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Lindsay/Pearson Finalists for every season

So nobody knows when Pearson award finalists were first named? I found a couple of short clips of old award shows from the 90's on youtube, but I didn't see the Pearson awarded in any of them. Does anyone have access to something like the Hockey News All Access Pass? I would imagine there would be award finalists listed in old issues of those magazines.
 
Yes, the infamous 1981 and 1986 Pearson awards... I guess it's a good thing the active players don't choose the major award winners!

Now, onto another topic -- people, a little love for Phil Esposito...???

We probably don't have to go into these extremes of "Orr was the greatest and Espo was made by him". That's just wrong, and insulting to one of the game's all-time greatest scorers.

Two things to consider:

1) 1968-69 -- Espo puts up 126 points in the sixties (= unheard of), while Orr puts up 64. Great season for young Orr, but Espo outscores him by a 2:1 ratio, so obviously he was doing a lot by himself.
2) Seven goals (13 points) in eight games in the '72 Summit Series without Orr. All the Soviets said Phil was Canada's best player.

Now back on topic...
 
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Stupid Boolean search! It didn't mention "Hart" so I thought it was good when I read Pearson.
 
The 1997-98 Pearson nominees were listed in the Player Intangibles thread. I found them in the Winnipeg Free Press on LexisNexis last year.

The Winnipeg Free Press said:
Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres leads the list of nominees for the annual Lester B. Pearson award, as presented by the NHL's Players' Association. Wayne Gretzky of the New York Rangers, Pavel Bure of the Vancouver Canucks, Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Teemu Selanne of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks were also nominated. The MVP award, as voted on by the players themselves, will be presented tomorrow afternoon at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
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EDIT:

This is for 1997. Only three were named that year: Hasek, Kariya, and Lemieux.

Winnipeg Free Press said:
Pittsburgh centre Mario Lemieux and Anaheim winger Paul Kariya were the other finalists for both the Hart and Pearson awards.
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quoipourquoi said:
The 1997-98 Pearson nominees were listed in the Player Intangibles thread. I found them in the Winnipeg Free Press on LexisNexis last year.



EDIT:

This is for 1997. Only three were named that year: Hasek, Kariya, and Lemieux.
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Added to OP, great find. Kind of annoying that they did 5 finalists in some years, makes it a little harder to compare finalist positions for players over the years.
 
Beau Knows said:
I pulled up this thread from 2006 a search of the forums: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=271488&highlight=pearson+finalists

It didn't have a list of finalists by season past 1999. Can these can be found somewhere or did the NHLPA not release the finalists until around 1999? Is it possible to compile a more comprehensive list than this one from the thread:

YEAR WINNER (Runners-up, no order unless votes included)
------------------
2014 Crosby (Giroux, Getzlaf)
2013 Crosby (Ovechkin, St. Louis)
2012 Malkin (Stamkos, Lundqvist)
2011 D Sedin (Stamkos, Perry)
2010 Ovechkin (Crosby, H Sedin)
2009 Ovechkin (Malkin, Datsyuk)
2008 Ovechkin (Iginla, Malkin)
2007 Crosby (Luongo, Lecavalier)
----------------------------------
2006 Jaromir Jagr (Ovechkin, Thornton)
2004 Martin St. Louis (Luongo, Sakic)
2003 Markus Naslund (Forsberg, Thornton)
2002 Jarome Iginla (Burke, Roy)
2001 Joe Sakic (Jagr, Lemieux)
2000 Jaromir Jagr 192 (Bure 159, Pronger 129)
1999 Jaromir Jagr (Hasek, Yashin, Joseph, Selanne)
1998 Dominik Hasek (Gretzky, Bure, Jagr, Selanne)
1997 Dominik Hasek (Lemieux, Kariya)
1996 Mario Lemieux
1995 Eric Lindros
1994 Sergei Fedorov
1993 Mario Lemieux
1992 Mark Messier
1991 Brett Hull
1990 Mark Messier
1989 Steve Yzerman
1988 Mario Lemieux
1987 Wayne Gretzky
1986 Mario Lemieux 137 (Gretzky 107, Coffey, Robinson)
1985 Wayne Gretzky
1984 Wayne Gretzky
1983 Wayne Gretzky
1982 Wayne Gretzky
1981 Mike Liut
1980 Marcel Dionne
1979 Marcel Dionne
1978 Guy Lafleur
1977 Guy Lafleur
1976 Guy Lafleur
1975 Bobby Orr
1974 Bobby Clarke
1973 Phil Esposito
1972 Jean Ratelle
1971 Phil Esposito

