Evgeni Malkin Should Win the Hart Trophy...But He Won't

(Photo By Dave Sandford/Getty Images)

Is there another trophy in all professional sports with a more convoluted voting criteria than the NHL's Hart Trophy?

Player judged to be the most valuable to his team?

I mean, seriously—who makes this stuff up? 

How on God's green earth do you objectively measure one player's worth to his team?

Was Zach Parise more valuable than Scott Clemmenson to the New Jersey Devils this year?

Perhaps someone wants to argue that it would be okay for the Detroit Red Wings to lose Henrik Zetterberg or Niklas Lidstrom this year, but to lose Pavel Datsuyk would have been catastrophic. 

Honestly, in light of the change in play for the Penguins after December, I would almost have to argue that the MVP of the Penguins is not named Malkin or Crosby but either Gonchar or Bylesma.

When you get right down to it, the Hart Trophy in the NHL is decided on by the wrong people—the writers, not the GMs—and the wording handicaps the award from being given to the league's most outstanding player.  You are always going to get some dumb nut that feels that Steve Mason was more valuable to his team than Malkin or Ovechkin were to theirs. 

There are certainly times that the Hart Trophy candidate is obvious and therefore the wording of the award doesn't prevent the award from going to the rightful winner.  I am going on record today as saying that this year is not one of them.  Evgeni Malkin is the clear and deserving winner of this year's award, but he is almost certain to lose out on the award to countryman Alex Ovechkin.

Due to the unnatural wording of the award, I cannot offer a rock-solid case for picking Malkin over Ovechkin.  Remove either of them from their team and the impact would be immediate and fatal for the team.  What I can do is systematically eliminate every reason not to pick Evgeni Malkin as the winner. 

Argument No. 1: Ovechkin's Washington Capitals clinched their division and finished with the number two-seed in the conference.

This might have held some water until you consider that this is exactly the same scenario as last season only in reverse.  Last season it was Ovechkin with more points, and the Penguins holding the number two seed. 

Granted, the Caps ended up third last year but it's worth noting they needed every last game in the schedule just to get in.  One more loss and they don't even make the playoffs.  

For all the reasons that Ovechkin won last year, there is absolutely no reason that Malkin couldn't win this year. 

Argument No. 2: Malkin has Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal, and Sergei Gonchar, while the Caps only win if Ovechkin scores.

I constantly hear this argument, and it still boggles my mind.  The four players for the Penguins listed above basically come out in a wash when compared to Alexander Semin, Niklaus Backstrom and Mike Green.  To argue that one player has benefited more from the surrounding cast is pure insanity.  

Green is a potential Norris trophy winner this season, Backstrom was top five in scoring for most of the season, and Semin was leading the league at the start of the season before he cooled off. 

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