Hart Trophy Finalists

[Jets4Life]

Alex Ovechkin, Capitals (lead NHL with 53 goals)
Carey Price, Canadians (led NHL in Wins (44), GAA (1.96), and Saving % (0.933)
John Tavares, Islanders (career highs in Goals (38), points (86), and led Isles to best season since 1984).

My vote: Price

[Caged Great]

For me, it's close but I have to give it to Ovy. He blew everyone away in goals.

[J79]

H(e)art wants Tavares, mind says AO.
Voted Tavares.

[EldrickOnIce]

Price with a season for the ages.
Landslide

[Mike F]

Ovechkin's teammate Backstrom was just 3 points behind him in the scoring race.

Tavares' teammate Okposo, the second highest scoring Islander, was 35 points behind him, 86th in the scoring race.

That being said, Price was better and more valuable to his team (though that's generally an unfair comparison for skaters vs. goalies) that either Ovechkin or Tavares.

So in the end: my vote is for Iginla (FU Theodore and the eastern media)

[Erick Estrada]

I'm not a fan of goaltenders being in the Hart trophy conversation so I'm going with Ovechkin.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Price, only because without him the Canadiens would have been out of the playoffs.

Honorable mention to Tavares who doesn't get enough love.

[codynw]

Price just had the best season for a goalie since Hasek. Easily him for me.

However, I have to give a shout out to Tavares for having 35 more points than anyone else on his team. That's unreal.

[1qqaaz]

Price's season was not much better than Mike Smith's season in 2011-2012, yet no one mentioned Smith winning the Hart that year. Put me in the group that are against putting goalies in the MVP conversation. Goaltending is such an important position that basically all of the best goalies should realistically be the most valuable to their teams.

That being said, it's pretty clear that Price carried Montreal this year, and they finished with a ton of points.

It often seems like assists are overvalued and goals are undervalued. Goals are what win games, and no one does it better than Ovy.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by codynw

Price just had the best season for a goalie since Hasek. Easily him for me.

However, I have to give a shout out to Tavares for having 35 more points than anyone else on his team. That's unreal.

Yep, that's one of the reasons that I voted for him. He is kind of like to them what Iginla was like for us for many years.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

Price's season was not much better than Mike Smith's season in 2011-2012, yet no one mentioned Smith winning the Hart that year. Put me in the group that are against putting goalies in the MVP conversation. Goaltending is such an important position that basically all of the best goalies should realistically be the most valuable to their teams.

That being said, it's pretty clear that Price carried Montreal this year, and they finished with a ton of points.

It often seems like assists are overvalued and goals are undervalued. Goals are what win games, and no one does it better than Ovy.

But the best teams did not appear to have MVP type goaltending this year, for the most part.
Of the 4 teams still playing, no goaltenders were most valuable to their team.
Of the final 8, 2 were (Price and Dubnyk)
Of all teams in the playoffs, perhaps 3 were (includes Rinne).
Those numbers might suggest, surprisingly, that over the course of a season that a superstar goaltender is less important than one might think.

[undercoverbrother]

Tavares 86 pts, next closest on the Islanders, 51 pts.


This seals it for me. Tavares is really a lone bandit on a team that isn't very deep offensively.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

But the best teams did not appear to have MVP type goaltending this year, for the most part.
Of the 4 teams still playing, no goaltenders were most valuable to their team.
Of the final 8, 2 were (Price and Dubnyk)
Of all teams in the playoffs, perhaps 3 were (includes Rinne).
Those numbers might suggest, surprisingly, that over the course of a season that a superstar goaltender is less important than one might think.

Yeah, but if they didn't have a goalie, how would they win any games?

[ricardodw]

Price should win it easily. He carried a team that was closer to drafting McDavid than making the playoffs when he took over on Jan 15 to a 100 pt playoff season.

OOOps my mistake that was Dubnyk.

[RyZ]

Price.

Thats a very average group of skaters in MTL that competed for the Presidents Trophy on the back of an all world goaltender.

I feel Ovechkin often hurts his team as much as he helps and is the definition of a 1 dimensional player. Tavares just isnt in the same class this year.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

Price, only because without him the Canadiens would have been out of the playoffs.

