As noted last week, our original NHL Saturday miniseries started with the 1967-1968 season, the first of the Expansion Era. We chose that launching point for this column and its first sequence, because it seemed like a good idea at the time. A six-team league was too small to really do a legitimate, retrospective analysis—or so we felt at the time. Now? We think we should go back and cover the Original Six Era. So here we go again!

1966 Hart: Bobby Hull, LW, Chicago (original, confirmed)

Winner of the Hart vote, Chicago Black Hawks left wing Bobby Hull also topped all skaters with 11.8 Point Shares. No other skater was within 4.0 PS of Hull, as the Black Hawks finished second in the league, with a huge postseason cushion to spare. That is less of a factor in this Original Six Era, of course. So it’s easy to confirm his Hart vote under the circumstances. His numbers (97 points in 65 games) were outstanding.

1966 Norris: Jacques Laperrière, Montréal (original); J.C. Tremblay, Montréal (revised)

Despite finishing just tenth overall in Defensive Point Shares (4.2), Montréal Canadiens defenseman Jacques Laperrière won the Norris vote. Oddly, he did not make the All-Star team, however. He was fifth on his own team in DPS, too, which is odd—how can the fifth-best defenseman on a team win the Norris vote? We re-assign this award to Habs blueliner J.C. Tremblay, who never won a Norris Trophy in his life.

Tremblay posted 4.4 DPS while being more of an offensive force than Laperrière as well (2.6 OPS to 2.3 OPS). He also won the WHA equivalent of the Norris twice (1973, 1975), although we did not agree with either of those results. He played in six NHL All-Star games and won six leagues titles overall (five in the NHL). He got robbed during his age-27 season here, though, for sure. Again, everything evens out, right?

1966 Vezina: Charlie Hodge & Gump Worsley, Montréal (original); Glenn Hall, Chicago (revised)

The Canadiens finished in first place, giving up just 2.47 goals per game. The backstops—Charlie Hodge (13-8-2, 2.58 GAA, .905 S%) and Gump Worsley (28-13-6, 2.36, .917)—won the Vezina under the rules then (no vote). Worsley finished third in PS (11.0), while Chicago goaltender Glenn Hall (34-22-8, 2.63, .916) topped the NHL with 12.6 PS. We revise this trophy to his keeping, and it’s interesting that we do so, really.

He won Vezinas in 1967 and 1969 that we took away from him, so this comes back now—as things usually do. This was his age-34 season, and the Black Hawks would make him available to the St. Louis Blues for the Expansion Era, where he thrived for a handful more seasons—while also winning the Conn Smythe vote in 1968 despite being on the losing end of the Stanley Cup Finals. Heckuva run for Mr. Hall, we’d say, eh?

1966 Calder: Brit Selby, LW, Toronto (original); Bert Marshall, D, Detroit (revised)

With just 27 points in 61 games. Toronto Maple Leafs LW Brit Selby (2.0 PS) won the Calder vote. The Leafs finished third in the standings; we’re not sold that Selby’s contributions mattered at all. And there were at least three better rookies: Detroit Red Wings D Bert Marshall (4.5 PS); Boston Bruins G Bernie Parent (3.5); Bruins D Gilles Marotte (2.6). Since the Wings made the playoffs, we’re going with Marshall here.

Boston missed the postseason, which was hard to do in this six-team era. Marshall actually posted just 19 points in 61 games, all assists. He took 68 SOGs, without making a single one of them. However, his all-around game clearly was significantly better than Selby’s efforts, so we’re not sure what the voters were seeing here. But again, this is why we do what we do: to right the wrongs of the past with clarity and verve.

1966 Conn Smythe: Roger Crozier, G, Detroit (original); Worsley (revised)

Montréal won the Cup in 10 games, dropping two games in the Finals to Detroit after sweeping Toronto in the semifinals. As a result, Red Wings G Roger Crozier won the Conn Smythe vote, becoming the first member of a non-championship team to win the award. Of course, this was only the second season that the Conn Smythe was awarded, so there’s that. Still, Crozier (6-5, 2.34, .914) was the reason Detroit endured.

Do we agree with the choice? Let’s look at the Habs: Worsley posted an 8-2 record with a 1.99 GAA and a .931 save percentage, which is really impressive, even if he did have the best defensemen in front of him. Only two skaters for Montréal even reached 10 points in the postseason—and neither tallied more than 11 points total. No one else had more than six points in the 10 games. Worsley certainly carried a big load on his back.

The reality is Detroit had four skaters posted double-digit point totals in the 12 playoff games the Red Wings played. Overall, they scored 36 goals in 12 games—but only 14 goals in the Finals. That’s all Worsley right there. We also will point out that Detroit won the first two games against the Canadiens on the road—and then Montréal woke up to smack down the Wings, holding them to just six goals in the last four games.

We also awarded the Conn Smythe to him in 1968, as well, so clearly he had a penchant for stepping up in the postseason, even if surrounded by the best team in the league. It’s hard to ignore numbers like his.