Edit: Added the years since 2006 to the list
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Adding finalists since 2015

2020 ??? (Draisaitl, MacKinnon, Panarin )
2019 Kucherov (Kane, McDavid)
2018 McDavid (Hall, MacKinnon)
2017 McDavid (Burns, Crosby)
2016 Kane (Benn, Holtby)
2015 Price (Benn, Ovechkin)
 
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As I always point out when one of these "Lindsay / Pearson" threads come up: Back in the 1980s / early 1990s -- and, I assume (could be wrong) prior -- the Lindsay award was a very small thing. Like, basically nobody cared about it, including the fans and media (and, presumably, players). It was never presented on NHL Awards night because it was an NHLPA thing, and the League didn't acknowledge the NHLPA's existence back then. I do remember seeing it mentioned in local newspapers, but it would be kind of an afterthought at the end of the article on NHL awards.

It just seemed nobody took it very seriously back then, which I think explains some of the odder choices. It's more of a big deal now, and the League obviously recognizes it on awards night and so on.
 
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The Panther said:
As I always point out when one of these "Lindsay / Pearson" threads come up: Back in the 1980s / early 1990s -- and, I assume (could be wrong) prior -- the Lindsay award was a very small thing. Like, basically nobody cared about it, including the fans and media (and, presumably, players). It was never presented on NHL Awards night because it was an NHLPA thing, and the League didn't acknowledge the NHLPA's existence back then. I do remember seeing it mentioned in local newspapers, but it would be kind of an afterthought at the end of the article on NHL awards.

It just seemed nobody took it very seriously back then, which I think explains some of the odder choices. It's more of a big deal now, and the League obviously recognizes it on awards night and so on.
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Also it either had a different definition before the mid-1980s (contribution to hockey) which would explain why the choices tightened up going into the 1990s, or people in the media simply confused its meaning for that of the Lester Patrick when reporting on it.
 
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Here's some other known finalists for years that aren't mentioned yet:

1990-91
Brett Hull won with 294 votes. Wayne Gretzky came second and Ed Belfour third in voting. Their vote totals were unannounced.

1988-89
Steve Yzerman won while Mario Lemieux came second and Wayne Gretzky third in voting. No vote totals announced.

1987-88
Mario Lemieux won with 182 votes. Wayne Gretzky came second with 56 votes and Steve Yzerman came third with 45 votes.

1986-87
Wayne Gretzky won with 254 votes. Ray Bourque came in second with 60. No info on who came in third (Mario Lemieux would be a good guess though).

1985-86
Mario Lemieux won with 136 votes. Wayne Gretzky came in second with 107 votes. Paul Coffey was third and Larry Robinson was fourth but their vote totals were unannounced.

1984-85
Wayne Gretzky won while Mike Bossy came second and Jari Kurri third in voting. Vote totals were unannounced.

1981-82
Wayne Gretzky won while Bryan Trottier came second, Rick Middleton third and Dennis Maruk fourth in voting. Vote totals were unannounced.

1979-80
Marcel Dionne won with 147 votes. Wayne Gretzky came in second with 114 votes while Tony Esposito and Guy Lafleur shared third place with 35 votes each.

