With the NHL Season nearing the end of its season, who does the league "Hart" more—Evgein Malkin or Alexander Ovechkin?
As it seems to this point, Malkin and Ovechkin will be the two contenders for the Hart Trophy also known as NHL League MVP and the most prized award in any sport (not all sports call it Hart if I had you thinking that way).
Ovechkin had one of the most satisfying years in league history. He tied the scoring record in a year for a player on the left wing when he notched 63 (Luc Robitaille 1992-93). Ovechkin also achieved over 100 points, wow.
But, does that put him ahead of Malkin?
Malkin did most of his work without team leader, Sidney Crosby. Malkin was leading the league in points at a point in the season, but was soon overtaken by Alexander the Great.
If I was the voter, I would probably have Ovechkin winning the Hart, but I'm not. So, who do you guys think should win the Hart Trophy?
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6 months ago
This was a smaller article. Just wanted to see what people think about who should win and wanted to state some points.
6 months ago
Isn't the Stanley Cup the "most prized award in any sport"?
MVP is nice, but most players would rather have a Cup ring or a Conne Smythe trophy in my opinion.
I think Ovechkin's got the MVP wrapped up, even if Washington fails to secure a play-off spot. He's turned into exactly what the League wanted, a charismatic, prolific goal-scorer and the scary part is that he's only getting better.
6 months ago
I "Hart" Joe Thornton more. It bums me out that he gets left out of the mix in favor of East Coast players. Clearly, Ovechkin is amazing, but Thornton deserves consideration as well.
6 months ago
Ovie...for the Hart. Even without Crosby Malkin has had the benefit of a better supporting cast. I would go so far as to put Iginla ahead of Malkin.
6 months ago
The thing I don't like about Malkin is that he's only the MVP as long as Crosby was out of the line up - when Crosby's back, while Malkin still plays well, his "value" for for the Pens decreases.
Thornton is good, but look at the rest of his team. Is he more valuable than Nabokov? How much value does he have over Cheechoo?
6 months ago
You can say the Pens have a ton of talent all you guys want.
Fact of the matter is, who knows where they would be without Malkin and Conklin and their impressive streak carrying the entire team.
6 months ago
ovechkin in a landslide, he doesnt score just to pad his stats -- he doesnt go out and get a hat trick to turn a 5-0 win into a 8-0 win, he scores when it counts, his 11 game winning goals this season (the most in the nhl) can attest to that.
65 goals, 112points, god only knows how many crushing hits, his +/- rating is +28: how significant is that on the caps? lets put it this way Semin is a -19
crosby may have his useless secondary assists (ya crosby gives a very lazy pass to malkin who shoots & misses the net its settled down by gonchar given back to malkin who scores and crosby gets an assits?!? by that logic of who 'touched it last' malkin should have gotten an assits on his own goal before crosby got any pts from it), malkin may be close in points but at the end of the day it IS all about the goals, when you check the score of a game it tells you right there who scored the goals not who got some secondary assist. an assist is nothing but a pass until the goalscorer converts.
6 months ago
The debate for both Ovechkin and Malkin are strong. Ovechkin carries his team on his shoulders, while Malkin stepped up his game every night with two of their young stars (Crosby and Fluery) injuried and the Penguins are now top of the East. The Washington Capital will have one more game left in the regular season. It may all come down to one thing, if the Flyers will win the next two games and make it in the 8th spot in the play off. The Flyers are playing the Devils tomorrow and playing the Penguins on Sunday, while the Capitals are playing the Panthers on Saturday.
If the Washington make the playoff, Ovechkin will win the Hart. Otherwise, Malkin is make a stronger case.
from 6 months ago
The Hart doesn't include post season, so whether he makes it or not doesn't mean anything.
from 6 months ago
No of course not. What I'm saying is if Ovechkin can lead the team to the post season or not.
6 months ago
I think AO is the best player in the NHL. He has done amazing things with not so much support and in a market that is not NHL crazy. Imagine what it would have been like to have had him in Montreal or Toronto. I'm pretty sure they would have given him a national holiday.
Malkin is amazing but he will have to labour under the Crosby Opression as long as he is in Pittsburgh. He is potentially a much better player than Crosby but he will never have the opportunity to fully develop his skills as long as he has to keep playing in a way that makes him subvert his natural game to that of making Crosby look better.
When Malkin had the chance, he showed how easily he can lead a team and how much success he can bring. The Pens rose to the Division lead and he rose to the Points lead when he was given room to skate and play his own game.
I dare say the Penguins are a better team when they play for Pittsburg instead of Crosby's Team! And, please note that I am not an Ovechkin, Malkin, or Crosby fan. I am an NHL fan and just like watching the game being played.
5 months ago
Ovechkin sucks. Malkin and Crosby rule.
5 months ago
yes AO is not an all around hockey player like malkin and crosby but give him credit he now holds the record for goals by a left winger. Also he gave federov 466 reasons to miss the open net. (how many shots AO had in the regular season.)
5 months ago
defense anyone?
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