Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site dciem.UUCP Path: utzoo!dciem!jeff From: jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) Newsgroups: net.sport.hockey Subject: Re: Rookie of the year Message-ID: <1381@dciem.UUCP> Date: Tue, 12-Feb-85 12:17:30 EST Article-I.D.: dciem.1381 Posted: Tue Feb 12 12:17:30 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 12-Feb-85 13:18:03 EST References: <3822@ucla-cs.ARPA>Reply-To: jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada Lines: 38 Summary: At the time when Peter Stastny won the Calder Trophy, the eligibility rule read something like this: "To be eligible for the Calder Trophy, a player must not have played more than 25 games in any one previous season or more than six games in each of any two previous seasons in the NHL or any other major professional league." The controversy surrounding Stastny's winning of the award was the "any other major professional league" part. If you recall, the year before Stastny won the award was Wayne Gretzky's first year in the NHL, but he didn't win the Calder Trophy. Gretzky played one year in the World Hockey Association, which was considered a major professional league for the purposes of Calder Trophy eligibility, so Gretzky and others like Michel Goulet, Craig Hartsburg, Rick Vaive and Rob Ramage never had a chance to win the Calder Trophy, even though they were all still of junior age when they joined the NHL. (I wish I could remember who did win the Calder that year.) There was a lot of furor about it, and the situation was amplified by Stastny's winning of the award, because Stastny had played several years in the Czechoslovak first division and had also played for their national team. Even though it was major league experience, it was not considered "professional," so Stastny was eligible. This seems unfair and hypocritical because NHL people have been saying for years that the Czech and Russian players are just as professional as the NHL'ers, and many of the NHL governors refused to acknowledge that the WHA was a major league until after it folded. Incidentally, the International Olympic Committee ruled last year that the WHA was not professional enough to disqualify its former players from olympic play, thereby putting it roughly on par with the Czech first division and putting both of them below the NHL. Anyway, the bottom line is that I don't remember the rule being changed since then, but if there has been a change, it most likely would have been the removal or redefinition of the word "professional." The leagues that Warren Young and Carey Wilson played in are not considered "major," so they are still eligible. They won't win it though. It's going to go to Chris Chelios. -- Jeff Richardson, DCIEM, Toronto (416) 635-2073 {linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd}!utcsrgv!dciem!jeff {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!dciem!jeff