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Other Names For MVP
by Paul on 02/28/09 at 10:05 AM ET
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from Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun,
There’s a common conception out there that Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin—with some debate about the order—are the best two players in the NHL.
While they are certainly the most bankable stars in the game—and Ovechkin is easily the most exciting forward to come along since Teemu Selanne exploded onto the scene in Winnipeg back in the early ‘90s—you could argue neither cis the best player in the NHL this season.
Your argument probably wouldn’t hold water with regard to Ovechkin, who is the top sniper in the game and leads the league with 44 goals, but you could make it just for fun anyway.
Countryman Evgeni Malkin is giving Ovechkin a run for his money, leading the NHL in scoring with 88 points heading into last night’s games, but he’s not as complete a player and is still in Alexander the Great’s shadow.
A better argument might be made for Detroit Red Wings star Pavel Datsyuk, who is not only one of the league’s best defensive players (he won the Selke Trophy last season) but is fourth in scoring with 75 points.
That rare combination of offensive and defensive skill puts Datsyuk in a class with players like Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov and Doug Gilmour and makes him a great candidate for the Hart Trophy this season.
continued with more candidates…
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Crosby’s the best player on his team. His line does a much better job than Malkin’s at generating shots. Malkin’s line has just been lucky. Sometimes the pucks go in, sometimes they don’t. His wingers have insane shooting percentages, and that won’t last.
As for an argument that Ovechkin isn’t the best player in the world, how about saying he’s not the best player on his team? Believe it or not, in most ways, Semin’s been better this year. More goals and points at even strength per ice time, more power play points per ice time (even excluding second assists), fewer goals against per ice time. Semin’s an incredible +28 in only 44 games. The only player with a better +/- per game ratio with more than two games played is Ville Leino, and nobody has a better ratio with more than 12 games played. Semin also Washington forwards in +/- by a country mile—the next closest are Ovechkin and Backstrom with +14.
I don’t think Semin’s a better player than Ovechkin, but the numbers certainly suggest he’s been more important to Washington’s success so far this year than Alexander the Great, at least if you forgive him for missing 19 games to injury. All that said, it’s still hard to argue with 0.74 goals/game, and Ovechkin’s not a bad choice.
Zach Parise’s a great player and will continue to improve, but he’s really not in Hart territory yet. Mike Richards is a good player and will continue to improve, but he’s even less in Hart territory. Iginla’s not having half the season he did last year, and he’s not at all driving Calgary’s success.
In a fair world, the Hart trophy finalists would be Ovechkin, Datsyuk, and Thornton. All three would be pretty okay choices.
Posted by Ryan from Toronto on 02/28/09 at 07:39 PM ET