1977-78
Guy Lafleur won while Bryan Trottier came in second. No info on who came in third.

1976-77
Guy Lafleur won with 138 votes. Marcel Dionne came in second with 111 votes, Börje Salming third with 43 votes and Larry Robinson fourth with 35 votes.

1970-71
Phil Esposito won while Bobby Orr came second.
 
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quoipourquoi said:
Also it either had a different definition before the mid-1980s (contribution to hockey) which would explain why the choices tightened up going into the 1990s, or people in the media simply confused its meaning for that of the Lester Patrick when reporting on it.
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It sure is curious case with its definition. Here are newspaper articles from when the award was first announced and when Phil Esposito became first one to win it:

The Ottawa Journal (March 12, 1971)

A new hockey award, given by the players of the National Hockey League to one of their member, will be presented for the first time this summer, it was announced Thursday. The Lester B. Pearson Award, named for Canada's former prime minister, will go to the NHL player who contributed most to hockey in 1970-71, said R. Alan Eagleson, executive director of the league's Players' Association. Pearson, a well-known hockey fan, now serves as a director of the' Players' Association. ' Eagleson said members of the Association would make the selection in a closed ballot and the result would be known at the conclusion of the Association's golf tournament here June 24-27. The award will be in the form of a plaque.
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The Boston Globe (March 13, 1971)

The National Hockey League Players' Assn. has announced the creation of the new Lester B. Pearson Award to be given to the man considered to be the outstanding player of the year. It's named in honor of the Rt. Honorable Lester B. Pearson,, former Prime Minister of Canada.
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The Ottawa Journal (June 25, 1971)

Phil Esposito, star centre of the Boston Bruins, was presented late Thursday with the Lester B. Pearson Award, given annually to the National Hockey League's most valuable player chosen by his peers. "This is one of the greatest individual thrills I've ever had since it is voted on by my fellow players in the league," Esposito said after accepting the award from former Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, after whom the trophy is named. Esposito said he did not resent not winning this year's NHL's most valuable player award the Hart Trophy despite having scored a record 76 goals in 78 games. "I talked this thing over with Bobby (Orr) and we came to the same conclusion although the Hart is an individual thing its significance is more or less a team thing. "Bobby deserves it and being second to Bobby Orr is no shame," he said.
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The Ottawa Citizen (June 25, 1971)

Phil Esposito, record-breaking scoring centre with Boston Bruins, was named Tuesday the first winner of the Lester B. Pearson Trophy, awarded to the most valuable player in the National Hockey League selected by the players. Pearson, former Canadian prime minister, made the presentation himself at a dinner attended by 60 NHL players here to take part in their annual golf tournament which starts today. "It must be a great honor to be chosen by your peers," Pearson told Esposito as he presented the trophy. The rangy Bruins star last year scored a record 76 goals and 152 points in regular-season play.
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Edmonton Journal (June 26, 1971)

Phil Esposito, record-breaking centre for Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League, says he has heard reports that the Bruins have been offered $2 million for his services. Here to receive the first Lester B. Pearson Trophy as the NHL players' choice as the most valuable player in the league, Esposito said Thursday night: "Yeah, I've heard about the offer, all right. Maybe it's only a rumor, but I keep hearing about it." League president Clarence Campbell said there are "three teams that would buy Esposito: Toronto, New York and Chicago, for example." Campbell said he felt sorry for the Adams family, owners of the Bruins, because they can't afford to pay the salaries their type of team demands. He suggested the Bruins would have to "raise their ticket prices, get somebody to erect a new building or else sell off some of their super plavers." Defenceman Bobby Orr is in late stages of negotiating a contract reportedly worth $1 million over five years. Esposito also is asking sizeable, long-term security. The Bruins operate in one of the league's smallest arenas, only recently enlarged to 14,994 capacity. It is located in a rundown neighborhood. Bruins have payroll problems beyond Orr and Esposito. Johnny Bucyk scored 51 goals last season and Ken Hodge got 43. Each had more than 100 points and all four made the first all-star team. In Boston, the Bruins issued a statement that the club "has no intention of making changes in the playing-roster at the present time." "If any changes are "made in future, they will be made to strengthen the team and most certainly not for financial consideration."
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So two different newspapers give different definitions for the award already when the award just announced by the NHLPA, and then when the winner is announced it's being referenced by yet another definition.

