Calder Memorial Trophy: History, Montreal Canadiens Past Winners
By Nate Duffett
The NHL will award the Calder Memorial Trophy on Thursday, June 27th, in Las Vegas, Nevada, before the NHL Draft begins Friday night. The Calder Memorial Trophy goes to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition. The nominees for this award are Connor Bedard, Brock Faber, and Luke Hughes.
The award honors the first president of the NHL, Frank Calder. It began being awarded for the 1936-37 season, making it one of the longest-running trophies. Professional Hockey Writers' Association members vote on the winner after the regular season.
The award recipient cannot play in more than 25 regular season games in the previous season or six or more games in each of the two previous seasons. The rules also changed, so the player had to be 26 years or younger after 31-year-old Sergei Makarov won the award.
The first winner from the Montreal Canadiens was in 1940-41, and there have been six winners in the long history. No Montreal Canadiens have won the award since Ken Dryden in 1971-72. Let's take a look at the Canadiens' winners of this award.