Harder Trophy to win: Art Ross or Rocket Richard?

[Thenameless]

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.

The thread should have stopped with this beautiful post.

 

[daver]

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?

This doesn't make the Rocket harder to win or the Ross easier to win. There are still a certain number of assists attributed to goals scored regardless of league GPG.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

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

I don't have the full stats but looking at the listings, I see just one Art Ross winner (or points leader for the years that pre-dated the trophy) before 1950 who isn't in the Hall of Fame - Herb Cain won the Art Ross in 1944, but it deserves an asterisk, as most of NHL's players were serving in the military.

Three non-HOFers led the NHL in goals before 1950 - Gaye Stewart, Larry Aurie (tied), and Bill Thoms (tied).

 

[Varan]

This doesn't make the Rocket harder to win or the Ross easier to win. There are still a certain number of assists attributed to goals scored regardless of league GPG.

I agree, but the Rocket only focuses on 1 dimension: goals. And the average GPG of this era compared to eras past is significantly lower. So focusing on just 1 aspect, it does make it a bit harder to win.

 

[daver]

I agree, but the Rocket only focuses on 1 dimension: goals. And the average GPG of this era compared to eras past is significantly lower. So focusing on just 1 aspect, it does make it a bit harder to win.

Assists would be significantly lower too since they are directly connected to the goals being scored.

 

[Varan]

Assists would be significantly lower too since they are directly connected to the goals being scored.

I agree. In this era, it's much harder to win either. I agree with the AR being harder tho

 

[BackToTheBasics]

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.

Unless I misunderstood, I counted only 34 different players who've lead the league in goals since 1950...

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Unless I misunderstood, I counted only 34 different players who've lead the league in goals since 1950...

Good catch - thanks for fact checking. I must have combined the data from two different time periods. I just re-counted and it's 35 players who have led the NHL in goals since 1950 (you counted 34 - so we're off by 1). Even if it's only 34, that's still more than the number of Art Ross winners, but obviously by a smaller margin.

 

[BackToTheBasics]

Looking at the number of Art Ross winners from the last 17 years, it stands out from any other era. No player has managed to lead the league in points more than twice. McDavid could accomplish this very soon but it's not a sure thing. In every other era, there has always been at least one player who dominated the Art Ross but not in this era. Recent history is more relevant if the question is about the present. Historically, it seems like the Art Ross has been the harder trophy to win.

Some arguments that people throw around are that it is harder to stand out in this era while others consider this era to be weak for high end forwards. Likewise for the Rocket Richard trophy. It's been dominated by the same player for the last decade and many people will point towards the inferior level of goal scorers in this era.

I feel like the answer to the OP is dependent on which era we're talking about. Recently, the Rocket has been the tougher award to win but in other eras such as the 80's and 90's, the Art Ross was the harder trophy to win.