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The Greatest NHL Players to never win the Art Ross

By Andrew R

Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images Studios/Getty Images)
Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images Studios/Getty Images) /
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Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe
Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images Studios/Getty Images) /

Allow us to present a comprehensive list detailing the All-Time Greatest NHL Players to never win the Art Ross Trophy.

Since the 1946-47 NHL season, the Art Ross Trophy has been awarded at the end of every regular season. The formula for the award is simple enough. It goes to the player with the most goals and assists.

Nearly all of the game’s great NHL forwards have won it. Most that is – but not all. Even though the list of winners is basically a Who’s Who of NHL Greats, there are some noteworthy absences.

There are three big reasons why. From the 1980-81 season straight through to the 2000-01 season, there were only three winners – Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Jaromir Jagr. Many great NHL players fell short against this trio.

My thanks go out to them for helping me compile this list – the greatest NHL players to never win the Art Ross. Although, at least in my view, the greatest player to never win didn’t play in this era.

Speaking of eras, I still considered players from the pre-Art Ross era. In other words, as long as players never led the league in scoring, they were fair game, even if they retired before the Art Ross was awarded. But had the trophy been awarded when they played, old-time NHL greats like Joe Malone, Newsy Lalonde, Cy Denneny, Howie Morenz, and Charlie Conacher all would have won it.

However, I excluded non-NHL players. Legendary Soviet ace Valeri Kharlamov is a hockey icon, but he never played a game in the NHL. And since he never did, he never had a chance to win the Art Ross.  As an interesting aside, both Ilya Kovalchuk and Evgeni Malkin’s jerseys are homages to Kharlamov’s #17 (Malkin’s number is deliberately reversed).

Of course, I obviously excluded all non-forwards. I also generally ignored the best-known defensive forwards. Players like Sergei Fedorov, Pavel Datsyuk, and Bob Gainey may be among the all-time greats, but they were never perennial Art Ross contenders. I gave them a good look, though.

I generally assessed players based on the following criteria:

  1. Overall regular season points over a 6 season sample
  2. Certain years where, if not for other great NHLers, they may have won
  3. Other awards won, such as the Hart or Calder
  4. Stanley Cups won, and how many times they captained their team to the Cup
  5. Any other distinguishing achievements.

And, after pouring over more than a few players, I arrived at three lists:

  1. Three Special Mentions;
  2. Three Runners-Up;
  3. Three Greatest.

Let’s dive right in…

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