Honorable mention to Tavares who doesn't get enough love.

Ovechkin had 11 GWG. Without him, Caps don't make the playoffs.

He also had 20% more goals than his closest competitor (Stammer). In my mind, 20% more goals is a bigger achievement than Price's .933 sv% versus Dubnyk's .929.

With the 50-goal scorer becoming an extremely rare breed, his 53 goals should seal the Hart for him. But it won't.

Media has fallen in love with Jesus Price, and so he'll win it.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Ovechkin had 11 GWG. Without him, Caps don't make the playoffs.

He also had 20% more goals than his closest competitor (Stammer). In my mind, 20% more goals is a bigger achievement than Price's .933 sv% versus Dubnyk's .929.

With the 50-goal scorer becoming an extremely rare breed, his 53 goals should seal the Hart for him. But it won't.

Media has fallen in love with Jesus Price, and so he'll win it.

Wow - that's not really cherry picking stats much is it? Would you expect any goalie to have a 20% margin in his save % over another goalie? And why does Dubnyks great save % diminish Price's? Actually that.004 spread is a huge margin. The rest of the pack are .001 apart at every step, with a rare .002 margin once in a while.

And GWGs? Assuming you mean the Caps wouldn't have won those games anyway, then without Sean Monahan's 8 GWGs the Flames don't make it. or the Isles don't make it without the 16 points off of Tavares' 8 GWG. But in reality, how many of those games were won by one goal? And How many were more than one goal leads, but the other team got a goal late?

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Wow - that's not really cherry picking stats much is it? Would you expect any goalie to have a 20% margin in his save % over another goalie? And why does Dubnyks great save % diminish Price's? Actually that.004 spread is a huge margin. The rest of the pack are .001 apart at every step, with a rare .002 margin once in a while.

And GWGs? Assuming you mean the Caps wouldn't have won those games anyway, then without Sean Monahan's 8 GWGs the Flames don't make it. or the Isles don't make it without the 16 points off of Tavares' 8 GWG. But in reality, how many of those games were won by one goal? And How many were more than one goal leads, but the other team got a goal late?

Because, if you have 7 or 8 50-goal scorers every year, the 50 goal plateau isn't that special anymore. In my mind, Ovi's 50 goals are a remarkable achievement in today's NHL because you very rarely see 50 goal guys anymore.

Price's sv% isn't as impressive as Ovi's 50 because Dubnyk was right there with him carrying his team to the playoffs, and this has really been the 'year of the goalie' in that scoring was down across the board.

All the rewards and stats are relative to the era/season they are in.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

Price should win it easily. He carried a team that was closer to drafting McDavid than making the playoffs when he took over on Jan 15 to a 100 pt playoff season.

OOOps my mistake that was Dubnyk.

But the stats were similar and Price did it for his team all season long to win the division.

Without Price it is likely that Montreal is a lottery team too.

If you want to reward Dubnyk for turning around Minnesota you also have to punish him for not being able to get Phoenix out of being a bottom dweller.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Because, if you have 7 or 8 50-goal scorers every year, the 50 goal plateau isn't that special anymore. In my mind, Ovi's 50 goals are a remarkable achievement in today's NHL because you very rarely see 50 goal guys anymore.

Price's sv% isn't as impressive as Ovi's 50 because Dubnyk was right there with him carrying his team to the playoffs, and this has really been the 'year of the goalie' in that scoring was down across the board.

All the rewards and stats are relative to the era/season they are in.

You are correct in that there are few 50 goal scorers anymore, and yes I think it deserves some recognition. However, you are incorrect thinking scoring was down across the league. The average Goals per Game in the NHL was 2.73, which is flat to the last 3 previous seasons. Scoring has just been spread out over more lines in the NHL. It's still not as bad as the "dead puck" era.

http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/stats.html

I will say that power plays are down over the last 4 seasons compared to the post-lockout era, and even before that. Last year's 3.06 PPO per game was the lowest since they started recording the stat back in the early 60's. Officials have backed way off on the hooking/holding infractions, and I almost wish they would go back to strict enforcement. Hence, PP goals are also down, and fewer points for your top offensive players are available.