Cyclone Taylor

Frederick Wellington "Fred" "Cyclone" Taylor, OBE, (June 23, 1884 – June 9, 1979) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and civil servant. Taylor was one of the earliest professional players. He played professionally for the Portage Lakes Hockey Club, the Ottawa Hockey Club and the Vancouver Millionaires (later named the Maroons) from 1905 to 1923. Acknowledged as one of the first stars of hockey, Taylor was one of the most prolific scorers of his era. He won several scoring championships, and won the Stanley Cup twice, once in 1909 with Ottawa and again in 1915 with Vancouver. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947. While in Ottawa in 1907, Taylor gained employment with the Canadian government. He maintained this employment after his career in hockey, later becoming Commissioner of Immigration for British Columbia and the Yukon.

Early life

Frederick Wellington was born in Tara, Ontario, the second son and fourth of five children to Archie and Mary Taylor. Archie, the son of Scottish immigrants, was a traveling salesman who sold farm equipment. Mary, a devout Methodist, stayed at home and raised the children. At the age of six, Taylor moved with his family to Listowel, a town fifty miles south of Tara. In Listowel he played for the junior and intermediate teams in the Ontario Hockey Association. In the 1904–05 season, he joined a team in Thessalon, Ontario led by Grindy Forrester when a dispute broke out as to which team held his OHA rights. The OHA, led by secretary W. A. Hewitt, refused to grant Taylor a change of residence permit and banned him from playing in the OHA. He applied for reinstatement, but was denied, and remained in Thessalon through the winter. According to some sources, Hewitt wanted Taylor to play for the Toronto Marlboros and blocked his attempts to play for other teams.

Cyclone Taylor Trophy

The Cyclone Taylor Award is the award given each year to the most valuable player on the Vancouver Canucks (a National Hockey League team). It is named after Cyclone Taylor, a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who led the Vancouver Millionaires to the Stanley Cup in 1915. The award was dedicated to him prior to the 1979-80 Canuck season, the season after his death on June 9, 1979, although an award for the Canucks MVP has existed since the team's inauguration in 1970. Previously it was a Canucks MVP Award as selected by the fans while the other MVP award, the President's Trophy was selected by CP Air and later Canadian Airlines. However after the 1995–96 season, the Cyclone Taylor Trophy officially became the lone Canucks MVP award since the winners of each trophy was identical.

The most prolific winner of the Cyclone Taylor Trophy is Markus Naslund, who has been awarded five times (including four straight from 2001 to 2004), followed by Trevor Linden with four. The trophy's present holder is Radim Vrbata (2015).