The contribution to the game of hockey seemed to be mostly used definition up until mid-80's, but atleast from 1985 onwards it seems to be referenced commonly as going to the most outstanding player.
 
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Here's a comparison of the Hart and Pearson (Lindsay) finalists over the past twenty seasons:
  • 2020 - identical
  • 2019 - Crosby was a Hart finalist, Kane was a Pearson finalist
  • 2018 - Kopitar was a Hart finalist, McDavid was a Pearson finalist
  • 2017 - Bobrovsky was a Hart finalist, Burns was a Pearson finalist
  • 2016 - Crosby has a Hart finalist, Holtby was a Pearson finalist
  • 2015 - Tavares was a Hart finalist, Benn was a Pearson finalist
  • 2014 - identical
  • 2013 - Tavares was a Hart finalist, St. Louis was a Pearson finalist
  • 2012 - identical
  • 2011 - St. Louis was a Hart finalist, Stamkos was a Pearson finalist
  • 2010 - identical
  • 2009 - identical
  • 2008 - identical
  • 2007 - Brodeur was a Hart finalist, Lecavalier was a Pearson finalist
  • 2006 - Kiprussof was a Hart finalist, Ovechkin was a Pearson finalist
  • 2004 - Iginla and Brodeur were Hart finalists, Luongo and Sakic were Pearson finalists
  • 2003 - Brodeur was a Hart finalist, Thornton was a Pearson finalist
  • 2002 - Theodore was a Hart finalist, Bukre was a Pearson finalist
  • 2001 - identical
  • 2000 - identical
Eight times, the finalists were identical. Eleven times, two players were nominated for both. And once, they only had one player in common (2004).

Brodeur was a finalist for the Hart three times in seasons where he wasn't a finalist for the Pearson (2003, 2004 and 2007). Two players were Hart finalists twice in years where they weren't a Pearson finalist - Crosby (2016 and 2019) and Tavares (2013 and 2015). No player has had the opposite happen more than once - that is, no players have had multiple Pearson nominations in years they weren't nominated for the Hart.

Only once did a player win the Hart, while not being a finalist for the Pearson - Theodore in 2002.

Only once did a player win the Pearson, while not being a finalist for the Hart - McDavid in 2018. You'd have to think this is due to the Hart's strong bias against players on non-playoff teams. (This holds true in other years - see Luongo in 2004, St. Louis in 2013, and Benn in 2015 - presumably players understand that one man shouldn't be faulted for a team missing the playoffs).
 
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Does anyone have the finalists for the years between 1992 and 1996? If so, we'd have a continuous list going back to 1977.

(EDIT - looks like we're also missing 1981, 1983, 1984, and 1990).
 
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Hockey Outsider said:
Does anyone have the finalists for the years between 1992 and 1996? If so, we'd have a continuous list going back to 1977.

(EDIT - looks like we're also missing 1981, 1983, 1984, and 1990).
Click to expand...

It don't seem like any info on those years exist. Atleast I wasn't able to find anything on those years (other than 1981 when Gretzky lost to Liut, so Gretzky was second in voting) when I looked for it last year. Newspaper articles only provided Hart results and only winner for Pearson, nothing more.

Maybe that info is out there on some HockeyNews yearbook or some other publication but it's not easily available and don't seem to be available on any (free) online source. Would be nice to have complete list of finalists though.
 
