The past week, while the National Hockey League playoffs have been raging, the NHL has been announcing its list of nominees for its end of season awards.
The nominees for the Hart Trophy (Most Valuable Player), Vezina Trophy (Best Goalie), Norris Trophy (Top Defenceman), Calder Trophy (Top First Year Player), Lady Byng (Most Gentlemanly Player) and Selke Trophy (Best Defensive Forward) have all been announced with much fanfare.
After the deciding game of the Stanley Cup Finals is played, the league will also announce the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy (Playoff MVP). The NHL certainly has many trophies and awards to hand out at the conclusion of its season.
For me, none of those awards are the biggest or most intriguing honour any player can receive. I, along with select friends and family members, have been annually handing out a bigger and more entertaining hockey award at the end of the playoffs.
It’s called the Gary Leeman Award to recognize the season’s luckiest player, most fortunate player, or player that was in the right place at the right time.
Each year the list of potential Gary Leeman Award winners is long, but it is slowly narrowed down as teams are eliminated from the playoffs. At the end, the player that is awarded the trophy is skating around the ice holding the Stanley Cup, barely able to contain his amazement that this is happening to him.
If you remember, Gary Leeman was a pretty good sniper with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the late 1980s. He even scored 51 goals one season. After that season, he fell upon hard times with the Leafs and was smartly exchanged by GM Cliff Fletcher in the massive trade that brought Doug Gilmour to town. It was all downhill for Leeman after that and he bounced around the league for several years.
Leeman found himself on the Montreal Canadiens roster as the 1993 playoffs began.
The rest is history. The Canadiens, behind the stellar goaltending of Patrick Roy and an unheard of 10 straight overtime wins, went on to win the Stanley Cup that year. The Cup was awarded and Leeman was one of the jubilant players skating around the ice lifting the Cup over his head.
I remember watching this with my high school buddies and we all burst out laughing that somehow Leeman had found his way onto the team that won the Cup. “He must be the luckiest player in the league,” we all said a few times that night. From that point on each year I, with my friends and my brother would search for a “Gary Leeman Award” winner on the Stanley Cup-winning roster.
Some illustrious names have won this award. Glenn Anderson won it in 1994 after being dealt by Toronto to the New York Rangers – a team that then won its first Stanley Cup in 50 years.
Alexander Mogilny won the award in 2000 after being dealt to New Jersey by the wretched Vancouver Canucks at the deadline. Our favourite winner was Joe Kocur. He won the award in 1997 after Detroit signed him out of a recreation/beer-league and went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Who will win our fictional award this year? That depends on who captures the Stanley Cup, but already there are several strong candidates. Only time will tell.
