Hart Trophy Prediction – Daniel Sedin or Corey Perry?

With approximately two games remaining in the regular season the Hart Memorial trophy seems to be coming down to a two-horse race.  Daniel Sedin and Corey Perry, not coincidentally the top two leading scorers in the league at the moment are being talked about non stop as to which player is more deserving of this honour of league MVP.  There are of course a few other names jumping around in the conversation, namely Martin St. Louis, Tim Thomas and Marc Andre Fleury, but most people have agreed that one of either D. Sedin or Corey Perry will take home the hardware.  The third nominee is of little concern.

If you asked me a week ago which player is more deserving I would have immediately said Daniel Sedin.  The top scorer in the league, leading his team to the Presidents Trophy as the best team during the regular season.  What more can you really ask for?  However, in the past week Corey Perry has put on a scoring clinic reaching 50 goals (solidifying the Maurice Richard trophy), pulling within 3 points of Daniel for the Art Ross and playing his best hockey when the Ducks needed points the most.  This is really going to be a tough call but at this exact moment I’m going to make a call.  Read on to find out which way I’m leaning.

Why Daniel Sedin Will Win The Hart Trophy

• He is leading the league in scoring.  100 points after 80 games.
• He led the Canucks to the best overall record in the league by a wide margin. (Vancouver clinched the Presidents trophy with about 2 weeks remaining in the season)
• He was able to maintain his stellar pace from last season after coming back from his ankle injury.
• His brother Henrik won last year and it would be awesome to see the twins win back to back years.
• He is a plus 28 this season.
• The best player on the best team should be the league MVP.

Why People Will Say Daniel Shouldn’t Win The Hart

• He played the entire season with his brother Henrik. (This is ridiculous. If you remove every player who has a good line mate from Hart Trophy contention who are you left with??)
• His team is too good and they would have succeeded without him. (Who is to say they know exactly how well Vancouver would have done without Daniel this season.  The fact is they won the league with him. End of story)

Why Corey Perry Will Win the Hart Trophy

• He leads the NHL with 50 goals at this moment.  He will win the Maurice Richard and likely be the only player to reach 50 this season.
• He turned around a struggling Ducks team without Ryan Getzlaf and put them in a position to most likely make the playoffs.
• He had a terrific second half of the season playing his best hockey when the points mattered the most.
• He has 19 more points than Selanne who is the second leading scorer on the Ducks and the two only play together on the powerplay.
• The player who’s team would have struggled the most without him should be the league MVP.

Why People Say Corey Perry Shouldn’t Win the Hart

• He plays on perhaps the best line in the league with Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan. (Once again ridiculous.  Who is to say that this line is not dominant because of Perry)
• He is only a +9 while his line mates Getzlaf and Ryan are both +14. (This is not a big enough difference to be a legitimate statistic when looking at these players)

This battle basically comes down to the last point for each player.  What type of player are voters looking for?  The best player on the best team, or the player who’s team hypothetically needs him the most.  The second part of that sentence is completely opinion based which is why I would prefer to see Daniel Sedin win the Hart Trophy this year.  That being said if I was to bet on a player winning it I would have to take Perry.  Too many people consider the Sedins a package deal and the only reason Henrik won last season was because Daniel was hurt which gave Henrik a chance to prove that he can still dominate on his own.  This season Daniel was never given that chance and that fact alone will be the reason he doesn’t win the Hart.  Perry’s linemate Getzlaf got hurt and Perry kept producing.  It seems like you need one of your top line mates to get hurt in order to prove yourself and win a Hart Trophy in this league.

I haven’t seen any betting lines for this, but I’m sure some will pop up eventually.  Check out a variety of betting websites if you are interested in placing a wager on which player will win the Hart Trophy this season.

Daniel Sedin for the Art Ross

With about 20 games left in the regular season the Art Ross hunt is on.  At the moment it looks like Daniel Sedin or Steven Stamkos should be able to take down the prize at the end of the season.  At the time of this post Daniel is leading the league with 79 points, while Stamkos is just one behind at 78.  Stamkos also has two games in hand, which actually has him if you expect him to keep his pace for the remainder of the season.  Third and fourth positions are held by Martin St. Louis and Henrik Sedin, not coincidentally line mates of the top two contenders.  Then there is a large drop off to find Zetterberg with 69 points.  The fact that Stamkos will get points on a lot of the same goals as St. Louis and the same goes for the Sedin twins, it will be very difficult for them to catch up, so this should be two horse race down the stretch.

My money is on Daniel and here is why:

Why Daniel Will Win

• Daniel and Stamkos have both slowed down and each have only 6 points in their last 8 games.  That being said Daniel is a much more consistent producer and has never had a stretch of two games without a point this season.   He is on one of these two game stretches at the moment.
• Henrik won it last year and being the good twin that he is, will go out of his way to ensure his brother wins the Art Ross this year.  This includes passing up on scoring opportunities if Daniel has not touched the puck on the play.  I watched a Canucks game a few days ago and it was already evident that Henrik was doing more than he should have been to get his brother the puck.  This could be a detriment, but I think Henrik has the skill necessary to help his brother get points more often than not.
• Stamkos is almost a lock for the Maurice Richard.  He doesn’t need both…enough said.  It’s been three years since someone (Ovechkin) won both the Maurice and Art Ross.
• It would make for a great story.  Who doesn’t like a great story.  One twin wins it one year, then the other follows suit the next.  The Sedins do everything together, why not have matching Art Ross trophies as well.

**Take Daniel on your nightly FanDuel NHL fantasy teams down the stretch.  Henrik picked it up in the last few games last year and I expect the same from Daniel.

In all honesty Crosby should have won this award hands down.  He was having a tremendous season and he didn’t even have a sidekick like each of these stellar players have in Henrik and St Louis.  But alas a concussion has taken him out of a good portion of the season and we might not even see him back this year.  This gets me to my next point.

How Players Can Sustain a Full NHL Season

Staying healthy for a full NHL season is tough and if you want to win a scoring championship it is almost a must to play every single game during the year.  One way players stay healthy is by sticking to a hockey meal plan that is built according to the sport and meant to allow them to perform at the highest level every night.  Protein is a key ingredient in the diets of professional hockey players and one supplement that is key is Whey Protein for hockey players constantly replenishing muscles.  Every top NHL player puts their health at a premium.  It’s not easy playing NHL games 3 times a week.