Calder Memorial Trophy

The Calder Memorial Trophy is awarded annually “to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League.” First presented in 1933, the trophy is named for Frank Calder, who was president of the NHL from 1917 to 1943. The winner is chosen through a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association at the end of the regular season and is awarded after the Stanley Cup playoffs. Players who have won the trophy and gone on to stardom include Terry Sawchuk, Bobby Orr, Ken Dryden, Ray Bourque, Mario Lemieux and Martin Brodeur.

Calder Trophy History

In 1933, Carl Voss was named top rookie in the NHL, becoming the first player to receive that honour. However, there was no trophy for rookies until the 1936–37 season, when NHL president Frank Calder presented one to Syl Apps.

“Syl Apps Voted Season’s Outstanding Rookie”

Syl Apps of Toronto Maple Leafs, ready for his first taste of playoff fire, became officially the best rookie of the National Hockey League season last night with announcement by the Canadian Press that the Paris, Ont., boy headed its annual poll of hockey writers in N.H.L. cities.

Apps, 21-year-old centre and former Olympic pole vaulter, will be the first holder of the Calder trophy, an award offered by President Frank Calder of the N.H.L. for the best newcomer of each season. Selection of the Toronto sensation was almost unanimous.

Outstanding star of Hamilton’s senior amateur team a year ago, Apps was signed by Manager Conny Smythe of the Leafs after the big McMaster University graduate returned from Berlin where he tied for sixth place in the Olympic games pole vault last summer. In his first professional hockey season he was the league’s second highest point-maker.

(The Globe and Mail, 23 March 1937, p. 19)

Between 1937 and 1943, Calder purchased a trophy each year to be given to the top rookie. After his death in February 1943, the award was renamed the Calder Memorial Trophy.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the Calder Memorial Trophy, a player cannot have previously played more than 25 regular season games in any preceding season in a major professional league. They also cannot have played in six or more games in each of any two preceding seasons. These eligibility rules affected the awarding of the trophy for the 1979–80 season, when Wayne Gretzky would have seemed an obvious choice for the Calder Memorial Trophy. In his rookie season in the NHL, Gretzky scored 137 points and tied Marcel Dionne as points leader. This far surpassed the previous rookie record of 95 points, set by Calder winner Bryan Trottier in 1975–76. However, Gretzky was not eligible for the award, because he had played a full season in the World Hockey Association in 1978–79. Instead, Ray Bourque received the Calder Memorial Trophy in 1980, even though he had scored only 65 points that season.

Age also affects eligibility. Players must be no more than 26 years old by 15 September of their rookie season to be eligible for the trophy. This rule came into effect in the 1990–91 season. The previous year, Sergei Makarov of the Calgary Flames won the trophy at 31 years of age. He is the oldest player ever to win the Calder Memorial Trophy.