Share the Art Ross: Gretzky
If Connor McDavid’s going to be the first NHL scoring champion wearing an Edmonton Oilers jersey in 30 years, going back to Wayne Gretzky’s second last year with the team in 1987, he can’t share it with Sidney Crosby if they end up tied in points.
In baseball, the tie goes to the runner.
In hockey, the tie goes to the player with the most goals to go with the assists. Back in Gretzky’s first kick at the can in an NHL scoring race, he found out that assists weren’t as important as goals. He tied Marcel Dionne of the Los Angeles Kings with 137 points, but Dionne had 53 goals, Gretzky 51.
“I wish they’d changed the rule after my first time. I wish it had been addressed back in 1979-80,” said Gretzky. “Not that I still worry about it, but years later, if Connor’s going to win, he can’t tie.”
As of Thursday, the sophomore Oilers star has 68 points, two up on Crosby, but the Pittsburgh Penguins captain has scored 13 more goals.
“To me, if two guys tie, you should both get your name on the trophy,” said Gretzky.
If two players end with the same number of goals at the top of the scoring race for the Maurice Richard Trophy, they share the award.
But not for the points champion and the Art Ross Trophy; it makes no sense, really.
Since 1961-62, ties at the top of the NHL scoring leaderboard have happened three times — Dionne over Gretzky in ’79-80, Bobby Hull over Andy Bathgate in ’61-62 with Hull scoring 50 goals to Bathgate’s 28, and Jaromir Jagr over Eric Lindros (32 goals to 29) in the ’94-95 lockout season. The second tiebreaker is fewest games played by the two players, the third is the player who scored the first goal of the season.
“It’s almost 40 years since I did it (Dionne vs. Gretzky) and nobody knew there would be a kid coming along like Connor, I mean, there’s no reason he can’t beat Crosby (points). He’s capable of it,“said Gretzky.
McDavid says he’s not pouring over the out-of-town scoresheets to know what Crosby’s doing in Pittsburgh or what defenceman Brent Burns, who sits in third place in the scoring race, is doing in San Jose. He claimed he didn’t know Crosby had three points against the Winnipeg Jets last week before he scored his three against the Flyers to stay ahead of Sid.
“No, all I knew was he’d got his 1,000th point; pretty neat, obviously,” said McDavid.
Gretzky isn’t so sure McDavid is that in the dark about what’s going on elsewhere.
The great ones always pay attention. It’s part of their DNA.
“I knew what every guy was doing,” said Gretzky. “I knew every stat, who they played good against. Who they struggled against. For me, that was my life. I loved it.”
Back in 1980, though, there was no social media — no Twitter or Facebook. And not every game was on TV like it is now.
“The last game of the season, Marcel was playing in LA and it wasn’t on TV,” said Gretzky.
“The Oilers had finished their schedule and Kevin (Lowe) and I were out for dinner, trying not to think about it. I knew he’d get two points to tie me. He did it in the second period I believe,” said Gretzky.
“I remember thinking ‘so close, you never know if you’ll get that chance again.’
“Kevin told me ‘don’t worry you’ll be there next year.’ ”
Nobody knows scoring races like Gretzky, of course. He won seven in a row as an Oiler after losing to Dionne in his rookie season, then three more with the Los Angeles Kings after he was traded to them in 1988.
“To win a scoring title, you need some four- and five-point nights. That jumps you in there. Maybe you’re not feeling your best, but you still kick in four points,” he said.
McDavid hasn’t had such a game this season, but he’s had eight threepoint nights, one more than Crosby. Sid’s had one four-point game: Jan. 16 in a wild 8-7 win over the Washington Capitals.
Since 2001, only Crosby, Martin St. Louis and Evgeni Malkin have won the Art Ross more than once (twice each).
“It would be great for the organization if Connor won the scoring or the Hart Trophy I go back to what Glen (Sather) always said at training camps. He’d tell us ‘look, I want to win the Stanley Cup, but I want to win the Conn Smythe, the Norris, the Hart, the Art Ross. He always thought they were team awards, not individual,” said Gretzky.
“For one of us to get our name on the scoring, the MVP, the best defenceman, that was something Glen said the whole team should relish. One guy can’t do it. You really do need all 20 guys in hockey, everybody’s part of it.”