....And More of the Past

I talked about the President's trophy being the Caps to lose now. The league tried everything they could to stop it, but even their efforts couldn't stop a dominant regular season team this year. What they can and have been trying to do is influence the Hart Trophy (MVP). Colin Campbell might have a coronary if Ovechkin wins three in a row, joining the elite company of only Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky. The league is learning the hard way that you can't just beat the Caps fair and square, and it is actually pretty tough to beat them with constant suspensions, questionable calls, and corrupt video replays. The fact that OV's hit on Campbell garnered more attention than Cooke's hit on Savard is mind-boggling, but that is what the NHL hype machine wants. I just hope it doesn't affect what OV has rightly earned for the third year in a row.

The Post ran an article yesterday saying OV is still in the "hunt for the Hart." What hunt? There is no one even close. The Great 8 leads the league in goals (45), points (97), is on a pace for a career high assists with 52 right now, and most telling of all, his plus minus is a staggering +42. That is the most telling stat for a hockey player, and what every player prides himself on. OV is not just a scoring machine, he plays defense, and he does both better than anyone else in the game. He does all of this while captaining the best team in the league. Back to plus/minus, the Caps as a whole are plus eighty for the year thus far, and that is no small feat considering that our second and third string goalies have played in half of the games. The Coyotes come in second at +55, and the Devils and Sabres are the closest in the East at +20 a piece. To put it in perspective the Oilers are on the other side of the spectrum at -59. That is almost a two goal difference each game. Finally, Ovechkin amassed these stats for both himself and his team despite missing 14 games for an injury and the league's persecution of him and all things Caps. Because of this he has the highest points per game in a decade with a 1.56 mark. So who could possibly even come into the discussion?

Ryan Miller is a possibility. To be honest, the Sabres are not that good of a team and may not be in the playoffs at all without him. He was fantastic in the Olympics, but this is the NHL. And his numbers are good, but not as astounding as Ovechkin. Miller leads the league in save percentage at .929, but Vokoun and Rask are right behind him at.928. At goals against average he holds a 2.22 average, behind Rask's 2.02. And finally Phoenix's Bryzgalov leads the league with both 8 shutouts and 39 wins. Miller does not place in the top five in either category. If you are going to name a goalie MVP I would give it to Bryzgalov, who has led a bankrupt team that was failing on the ice only a year ago to the top of the Western Conference as of today. But goalies don't win the Hart very often. Theodore won it in '02, and Hasek in both '97 and '98 (when he lost his cool and tossed his stick at Bondra en route to the Caps first Stanley Cup appearance.) After that you would have to go back to 1962, when Jacques Plante was the last goalie to win the Hart. Ovechkin leads the league in almost every relevant skater category. Miller leads one goaltender stat by a hair. While Miller's team might need him more (as the Caps were 7-2-1 without OV,) Kelley's blue book is still going to tell the rich guy his Bentley is more valuable than the poor guy's Pinto.

You didn't forget about the NHL PR team did you? Yes, the same guys that put the league on Versus between "Whacked Out Sports" and "World Extreme Cagefighting." The NHL just couldn't have a MVP debate without Crosby being mentioned. For the record he is tied with Ovechkin in goals, and other than that, he leads the league in nothing. His +/- is seven. Even when he is being selfish he is still a failure. His team has won nothing in the regular season thus far. Look, Penguins fans think I am too harsh on Crosby because I hate the Pens. I would hate Crosby if he was an Islander because of the way he plays the game. Having him compared to a stand-up guy like Ovechkin is frustrating for someone who likes hockey. OV is a tough all-around player who plays the game the way it should be played. The Princess is a clown and an embarrassment to the game. He reminds me of a cross between Bill Paxton's character in "True Lies" and Matt Dillon's character in "Something about Mary." He's just a seedy used car salesman who whines a lot and tries to hide his fear behind a false mirage of bravado.

Lets just look at last night's game against the Red Wings. With the clock running down to protect him, he crosschecks Zetterberg four times, skates away in fear, gets slapped around by the goalie, then cowers behind his buddies the refs. After the fight is quelled, he puts on the tough guy bravado again, against a team he won't see again for a year. (And yes it was the same Zetterberg that Malkin drew an instigator penalty for trying to pick a fight, but had his suspension lifted by Colin Campbell in the midst of the Cup Finals.) One can be assured Crosby won't be suspended either. This is the guy who captains the Pens, who is supposed to lead them by example. Maybe that is why Matt Cooke refused to take off his visor when Shawn Thornton squared up on him in retaliation for the Savard hit that was also never suspended. You can see this act of cowardice here in slow motion, at 1:57 into the clip when Thornton motions for Cooke to take his helmet off; something that gentlemen do in an otherwise brutal game when they are wearing a visor. Perhaps he was taking his cues from the "book of how to play hockey like the Cros." Would the Caps captain, who isn't even a fighter, ever stoop to such an act of fear and disrespect to the few gentlemanly parts of the game? Of course not.

These are the intangibles that are not shown in statistics. The entire Caps team takes on Ovechkin's attitude, love and respect for the game, and work ethic. Sometimes it can be frustrating, but they even try to play like him, even though that is impossible. Even when the league forced OV out he never missed a practice. He instead raises the level of everyone else around him, leading to a +80 for the team, and a 1 seed in the conference with a Jersey loss tonight and a Caps win tomorrow. He leads by example, and if you had a kid playing hockey, is there anyone else you would have him emulate? He has earned three in a row, but if it bugs the league so much that they absolutely have to have someone else there is only one person who comes close to the Great 8. Backstrom feeds OV every night, resulting in 59 assists to go with his 29 goals. The most important statistic again is the +/- of +32, and the same gusto as OV to lead the Caps to 7-2-1 without the top star. While we are at it, give Mike Green the Norris Trophy for best defenseman. He was robbed last year, and just came back with 70 points thus far. And yes he plays defense, his +/- is +30. Its time for people to face it, the Caps are the best in the league; lets just hope they keep it up through June.