NHL Needs To Define Valuable: The Problem With Hart Trophy Voting

The Hart Memorial Trophy is awarded to the player who was the most valuable to his team during the regular season.

Or at least that’s the official definition.

Instead, every year the trophy is given to the player with the most impressive statistics.

In 2009, it was Rocket Richard winner Alex Ovechkin. In 2010, it was Art Ross winner Henrik Sedin. And in 2011, it will be either Art Ross winning Daniel Sedin, or Rocket Richard winning Corey Perry.

These are all great players, and those were all great seasons. But were they the most valuable to their team?

Technically speaking, they were not even close.

When assessing a player’s value, there are many obvious factors that must be taken into consideration—offensive output, defensive play, grit, leadership, plus/minus, contributions to special teams—these are just some of the many factors the writers who decide the winner have been using for years to assess value.

That's a great start, but what about the biggest factor of all?

The term value has a financial connotation. When you hear value, you think money. Every year, teams are allowed to spend a predetermined amount of money on players. This year that number was roughly $60 million. The more money you spend on one player, the less money you have left to spend on all the rest.

The concept is simple.

Yet, there seems to be an unwillingness among hockey writers and analysts to either realize this concept, or take it into consideration when assessing a player’s value.

In 2009, the NHL salary cap was $56.7 million, and Ovechkin’s cap hit was $9.5 million. That’s roughly 17 percent of his team’s entire payroll. That year he tallied 56 goals and 54 assists for 110 points—easily the most impressive numbers in the league.

But did it make him the most valuable player?

Keep in mind he took up 17 percent of his team’s payroll—that's $9.5 million the Washington Capitals could not use elsewhere, say, on goaltending, to improve their team. So if you’re putting your team in a position where they can't adequately fill all their needs, you should be putting up 50 goals and 110 points a season. That’s where the discussion of your value should begin, not end.

The Capitals forked out one sixth of their disposable income on one player. 56 goals and 110 points is what you would expect from that investment. The numbers in this case justify the financial commitment—a fair return.

However, simply playing up to the expectations of your contract should not be enough to merit the title of most valuable player.

Every year there are players that go above and beyond the expectations of their contract—what about them?

In 2011, Claude Giroux led the Philadelphia Flyers in assists, points, was a plus-20 and did it all for roughly $800,000—that’s value.

The Vancouver Canucks paid Art Ross Trophy winner Daniel Sedin $58,700 for every point he scored this season. The Flyers paid Giroux a fraction of that—$10,000.

The fact that Giroux was only making $800,000 allowed the Flyers to keep their lineup of All-Star's such as Daniel Briere, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Chris Pronger intact—that's value.

Giroux is still on his rookie contract, so the comparison to Sedin is unfair, for now. However, starting next year, Giroux will still only cost the Flyers $3.75 million in cap space. If he can repeat the numbers he put up this season, his production will still remain among the most valuable in the league.

When the Hart Trophy was first handed out in 1924, there were no salary caps or astronomical contracts, so giving the award to the player with the most impressive statistics made sense.

However, in this day and age, when a team’s ability to acquire players and build a Stanley Cup contender is so heavily dictated by their financial commitments, the most important factor to consider when assessing a player’s value is the return he provides his team on their investment.

Just because a player puts up big numbers does not necessarily mean he is worthy of the Hart Trophy.

What if Ovechkin wasn't tying up $9.5 million in cap space last year? Maybe the Capitals would have had room to upgrade their goaltending.

Instead, history was made.