NHL: 25 worst award snubs in the history of hockey

25 Worst award snubs in NHL history: 9. Pavel Bure – Hart Trophy 2001

In 2001, Pavel Bure was the best player in the world. He was dominant for the Vancouver Canucks, then he went to the Florida Panthers and was even better. He did everything possible to drag that team as far as it could go.

This one is a little harder to argue for first place. The snub here is the clear disrespect of Pavel Bure’s accomplishments. The Panthers were not good, but Bure did everything he could. He scored 59 goals that season. The rest of the Panthers team had 141. For context, Joe Sakic won the MVP with 54 goals. The rest of the Avalanche had 216 goals.

Bure’s next closest teammate in points was Victor Kozlov, who had 55 less than Bure. The Russian Rocket was a one-man show in South Florida. Yet, he got ninth in voting? Is this for real? We seem to take the “only players in the playoffs deserve a spot in the Hart Trophy race” debate.

It’s hard to call this a 100% “snub”, but Bure finishing 9th is a travesty. He was one of the top players in the game that season. If he was on literally 25 other teams, he probably wins the MVP award. He was so good, and he needed no help. He deserved better.