Harder Trophy to win: Art Ross or Rocket Richard?

[Varan]

I've always wondered this. On the surface it seems like an easy question because you only need to lead in 1 category; goals. However, goals are hard to come by in this era and OV has won 6 out of the last 7 Rockets, which makes it seem like it's as hard to get, whereas 6/7 winners were all different for the Ross (MSL, Crosby, Benn, Kane, CM x2, Kuch).

So what's harder to win?

 

[dasaybz]

I would say the rocket dick is harder.

 

[jetsforever]

Art Ross is harder since only one player can win (so you need to beat out the entire league), while multiple players can share the Richard
Otherwise I feel like the question doesn't make much sense

 

[The Macho Man]

The Ross is harder since there are not ties for it. The rocket can go to each player in case of a tie.

 

[Wats]

Art Ross, need to be elite in both scoring and getting assists.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Art Ross, need to be elite in both scoring and getting assists.

This.

You can win the Rocket by being good at one thing. You need to be able to be a threat at both goal scoring and playmaking in order to rack up enough total points to win the Art Ross.

 

[illpucks]

Art Ross, need to be elite in both scoring and getting assists.

Not really. You can get 129 goals and 0 assists in theory

 

[Wats]

Not really. You can get 129 goals and 0 assists in theory

In that example, player would have likely easily won the Rocket based on historical season highs but had more difficulty winning Art Ross.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Not really. You can get 129 goals and 0 assists in theory

So your response to a valid point is to bring up a ridiculous example that's never been done before and will never be done?

 

[illpucks]

So your response to a valid point is to bring up a ridiculous example that's never been done before and will never be done?

Laine could do it.

 

[I am not exposed]

I feel this a subtle way of reigniting the Ovi vs. Crosby debate.

 

[enthusiast]

Not quite as dramatic as the hypothetical Cy Young, but Thornton won the Ross while barely scraping top-50 in goals, Henrik Sedin, St. Louis, McDavid barely top-30. The Rocket is definitionally one-dimensional and imo easier for that alone but the Ross doesn't require a well-rounded savant either

 

[trick9]

How many different players have won the Art Ross? How many different players have won the Rocket?

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Laine could do it.

Yeah. Maybe 129 kills in fortnite. Let's see if he can even pot 40 again for a start.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Look at the historical record. From 1950 to 2019, only 29 players have won the Art Ross trophy. I'd say all but two of them (Kucherov and Benn - who are still building their legacies) are in, or highly likely to be in, the Hall of Fame.

During that time frame, 78 players led the league in goals. That's been achieved a number of times by players who definitely won't be in the Hall (Bronco Horvath, Reggie Leach, Danny Gare, Blaine Stoughton, Charlie Simmer, Milan Hejduk, Rick Nash, Jonathan Cheechoo, Vincent Lecavalier) or probably won't be (Corey Perry, Keith Tkachuk and possibly Alexander Mogilny).

Winning the Art Ross is clearly harder - it's been done by significantly fewer players, and the players who have done so are much more likely to be HOF calibre.

EDIT - see post #33. I mis-counted the number of league leaders in goals but I think the overall point is still true.

 

[ijif]

Look at the historical record. From 1950 to 2019, only 29 players have won the Art Ross trophy. I'd say all but two of them (Kucherov and Benn - who are still building their legacies) are in, or highly likely to be in, the Hall of Fame.

During that time frame, 78 players led the league in goals. That's been achieved a number of times by players who definitely won't be in the Hall (Bronco Horvath, Reggie Leach, Danny Gare, Blaine Stoughton, Charlie Simmer, Milan Hejduk, Rick Nash, Jonathan Cheechoo, Vincent Lecavalier) or probably won't be (Corey Perry, Keith Tkachuk and possibly Alexander Mogilny).

Winning the Art Ross is clearly harder - it's been done by significantly fewer players, and the players who have done so are much more likely to be HOF calibre.

Do you have the numbers going back to the first season of the NHL?

 

[kk87]

Ask Jonathan Cheechoo

 

[Empoleon8771]

I feel like the fact that Crosby has the same amount of Rockets as Art Rosses, despite him being a much better playmaker than goal scorer, shows that the Art Ross is a lot harder to win. Even beyond that, you can win the Rocket by just scoring a ton of goals. Scoring a ton of goals alone isn't going to win you the Art Ross.

This would be the equivalent of asking if a hypothetical Gretzky award for the most assists in a season would be harder to win than the Art Ross. People overrate the Rocket IMO.

 

[Ducks in a row]

Art Ross is harder to win

 

[psycat]

So your response to a valid point is to bring up a ridiculous example that's never been done before and will never be done?

Correct me if I am wrong but didn't Gretzky, theoretically of course, win the Art Ross once or twice based on assists alone?

 

[tony d]

I think the Richard would be harder to win. You need goals to win that 1. With the Ross you need to get both goals and assists.

 

[thadd]

Rocket is way the hell harder to win unless you're Alexander Ovechkin and as long as Ovechkin is still good enough to be in the conversation for winning the Rocket it's much harder to win than the Art Ross.

 

[billcook]

As everything it depends on cotext. In vacuum Art Ross is much harder to win and Hockey Outsider demonstraded that perfectly. But it is sure as hell is not harder to win than Rocket in the last 12 years.

 

[Varan]

I think the Richard would be harder to win. You need goals to win that 1. With the Ross you need to get both goals and assists.

I think you mean the Ross is harder to win?

 

[Thenameless]

I feel this a subtle way of reigniting the Ovi vs. Crosby debate.

Of course it is.