Hart Memorial Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award preview - 06-23-10
We are previewing the seven NHL awards which count this week. (Sorry Lady Byng fans.) This afternoon, we'll preview the Hart Memorial Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award which goes to the NHL's and NHLPA's MVP respectively.
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Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins (51 goals, 58 assists, 109 points, plus-25)
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Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals (50 goals, 59 assists, 109 points, plus-45)
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Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks (29 goals, 83 assists, 112 points, plus-35)
Who we'd vote for (Hart): Crosby. Go ahead and call us a homer. That's fine. But before you do that, let us ask you a question. Where would the Penguins be without Crosby this past season? We have doubts they would be a playoff team if you took Crosby off the roster. Everyone marvels at his desire to become a "real" goal scorer as he led the league with 51 goals. But we marvel at the necessity of his increased goal-scoring. If he didn't score all those goals this season, who would? Evgeni Malkin had a down season. And the Penguins' lack of scoring on the wings has been well documented. It was like Ruslan Fedotenko was going to crank in 35.
The description of the Hart Trophy is "an annual award given to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team." That describes Crosby perfectly. Ovechin? We would never dare question the value to his team. But the Capitals excelled as a team without him. In the 10 games Ovechkin missed in the regular season due to injuries or suspension, the Capitals went 7-2-1. Pretty good. And what's even better is this: The Capitals averaged 4.7 goals per game in those 10 games. In the 72 other Ovechkin-full games, that number dipped to 3.8.
Regarding Sedin, we just don't see him being nearly as valuable to his team as Crosby or even Ovechkin. Yes. He was far and away the best player on his team this season, but the Canucks had six players hit the 25-goal mark this season. That was the most of any team in the league. Now Sedin played in all 82 games this season so its impossible to gauge what his absence would've meant to Vancouver, but we have a hard time seeing the Canucks suffering a huge decline if he were out of the lineup. They simply had too much depth.
Who we'd vote for (Lindsay): Ovechkin. The Lindsay is a slightly different award. First, instead of writers, players vote on this award. And the definition of this award is: "most outstanding player." Taking that into consideration, when you look at Ovechkin's scoring totals and account for the fact he contended for the Richard and Art Ross Trophy despite missing 10 games, to us, that, is what this award is all about.
Who will win: Crosby and Ovechkin respectively. For the reasons we outlined above, we expect these two to each add to their hardware collection. Sedin's case will also be hurt by the fact he plays on the West Coast while Crosby and Ovechkin have a decide advantage in the East Coast bias.