort and goal scoring. And when it came to goal scoring, Richard was so dominant he can occasionally make Wayne Gretzky’s point production look inferior. And the records he left stood so long; it took a completely different game of hockey to exceed them.

And that’s why he’s the greatest player to never win the Art Ross Trophy.