Vujtek said:
It don't seem like any info on those years exist. Atleast I wasn't able to find anything on those years (other than 1981 when Gretzky lost to Liut, so Gretzky was second in voting) when I looked for it last year. Newspaper articles only provided Hart results and only winner for Pearson, nothing more.

Maybe that info is out there on some HockeyNews yearbook or some other publication but it's not easily available and don't seem to be available on any (free) online source. Would be nice to have complete list of finalists though.
Click to expand...

I reached out to the NHLPA and told them I was willing to pay for this information, but never heard back.
 
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Hockey Outsider said:
Here's a comparison of the Hart and Pearson (Lindsay) finalists over the past twenty seasons:
  • 2020 - identical
  • 2019 - Crosby was a Hart finalist, Kane was a Pearson finalist
  • 2018 - Kopitar was a Hart finalist, McDavid was a Pearson finalist
  • 2017 - Bobrovsky was a Hart finalist, Burns was a Pearson finalist
  • 2016 - Crosby has a Hart finalist, Holtby was a Pearson finalist
  • 2015 - Tavares was a Hart finalist, Benn was a Pearson finalist
  • 2014 - identical
  • 2013 - Tavares was a Hart finalist, St. Louis was a Pearson finalist
  • 2012 - identical
  • 2011 - St. Louis was a Hart finalist, Stamkos was a Pearson finalist
  • 2010 - identical
  • 2009 - identical
  • 2008 - identical
  • 2007 - Brodeur was a Hart finalist, Lecavalier was a Pearson finalist
  • 2006 - Kiprussof was a Hart finalist, Ovechkin was a Pearson finalist
  • 2004 - Iginla and Brodeur were Hart finalists, Luongo and Sakic were Pearson finalists
  • 2003 - Brodeur was a Hart finalist, Thornton was a Pearson finalist
  • 2002 - Theodore was a Hart finalist, Bukre was a Pearson finalist
  • 2001 - identical
  • 2000 - identical
Eight times, the finalists were identical. Eleven times, two players were nominated for both. And once, they only had one player in common (2004).

Brodeur was a finalist for the Hart three times in seasons where he wasn't a finalist for the Pearson (2003, 2004 and 2007). Two players were Hart finalists twice in years where they weren't a Pearson finalist - Crosby (2016 and 2019) and Tavares (2013 and 2015). No player has had the opposite happen more than once - that is, no players have had multiple Pearson nominations in years they weren't nominated for the Hart.

Only once did a player win the Hart, while not being a finalist for the Pearson - Theodore in 2002.

Only once did a player win the Pearson, while not being a finalist for the Hart - McDavid in 2018. You'd have to think this is due to the Hart's strong bias against players on non-playoff teams. (This holds true in other years - see Luongo in 2004, St. Louis in 2013, and Benn in 2015 - presumably players understand that one man shouldn't be faulted for a team missing the playoffs).
Click to expand...
To update this thread:
  • 2021 - Crosby was a Lindsay finalist, MacKinnon was a Hart finalist
  • 2022 - Josi was a Lindsay finalist, Shesterkin was a Hart finalist
For the years where we have a complete list of finalists (1997 to 2022), I think these are the only players with 3+ years as a winner/finalist (during that period):
  • McDavid now has three wins (2017, 2018 and 2021), and was also a finalist twice (2019 and 2022). He's one season away from matching Ovechkin and Crosby's career record, at age 25.
  • Ovechkin has three wins (2008, 2009 and 2010) and was a finalist three times (2006, 2013, 2015).
  • Crosby has three wins (2007, 2013, 2014) and was a finalist three times (2010, 2017, 2021).
  • Jagr has three wins (1999, 2000, 2006) and was a finalist twice (1998, 2001). I suspect he was also a finalist in 1995, but we don't have the data.
  • Hasek has two wins (1997, 1998) and was a finalist once (1999). He might have been a finalist in 1994 and/or 1995, but we don't have the data.
  • Malkin has one win (2012) and was a finalist twice (2008, 2009).
 
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