Quirky NHL Award Voting Results



A few days ago, www.hockey-reference.com added some cool data to the site. They now have voting results for NHL awards dating back to the 1920's. A look through the numbers turns up a few strange looking results over the years. A few of the stranger ones are below:

1929/30 Lionel Hitchman 2nd in Hart Trophy (94 votes)
Boston defenceman Hitchman finished a mere 7 votes behind Hart Trophy winner Nels Stewart and 15 votes ahead of third place finisher and teammate Cooney Weiland. Stewart notched 39 goals, Weiland 43 goals. Hitchman tallied 2 goals, 7 assists for 9 points in 39 games yet inexplicably garnered 17 votes more than fourth place King Clancy who had 17 goals and 23 assists. Somehow, Howie Morenz and his 40 goals placed only seventh in Hart Trophy voting that season.

1938/39  Earl Robinson 28 Hart votes
1939/40 Earl Robinson 21 Hart votes
In 38/39 Chicago Right Winger Robinson scored 9 goals, 6 assists in 47 games and finished 4th in Hart Trophy voting. The following season he was traded to the Canadiens and played only 11 games collecting 1 goal and 5 points. Even still, Robinson finished 5th in Hart voting behind Ebbie Goodfellow, Syl Apps, Dit Clapper and Milt Schmidt.

1955/56 Johnny Wilson 10 Hart votes 
This season Chicago Left Winger Wilson had his top goal scoring season with 24 in 70 games to go with 9 assists. His 10 votes for Hart Trophy were more than either  Gordie Howe, Andy Bathgate, Maurice Richard or Ted Lindsay received.

1976/77 Jim Watson Retired 5 votes for All-Star defenceman
1974/75 Jim Watson Retired 6 votes for All-Star defenceman
This one may be a mistake. Jim Watson was a defenceman for Detroit and Buffalo before jumping to the WHA in 1972, he retired after the 1975/76 season. Even still, he is listed as gaining 6 votes as NHL All-Star defenceman in 74/75 although he was a member of the Chicago Cougars in the WHA. Two years later while retired, he got 5 votes for All-Star again. What likely happened here, is either the database or the voters meant to refer to Joe Watson of the Flyers. He also received votes in each of these two seasons.

1984/85 Brian Sutter 1 first place Hart Trophy vote
Wayne Gretzky received 60 of 63 first place votes for the Hart, Dale Hawerchuk and Rod Langway each got one vote. The third guy to get a first place vote was St.Louis Blues, Brian Sutter. In 84/85, Sutter had 37 goals and 74 points and although I'm sure he was extremely valuable to the Blues I'm not sure he should have a first place Hart vote especially when guys like Marcel Dionne, Mike Bossy, Ray Bourque and Pelle Lindbergh got none.

1984/85 Mike McPhee 1 first place Calder Trophy vote
Also in 84/85, Mario Lemieux was the runaway Calder Trophy winner beating Chris Chelios by 53 first place votes to 5. Others getting first place nods were Steve Penney (2), Kirk Muller, Tomas Sandstrom as well as Montreal Canadien Mike McPhee. This was McPhee's only vote of any kind but somehow his 17 goals and 54 points were considered better than Mario's 43 goals and 100 points.


1985/86 Bengt Gustafsson 1 first place All-Star Centre vote
The following year, Wayne Gretzky's record 215 points earned him 57 of 60 first place votes for All-Star Centre. The others went to Mario Lemieux with a pair and a single vote to...Washington's Bengt Gustafsson. Apparently one reporter from Washington thought Gustafsson was more deserving of First All-Star centre than Gretzky who had exactly THREE times the number of points.

2006/07 Marcel Hossa 3rd place All-Star vote
This one may be another voting mistake as Marcel Hossa had 10 goals and 18 points while his brother Marian had 100 points this season. Marian collected 20 first place votes, 26 seconds and 43 third place for Right Wing, he also accidentally got his brother a vote.



Comments

Anonymous said…
The Jim Watson who received all-star votes in 1974-75 and 1975-76 was Joe Watson's brother, who also played for the Flyers.
April 28, 2014 at 3:01 PM
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