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No Hart
It's disappointing to see that neither Nicklas Lidstrom nor Pavel Datsyuk were among the three finalists for the Hart Trophy as announced today by the NHL.
Calgary Flames right wing Jarome Iginla, Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin and Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin are the three finalists.
Lidstrom had strong national support before his knee injury in Colorado after an Ian Laperriere hit. Datsyuk is a finalist for the Selke and Lady Byng.
Personally, I like the three forwards who are finalists. I picked Ovechkin as my Hart winning in my vote. But it's tough to think that Datsyuk could be the No. 4 scorer in the NHL and a finalist for the best defensive forward and not be one of the top three forwards in the league. I had him ranked above Malkin and Iginla.
Calgary Flames right wing Jarome Iginla, Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin and Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin are the three finalists.
Lidstrom had strong national support before his knee injury in Colorado after an Ian Laperriere hit. Datsyuk is a finalist for the Selke and Lady Byng.
Personally, I like the three forwards who are finalists. I picked Ovechkin as my Hart winning in my vote. But it's tough to think that Datsyuk could be the No. 4 scorer in the NHL and a finalist for the best defensive forward and not be one of the top three forwards in the league. I had him ranked above Malkin and Iginla.
posted by Chuck Pleiness at
12:34 PM
4 Comments:
I'm not a wings fan but I love your blog, however I must say I was really disappointed that you confuse what the Hart trophy is about. At one point you mention Lidstrom as a contender, then go on to say that you consider it an award that should go to the best forward in the league.
I just don't like how more and more the Hart trophy is becoming known as the 'best player' award in the media. Instead of what it really stands for, most valuable player, and there is a difference as I'm sure you would agree. Datsyuk probably is the best all around forward in the league, but if Detroit didn't have him, would it really have made a huge difference? No presidents trophy, but still first in their division and a strong playoff contender...
Well it's hard to give the Hart to a player on a team with so many key contributors.
I don't consider the Hart as a trophy that should go to the top forward. But three forwards were the finalists and Datsyuk is in my opinion one of the three best forwards in the league.
I'd like to see more defensemen and goalies winning Harts. I think it's odd that in hockey, goalies are considered to be the most important players on a team by far, but only Dominik Hasek and Jose Theodore have won the MVP since the early 1960s.
And I can't penalize Datsyuk because he's on a good team. Just as I wouldn't have penalized Ovechkin if his team didn't make the playoffs.
I think people are underestimating the effect that Pavel Datsyuk has on this team. He is such a subtle and clever player that he does a lot of things that dont show up on the stat sheet. He creates time and space for other players, in addition his stats are pretty spectacular. Led the league in plus minus, blitz the league in takeaways, doesnt get his team shorthanded, 4th in points and arguably the best passer in the game. Furthermore Datsyuk played all 82 games and was very productive when Hank was out of the lineup and the team skid that happened in Feb was happening with Lidstrom in the lineup until he got injured. Zetterberg is a fine young player but I have a suspicion that if he was not playing with Pavel you might see him top out at about 60pts each year.
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