Scotty Campbell Trophy

The Scotty Campbell Trophy is one of the awards given out annualy during the VHL/VHLM Awards Ceremony. Given to the most valuable player of the VHL, it is considered by many to be the most prestigious of the individual awards the VHL bestows on its players. Until Season 11, it was known as the Wayne Gretzky Trophy in honor of NHL great Wayne Gretzky. It was renamed in honor of VHL great Scotty Campbell, himself a three-time winner of the award. The VHL names three finalists during every offseason for the previous season, and the winner is voted on by the VHL general managers. A similar award, the Brett Slobodzian Trophy, is voted on by the VHL players themselves. Since that award was implemented in Season 11, only once (Season 16, Jonas Markstrom) did the winner of that award and the winner of the Campbell Trophy completely differ.

History

 * Five players have won the award more than one time: Scotty Campbell (3), Grimm Jonsson (3), Brett Slobodzian, Kevin Brooks, and Zach Arce.
 * Aside from Season 11 winner Jonathan Matthias and Season 17 co-winner Brandon Rush, all eligible winners have been inducted into the VHL Hall of Fame.
 * Full voting history is available from season 11 onwards. A very limited history is available for all previous awards.
 * Since the inception of the VHLM awards in Season 3, no winner of the Joe Sakic Trophy (VHLM MVP) has won the Campbell Trophy. In fact, only one Sakic winner, Nicholas Evans, has even appeared on an official Campbell Trophy ballot.
 * The VHL MVP has hoisted the Continental Cup in the same season nine times. The Campbell winner has only won the Gordie Howe Trophy as VHL Playoff MVP three times, all in three consecutive years from Seasons 4 through 6 (Scotty Campbell twice and Scott Boulet). Conversely, only one player, Zach Arce in Season 12, has won the award for a team that failed to make the playoffs.

Past Winners
Asterisk Denotes Co-Winners

Criticism
A case could be made that the Campbell Trophy is essentially just a complementary award given to the VHL's scoring champion, in addition to the Mario Lemieux Trophy. Aside from Season 2 (MVP Christian Stolzschweiger / Scoring Leader Scotty Campbell), Season 6 (Scott Boulet / Scotty Campbell), and Season 20 (Patrick Bergqvist / Tarik Saeijs and Max Kronenburg), the VHL's scoring leader has won at least a share of the MVP award. Only two defensemen have won the award (one being the scoring leader that season and the other having set the VHL record for most assists in a season), and only four goaltenders have even been on the ballot since Season 11 (the earliest season all nominees were listed during the awards ceremony). This may be due to the structure of the VHL, and how offensive output overshadows defensive output moreso than in other hockey leagues.

It's also possible that, since the voting occurs after the playoffs, postseason play factors into the voting. As previously noted, only once has a player won the award without appearing in the postseason. The winner has made the Continental Cup finals 14 times, winning nine of them. While the award description does not explicitly state that regular season play be the only basis for voting, most professional leagues do make this distinction, as there is a separate award to recognize superior play in the playoffs. While no instances have occured in the VHL where any issues were brough up regarding this, the voting structure does leave the possibility of it happening open.