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 Sports betting fans have come to love wagering on the hardware showcased at the NHL awards each June. One of the greatest awards to bet upon is the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy. The Calder Memorial is a trophy given out to the league’s top freshman for their outstanding play. In the middle of the decade, the NHL and sportsbooks alike had their hands full as many betting online fans and league executives could not determine who to pick for the Calder Trophy.
In the 2005 to 2006 season, after losing a year due to the lockout, the NHL immediately regained a ton of fans with the debuts of both Sidney Crosby the 2005 entry draft first overall selection, and the 2004 first overall pick, Alexander Ovechkin. As a result of the lockout the year prior, both rookies who essentially had MVP caliber years were in a heated battle for the league’s Calder Memorial Trophy. Ultimately it would go to Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. Thus far in their illustrious careers, the Calder Memorial is the one trophy that Ovechkin has and Crosby does not. Conversely, Crosby has a Stanley Cup ring while Ovechkin is still waiting for his. The Calder Memorial Trophy was first given out to the top player in their first year, during the 1936 to 1937 season. Prior to the 36 to 37 season, rookie of the year honors were handed out starting in the 32 to 33 season. The Calder Memorial is named after legendary NHL president Frank Calder, who ran the league from its creation in 1917 to his death in 1943. Although the Calder Trophy was initially awarded in 1936 to 1937, the award was not officially named the Calder Memorial until after Frank Calder passed in 1943. |
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 Since 1974 NHL Coaches have had more to look forward to on an individual basis then simply winning the Stanley Cup. In 1974, the Jack Adams award was created in honour of legendary Detroit Red Wings coach Jack Adams. As many hockey betting fans know, the Jack Adams award is given to the coach that impacts his team’s results the most. This last season Dave Tippett from the Phoenix Coyotes won the award after guiding his club to a playoff berth no sports wagering site could have anticipated.
Throughout its tenure as a trophy for the league’s best coach, the Jack Adams award has been won on multiple occasions by some of the best in the business. For instance, the only three time winner of the award was legendary Montreal Canadians, Toronto Maple Leafs Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils coach Pat Burns. Jacque Demers is the only coach to ever win the Jack Adams in back to back seasons. Meanwhile in a rather intriguing feat, Jacque Lemaire, Pat Quinn and Scotty Bowman are the only three coaches to ever win the award on multiple occasions with multiple teams. Lemaire did so with the 1993 to 1994 Devils and 2002 to 2003 Wild. Quinn accomplished the feat with the Vancouver Canucks and Philadelphia Flyers, and Bowman did so with the Canadians and Red Wings. Normally in the Jack Adams voting process, one coach wins by a landslide such as Tippett this past season. However in 2005 to 2006 season, Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff became the second Sabres coach to ever win the Jack Adams award, edging out Peter Laviolette by a single vote. Bill Barber in 2000 to 2001 and Bruce Boudreau in 2007 to 2008 are the only two coaches to ever win the award after being named a replacement coach. |
 NHL fans betting on their favorite team have been rooting for a Stanley Cup victory in the NHL since 1926. Prior to becoming the grandest prize for the NHL, fans betting on the victor of the Stanley Cup had a wide variety of leagues to cheer and choose from when determining a champion. Before becoming sole property of the NHL in 1926, the Stanley Cup was commonly known as the Challenge Cup. Although being donated by the 1892 Governor General of Canada, Lord Stanley of Preston, the Cup did not actually receive the Stanley Cup name until 21 years after the NHL became its sole proprietor, in 1947.
The first known Stanley Cup was awarded in the 1894 to 1895 season as the Montreal Hockey Club, defeated the Ottawa Generals three to one in the championship game. From that season to 1918, the Stanley Cup was awarded each year to the winner of the challenge cup series. The challenge cup series was played amongst the champions of different leagues including teams from the NHL. However in 1919 the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL and the Seattle Metropolitans had to cancel their series because of an outbreak of Spanish Flu. Prior to folding the 1924-25 Victoria Cougars of the WHL were the last non-NHL franchise to win the Stanley Cup, as they had defeated the Montreal Canadiens. Before expanding to 12 teams in 1967, the Stanley Cup was fought over by the original six NHL franchises, the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs. Each of the six teams was made up of the best players in the world, which at the time was dominated by American and Canadiens. Of the Six teams, the two Canadian franchises, Toronto and Montreal won the most Stanley Cups, with Detroit winning the third most, while Chicago and Boston were each the two poorest teams. |
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 Since 1933, the NHL has had an awards ceremony for the league’s best players. One such award that betting fans have enjoyed wagering on is the Calder Memorial Trophy. The Calder Memorial Trophy was named after founding NHL Commissioner Frank Calder who ran the NHL from 1917 to 1943. Sports betting fans have come to know the Calder Memorial Trophy as the honour given to the league’s best player in their first year.
The first ever Calder Memorial winner was Carl Voss in 1933. However, the first ever winner to receive the trophy was Syl Apps during the 1936 to 1937 NHL season. Voting on the Calder Memorial Trophy is done by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. The PHWA also does the voting for the other trophies awarded each June after the Stanley Cup final concludes.
Throughout the history of the NHL, some of the league’s greatest players have gone on from winning the Calder to winning the Stanley Cup and other great trophies the NHL has to offer. In the 1990 season, Sergei Makarov of the Calgary Flames won the Calder Memorial Trophy although he was 31 at the time. A few years later, the rules changed to make the Calder a trophy for players 26 and younger.
Another stipulation for the Calder Memorial Trophy is that regardless of if you are between 18 and 26 years of age, you must not have played a maximum of 25 games in the NHL in the season prior to your rookie season. What has been the case in years past, is a player could participate in more than 25 games in the year prior and still be considered a rookie. As well prior to the 1980s, the rules stipulated, that a player couldn’t have participated in six or more games in any professional league.
This last stipulation came under criticism in the 1979-1980 season as Wayne Gretzky a member of the Edmonton Oilers, had scored 137 points in the WHA the year prior to his rookie season in the NHL. Since the WHA was the NHL’s competition, Gretzky was seen as violating the six or more games rule. |
 Live from Los Angeles, California at the Staples Center home of the Los Angeles Kings from June 25th to June 26th as the NHL holds its 47th Entry draft. One of the biggest appeals to draft day for hockey fans is betting and predicting who will be the first overall selection. Annually fans betting on the first overall witness both future hall of famers and complete busts being picked first overall. Over the last decade many NHL clubs have selected first overall, but perhaps the two greatest drafts of the decade where back to back in 2004 and 2005 as those were the years, Washington Capitals sensation Alexander Ovechkin and Pittsburgh Penguin great Sidney Crosby were each selected.
The 2010 draft however has been depicted by many to be one of the weaker draft classes in recent memory. Nevertheless, on June 25th Edmonton Oilers fans will have the pleasure of seeing general manager Steve Tambellini walk up to the podium to announce junior hockey sensation Taylor Hall as the first overall pick in this year's draft. Hall is exactly the type of power forward that the Oilers have been missing since Mark Messier left the team for New York in the early 1990s. As well, with the youth movement that has resulted from the disastrous 2009-2010 season, Hall can grow with his peers as opposed to being the young buck on a stacked team having a rough year. Playing alongside fellow team Canada teammate Jordan Eberle, and returning star winger Ales Hemsky, the idea of Hall in an Oilers jersey, allows fans and experts alike to believe that the team can return to the glory days of a few seasons ago. Further, with goalie Nikolai Khabibulin providing stability in net, Hall and his future teammates can focus on scoring, which was one of the team's main problems last season. |
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