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SADOWSKI: MVP debate down to wire

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 3, 2008 at 7 p.m.
Updated April 3, 2008 at 11:33 p.m.

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Washington's Alex Ovechkin is a strong candidate to be named most valuable player - but should he get the award if the Capitals miss this season's Stanley Cup playoffs?

Photo by Brian Kersey / Associated Press

Washington's Alex Ovechkin is a strong candidate to be named most valuable player - but should he get the award if the Capitals miss this season's Stanley Cup playoffs?

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The NHL regular season will end this weekend, and nearly half the 16 playoff slots are still up for grabs.

Whether the Washington Capitals are among those competing in the postseason probably will determine who winds up with the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player.

The possibility of Capitals scoring sensation Alex Ovechkin taking home the trophy has reopened an interesting debate: Should a player from a nonplayoff team skate off with the award?

It hasn't happened since 1988, when Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux received the majority of votes from members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association even though the Penguins finished ninth in the 11-team Prince of Wales Conference and missed the playoffs by one point.

Lemieux led the NHL in scoring with 70 goals and 168 points, and he was the first player to win the Hart from a nonplayoff team since Andy Bathgate with the New York Rangers in 1959. Bathgate tied for third in scoring in the six-team league with 74 points in 70 games for a woeful Rangers team that won 17 times.

I haven't decided which player will get my first-place vote - the ballot has five slots and isn't due until Wednesday - but Ovechkin is the logical choice if the Capitals make the playoffs and, perhaps, even if they don't.

Ovechkin leads the league in goals (65, breaking Luc Robitaille's record of 63 for a left wing), points (112) and power-play goals (22), leads the league with 11 game-winning goals, is a plus-28 and averages 23 minutes of ice time per game.

Ovechkin has scored 51 of his goals (10 winners) during the Capitals' remarkable 36-17-7 surge since Bruce Boudreau replaced Glen Hanlon as coach.

Others who should be considered: Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, who helped keep the Penguins afloat when Sidney Crosby injured his ankle; Calgary's Jarome Iginla, who the Flames believe should have beaten out then-Montreal goalie Jose Theodore for the trophy in 2002; Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Lidstrom; San Jose's Joe Thornton; and New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, who tends goal for the fourth-worst offensive team in the league.

Three's a crowd

Jordan, Eric and Marc Staal could become the first three siblings to take part in the playoffs since three Brotens - Aaron, Neal and Paul - and three Sutters - Brent, Rich and Ron - participated in 1992.

Jordan is in his second season with Pittsburgh, which has wrapped up the Atlantic Division and at least the No. 2 seed in the East; Eric won a Stanley Cup in 2006 with Carolina, which is in first place in the Southeast Division; and Marc is a rookie defenseman with the New York Rangers, who clinched a playoff spot Thursday night.

"Once Eric won the Cup, I thought, 'If my brother can do it, why can't I?' " Marc Staal said in a conference call with reporters. "Being a part of this team, I know we can make a push for it. Winning the Cup is the greatest prize a hockey player could ever want and it's something I want to be a part of. I'm pretty excited to experience the playoffs in the NHL. If I go up against one of my brothers, it adds a whole other element to it. That would be pretty cool."

Marc and Jordan played against each other in the second round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs two years ago. Marc was playing for the Sudbury Wolves and Jordan for the Peterborough Petes, who won the series.

"He came through center ice and I caught him (with a big hit)," Marc said. "That was pretty good. But I don't like to remember that series so well because we didn't fare too well."

Touchy situation

Eyebrows were raised Tuesday night in Vancouver when word came from St. Louis that Blues coach Andy Murray had pulled goalie Manny Legace after the first period with a 3-0 lead against the Nashville Predators.

The outcome of that game was to have playoff ramifications for the Avalanche, which would clinch if the Predators lost in regulation, and for the Vancouver Canucks, who needed a Nashville loss to retain the eighth playoff spot.

The Avalanche clinched anyway with its come-from-behind win against the Canucks, who dropped into ninth place when the Predators rallied to defeat the Blues.

As it turned out, Murray was forced to put in backup goalie Hannu Toivonen after Legace complained of a sore hip flexor. Toivonen yielded consecutive goals to Nashville's fourth-liners and stopped 14 of 18 shots overall.

Toivonen played again Thursday against the Predators.

Senators remain mystery

Barely 10 months after playing in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Ottawa Senators are trying to put an end to a baffling free-fall that could result in their missing the playoffs.

They've had a losing record since starting the season 15-2 and, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, are in danger of setting an NHL record for worst collapse after such a solid start.

The Calgary Flames had 27 points - three fewer than the Senators - after 17 games in 2001-02 and missed the playoffs.

"It's been a constant struggle since Christmas," general manager/coach Bryan Murray told Ottawa reporters.

The Senators have gone 7-8-2 since Feb. 27, when Murray replaced coach John Paddock behind the bench.

"We thought we would be in a little more comfortable position, but we're not," Murray said. "Everybody is pressing a little bit, probably more than they should be. I'm not throwing anyone under the bus, but very definitely guys with high expectations of themselves are more anxious."

NUMBERS GAME

14 seasons without a division title for the Northeast champion Montreal Canadiens, who previously finished first in the Adams Division in 1991-92.

BLACKHAWKS RESURGENCE

It has been quite a turnaround season for the Chicago Blackhawks under chairman Rocky Wirtz, whose late father Bill's idea of modern technology was akin to carving letters into stone tablets.

The Blackhawks probably will miss the playoffs for the fifth season in a row, but they have 15 more points than last season with two games remaining, and the future looks promising with budding stars such as Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

Rocky Wirtz helped bring some buzz back to the United Center by welcoming Tony Esposito, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita as team ambassadors. And, unlike his father, he understands the importance of getting the Blackhawks into the public consciousness.

A dozen home games were televised this season and all 82 games will be aired next year, a first in franchise history.

"We have to be relevant in Chicago sports, and we believe we are starting that journey and are on our way to being there," Wirtz told reporters.

The new philosophy has paid off at the box office. Average attendance is 16,686 - that's an increase of almost 4,000 from last season.

HE SAID IT

"I just want to forget it, like a bad dream."

Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers forward, on the team's 14th-place standing in the Eastern Conference.

Stamkos at stake in lottery

The NHL will conduct its annual draft lottery Monday, using pingpong balls to determine which nonplayoff team will get the first pick for the right to select Steven Stamkos, a high-scoring center for the Sarnia Sting in the Ontario Hockey League.

Stamkos, 18, had 61 goals and 58 assists in 61 regular-season games this year, and he has nine goals in five playoff games. He has been compared to a young Joe Sakic or Steve Yzerman.

The teams with the five worst records will have a chance to land the No. 1 pick. The team with the fewest points - currently the Kings and Lightning -will have its name on 48.2 percent of the balls in the hopper. In 12 previous lotteries, the team with the worst record won the first selection five times.

Comments

  • April 4, 2008

    12:57 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    fantasydope writes:

    Hands down Ovechkin. I love Iginla, but c'mon - the Hart trophy shouldn't be a lifetime achievement award. The only other viable candidate for the award is Malkin - what he did was thoroughly impressive, but he still WAS with Crosby for much of the season.

    Ovechkin put up these numbers and this win streak with Backstrom (a Calder candidate, granted, - but still green and prone to mental mistakes as he showed when he scored on his own goalie against Pittsburgh last month) and perennial underachiever Viktor Kozlov.