Who’s got Hart?

Today the final three nominees for this year’s Hart Trophy (aka MVP) award were announced. This award is meant to be awarded to the ”player adjudged most valuable to his team”. The three nominees are Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, and Pavel Datsyuk. A case could easily be made for any of these three talented forwards.

Pavel Datsyuk

Datsyuk may not quite be at the top with Malkin and Ovechkin when it comes to points, but for the second year in a row, he is up for the Selke trophy (best defensive forward). Being as good as he is defensively may not put quite as many fans in the stands but it is very valuable to any successfuly team. On top of being one of the top forwards defensively, he also has undeniably amazing skills, and he did get 97 points which is notable on its own. The only downside to Datsyuk for the Hart is that he has an amazing team, therefore it is arguable that they could be good even without this all-around all-star.

Evgeni Malkin

This young star has been shadowed since his arrival by the presence of Crosby, but this year he has emerged and shown that he can be just as good if not better than Sid the Kid. He lead the league in points this year, and led his team back from a shaky start into the fourth spot in the Eastern conference and also past the Flyers in round 1. The problem that i see with giving Malkin the Hart is much the same one as giving it to Datsyuk, I mean he is on the same team as Sid, and either of these guys could easily be called the best in the game, so how do you say that they were the most valuable to any single team?

Alexander Ovechkin

Last but not least, Alex the Great. This guy is my personal nominee. Once again he has lead the league in goals scored in a season, only this time he missed the points title by 3. My arguments for both of the other players were the same, and you could say the same about Ovi and the Caps. Ovechkin had the help of Semin, Green, and Backstrom to get his team to 2nd place. I think the difference is that every year, the Caps exceed expectations, and I believe that Ovechkin has a lot to do with that. Who expected Washington to finish 2nd in the East? I sure didn’t. You can’t say the same for the likes of Detroit or Pittsburgh, both these teams won their conferences last year, and had minimal losses last offseason (except for Hossa going from one to the other). But the Caps exceeded expectations this season, and i think that is the deciding factor, Ovi did the most with the least.