tazzy19
Registered User
- Mar 27, 2008
- 2,268
- 115
How the NHL decided on the 1979/80 Art Ross Trophy as NHL scoring leader in Gretzky's rookie year has always baffled me (yes, I said "rookie year"...more on this later). They used Dionne's edge in goals (53 to 51) as a tie breaker, which made no sense whatsoever since a goal and an assist are both worth 1 point. They have equal value. They could just as easily have said, "let's use assists as a tie breaker," as neither one makes any sense (but it would have made no sense on a completely equal level). They should have used points per game as a tie breaker (obviously), which would have given the Art Ross to Gretzky -- giving him the Art Ross 11 times out of a possible 20 years (55% of his career), and 8 in a row. If I was Dionne, I'd give Gretzky my Art Ross from 79/80....but I'm not Dionne.
Also very strange how they didn't give the Calder to Gretzky on the basis he played for a "professional" league prior to the NHL (the WHA), when they did give the Calder to Makarov (at age 30), after he literally played for years in a professional league. It also didn't make sense because he wasn't eligible to win the Calder (an NHL award) while playing for the WHA. It's like the matrix tricked the rest of us in the known universe into believing this kid came out of nowhere for the first time ever playing in the NHL without ever being a rookie. Poof, magic, here he is....now pretend that he was always here! And let's take away his scoring title too! Riggghht. Again, made no sense whatsoever. Gretzky got screwed over [MOD] in both cases. This would have given Gretzky the rookie scoring record had he been eligible for the Calder and, I believe, would have been the first and only time a player has won all 3 of these awards in one season -- the Hart, The Calder, and the Art Ross.
End of rant.
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