Calder Memorial Trophy

Lore & Background

The Calder Memorial Trophy is named in honour of Frank Calder, the former president of the National Hockey League (NHL) from its inception in 1917 to his death in 1943. Although Rookie of the Year honors were handed out beginning in 1932–33, the Calder Trophy was first presented at the conclusion of the 1936–37 season. Calder himself purchased a trophy each year to award to the winner. After Calder's death in 1943 a permanent trophy was cast, and it was renamed the Calder Memorial Trophy. The trophy has been won the most times by rookies from the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have won it on ten occasions, with the most recent being Auston Matthews in 2017. The second-most is the Chicago Blackhawks with nine wins.

In Their Own Story

The ice at the Spectrum is still wet from the warm-up when the arena lights dim to a low amber. A kid in a Flyers warm-up jacket sits on the bench, chin in his hands, watching the Zamboni carve fresh lines into the surface. The crowd is a low hum, three thousand strong on a Tuesday in November, 1969. The coach taps the glass. "You're next, kid." The kid—Bobby, though nobody calls him that yet—pulls his skates on and laces them tight. He skates out to the centre ice, the puck already waiting, and the first shift of his career begins with the sound of a thousand sticks tapping the boards in unison. He does not know yet that this season will put his name on a trophy, that the trophy will outlast the arena, that the city will build a cathedral of memory around a single rookie's first hundred games. He only knows the ice is cold, the puck is black, and the jersey is red.

Reader's Guide

When the award was established in 1937, there were no requirements beyond that the winner be in his first year of competition in the NHL, and the winner was decided by League President Frank Calder himself. Currently, the eligibility requirements are that a player cannot have played more than 25 regular season games in any single preceding season, nor in six or more games in each of any two preceding regular seasons, in any major professional league. The last requirement was implemented in 1979 to block Wayne Gretzky from winning the award. After the Calder win of 31-year-old Sergei Makarov in 1991, the rules were further amended to require that winners be 26 years of age or younger. The limitation is for regular season games only, exempting games played in the playoffs. Since the 1947–48 season, the voting is conducted at the end of the regular season by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, and each individual voter ranks their top five candidates on a 10–7–5–3–1 points system. Three finalists are named and the trophy is awarded at the NHL Awards ceremony after the playoffs.

Did You Know?

• The Calder Memorial Trophy was first presented at the conclusion of the 1936–37 season, not 1945–46.
• Frank Calder himself purchased a trophy each year to award to the winner until his death in 1943.
• Ken Dryden won the Calder in 1972 despite leading the Montreal Canadiens to a Stanley Cup victory the season before and winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.