I think Ovechkin should get the Hart, do you?

[Travis Munroe]

Originally Posted by Mattman

I'm not sure about Ovi now.

I used to think he was a money and fame hungry, show-boat but the past couple of years he's making it difficult for me to hate him.

-The things he does for charities and for fans.
-Consistently scoring and rarely seems to go on slumps
-The respect he gets around the league (except Getzlaf)
-Pretty good leadership

But no he doesn't win the Hart for me.

I think that people have come to a better understanding of his personality as he ages. Early on many saw him as that fame hungry show boat but year after year he is the same guy. His passion for the game
The caps are doing a terrible job building a contender around him and the window will start closing soon.

I personally think he is the most entertaining player in the playoffs. His physical game elevates and he turns into the best power forward / sniper in the game.

[You Need a Thneed]

Credit to Ovechkin for a much better season this year, but last season, Ovechkin was on the ice for 45 ES goals for, and 80 ES/SH goals against. When you are giving up nearly twice as many goals against as for, you are one of the worst players in the league, period.

No doubt one of the greatest goal scorers ever. Hart material? Likely not.

[doctajones428]

I look at 1998's Hart trophy winner as a reason why Price deserves it:

Dominic Hasek: 64 GP, 30-18-14-3 - 1.87 GAA - .937 SV% - 9 SO
Carey Price: 62 GP, 41-16-5 - 1.92 GAA - .936 SV% - 9 SO

Price has had the best overall regular season as a goalie in nearly 20 years

If Ovechkin put up his usual 100 points instead of 80, then fine, give him the Hart, but Backstrom deserves as much credit for Washington's success this year as Ovie does

[doctajones428]

double post nm

[Hugh Jahrmes]

I hate Montreal, and I'm one of the few here that actually enjoys Ovechkin's shenanigans because to me it shows he is having tons of fun and just loves the game.
Bias aside, I think it has to go to Price.

[blender]

[QUOTE=
No doubt one of the greatest goal scorers ever. Hart material? Likely not.[/QUOTE]

He has won it three times previously.

I'd say he's a prime candidate.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The Capitals might be where the Flyers are without Ovechkin. The Canadiens would be in the McDavid sweepstakes without Price. This isn't particularly close if the award is based on most value to his team.

[Har-Calgary]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

The Capitals might be where the Flyers are without Ovechkin. The Canadiens would be in the McDavid sweepstakes without Price. This isn't particularly close if the award is based on most value to his team.

I love Ovie, him and Malkin have been my favorite "non-flames" players since they both came in. Ovie probably deserves most valuable skater (edging out Tavares) but Price deserves the MVP.

[Sylvanfan]

If you were to trade Ovechkin and Holtby to the Capitals for Pacioretti and Price how would the two teams look in the standings?

I guess it comes down to how you define the Hart. I do think Ovechkin is the best non goaltender in the NHL this year. Pretty remarkable that a guy playing for Barry Trotz has 50 goals. If it wasn't for not being able to play the 04-05 season and the lockout of 2013, Ovechkin would already have 500 career goals. Which in today's day and age is seriously impressive.

[Jason14h]

The Canadiens would be in the McDavid sweepstakes without Price.

I hate this statement. Sure they would be worst off. However, it's not like they play without a goalie. With a goalie putting up Hiller stats Montreal would have allowed ~45 more goals (Assuming the difference in SV% between Hiller and Price is PURELY on goalie skills, not D or teams style, which is a stretch)

Montreal has a net + 29 goals, so with the change they would be -15.

This is right around Florida, Colorado, Dallas, Philly, Columbus territory.

So the Canadian PROBABLY would be a 9th/10th place team with a average starter.

Does Ovechkin contribute the same 45 goals difference over an average player that Price does over an average goalie? I would say it would be very close.

[EldrickOnIce]

I think it will come down to putting Price's season into historical perspective. As stated earlier in the thread, Price is having perhaps the best season a goaltender has had in 20 years. Ovechkin is having an 'average' superstar season.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

I think it will come down to putting Price's season into historical perspective. As stated earlier in the thread, Price is having perhaps the best season a goaltender has had in 20 years. Ovechkin is having an 'average' superstar season.

rofl

What would you call Iggy's Richard winning seasons, especially his 41 goal one? Average? Common.

