Hart Trophy Nominees

1.Alexander Ovechkin

2.Evgeni Malkin

3.Pavel Datsyuk

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=420636

Who says Russians fold under pressure? Antropov, Semin and Federov provided all three goals last night.

Pavel Datsyuk is a VERY interesting choice.

I think that Ovechkin will win it though. Malkin had the benefit of another 100+ point player on his squad, and I just don't see him as the same game breaker that Ovechkin is.

I gotta think Malkin has a real good chance at this one.

Ovie is my tentative choice on this one, big part of Washington doing anything, but it is a tough call either way.

504Heater wrote:I gotta think Malkin has a real good chance at this one.

If he had worn Crosby or Ovechkin's jersey this season, he'd be a lock for it.

asq2 wrote:
If he had worn Crosby or Ovechkin's jersey this season, he'd be a lock for it.

Meh...maybe. I think he's starting to get some of the attention he deserves. Ovechkin will win, but Malkin should get some notice.

I think Ovie gets it but as I mentioned in the GMHockey Choice awards for MVP my nomination is for Malkin.

asq2 wrote:

504Heater wrote:I gotta think Malkin has a real good chance at this one.

If he had worn Crosby or Ovechkin's jersey this season, he'd be a lock for it.

The thing is though, and I know it's unfair, but the guy wearing the Crosby jersey is playing on his team...quite often [obviously the power play] at the same time as him.

So, I'm not saying he doesn't deserve to win the award...I think anyone that gets nominated obviously has a good chance to win the award...but it sort of hurts his cause that he gets the benefit of playing with a fellow top 3 player in the league.

PKC wrote:

asq2 wrote:

504Heater wrote:I gotta think Malkin has a real good chance at this one.

If he had worn Crosby or Ovechkin's jersey this season, he'd be a lock for it.

The thing is though, and I know it's unfair, but the guy wearing the Crosby jersey is playing on his team...quite often [obviously the power play] at the same time as him.

So, I'm not saying he doesn't deserve to win the award...I think anyone that gets nominated obviously has a good chance to win the award...but it sort of hurts his cause that he gets the benefit of playing with a fellow top 3 player in the league.

Fair enough.

But Ovechkin gets Norris finalist Mike Green, Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin (to name a few) on his powerplay, and Datsyuk gets other Norris Finalist Niklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Marian Hossa, Tomas Holmstrom, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, etc.

Ovechkin's linemates are also vastly superior. Backstrom and Fedorov/Semin vs. Petr Sykora and guys like Tyler Kennedy, Miro Satan etc.?

Not only that, but while Ovechkin led the league in give-aways, Malkin led the league (or maybe Datsyuk surpassed him, NHL stats isn't working for me right now) in take-aways.

Oh, and he won the Art Ross.