[RyZ]

Ovechkin currently has 18 even strength assists on the season.

He's one of the elite power play specialists of all time, but the Caps have a better goals for/goals against ratio when he isn't on the ice than when he is at even strength.

He's and elite goal scorer (and thats the only area of his game that is above average), but hes no MVP.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

rofl

What would you call Iggy's Richard winning seasons, especially his 41 goal one? Average? Common.

In historical perspective, yes.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by RyZ

Ovechkin currently has 18 even strength assists on the season.

He's one of the elite power play specialists of all time, but the Caps have a better goals for/goals against ratio when he isn't on the ice than when he is at even strength.

He's and elite goal scorer (and thats the only area of his game that is above average), but hes no MVP.

Really? Because the stats say differently.

[Travis Munroe]

Originally Posted by RyZ

Ovechkin currently has 18 even strength assists on the season.

He's one of the elite power play specialists of all time, but the Caps have a better goals for/goals against ratio when he isn't on the ice than when he is at even strength.

He's and elite goal scorer (and thats the only area of his game that is above average), but hes no MVP.

Source?

You are aware he has a very legitimate shot to not only end the season with the most goals but also points? His leadership is above average.... I cant think of another guy I would bust my tail for come playoff time. My 10 million dollar captain is playing a Bouma physical game and a Ovechkin scoring game!

Anyone able to knock Ovechkin this year is simply someone who's mind was 100% made up on the guy through his first few seasons.

[CroFlames]

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=7...d=nhl:topheads

I know I'll continue to get beat up for choosing Ovi over Price for the Hart, but the quote below is another reason that I think Ovi deserves it more. He is in a league of his own when it comes to scoring goals. I know the Hart is obviously for single season performance and not a 10-year aggregate, but what the quote shows is that his goal scoring (in my opinion) is a bigger feat this year than Price's outstanding numbers.

Not only that, but 11 GWG's is just incredible.

(Interesting tid-bit: Iggy has 93 career GWG, and Gretzky has 91. Jagr has 128)

It isn't just Ovechkin's ability to dominate in an otherwise offensively-challenged era. It is also the separation between him and his peers.
As Jon Press of Japers' Rink wrote Tuesday, Ovechkin's dominance compared to the next-best goal scorer of the past 10 years, Jarome Iginla, is among the best in League history. Ovechkin has 472 goals since he entered the NHL in 2005-06, which is 136 more than Iginla has in that span.
Ovechkin has averaged 0.63 goals per game since 2005-06. Two other players with at least 200 games played have averaged at least 0.5 per game, Stamkos and Ilya Kovalchuk

[JonDuke]

Price and Ovi are amazing, but I think Dubnyk deserves a solid mention in any Hart conversation.

He's 26-6-1 (5 shut-outs) so far with Minnie. A .939 save percentage and a 1.70 GAA in those 34 games. Since the All-Star break, the Wild have 49 points in 30 games (league leading), and are an NHL-best record of 26-6-2 since January 15th. A playoff spot wasn't even imaginable for the pre-Dubnyk Wild. He carried them to their current playoff position, arguably, single handedly.

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Let me get this straight.

Dubnyk isn't good enough to win the Vezina as the leagues best goaltender, but he does win the trophy as the leagues most valuable player?

Is Price the best goalie, and deserving of the Vezina...yes.
But Dubnyk is, arguably, much more valuable to his team than Price is.

[Erick Estrada]

Lets face it. If AO was a Canadian born player he would be worshipped in this country. Since he's Russian many fans try to discredit him as some one dimensional guy that only cares about scoring while convieniently forgetting that Lemieux, Gretzky, Hull, Bossy etc were never once confused for Selke candidates. As far as scoring goes he's having a more impactful HOF career than Crosby.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Lets face it. If AO was a Canadian born player he would be worshipped in this country. Since he's Russian many fans try to discredit him as some one dimensional guy that only cares about scoring while convieniently forgetting that Lemieux, Gretzky, Hull, Bossy etc were never once confused for Selke candidates. As far as scoring goes he's having a more impactful HOF career than Crosby.

Probably true.
But it's also worth mentioning that those 5 other players you mention have combined 13 Stanley cups as players, which counts for something.

Regarding Ovechkin this year, he leads any other scorer by 10 goals. That's 20% more than anyone else. That's significant.