Congrats to OV for winning the Ted Lindsay, as voted by the players. That is the most prestigious and coveted award, so naturally OV won. I hate some of the opposing players sometimes, but when they play by the code and are honest it shows what hockey is all about. It must take a lot to get knocked around by the OV all year and still stand up to say he he is clearly the best for the third year in a row. Three in a row is the third time ever that that has ever happened, and the first since Gretzky. One thing Gretzky never did was make the all-pro team for the first five years of his career but that's okay, no one has but OV. Congrats to the class of the league OV, and congrats to the players for showing some class in voting for him.
It would be great if the media showed some class and gave him the Hart as well, but Sedin had a great year so good for him. OV lost by a weighted point system of 894 to 834. Mysteriously, OV was not voted MVP by the writers by a difference of six first place votes. (20 votes were hype votes wasted on Crosby.) It does not make sense unless OV was left off of those lone 6 ballots completely, losing the first place vote count 46-40. This isn't a dimpled chad situation; there is a clear explanation for this. It is our fine Pennsylvania neighbors again, only this time it was not Pittsburgh, but Philly, where fans intentionally vomit on children, let four year olds swill beer on camera, boo Santa, and never win anything.
Mike Vogel reported on dumpnchase.com live at the awards in Vegas that he witnessed the Philly writers saying that none of them had Mike Green in their top five for the Norris, which he placed second for again. (Despite the fact that since 1994 the only defenders that have been passed over for the Norris as point leaders are Green and ex-Cap Gonchar.) They clearly were in collusion to keep Green out; do you think they may have had something to do with OV not winning the Hart despite showing again that he is clearly the best in the league? That answer is obvious. I have said for a while that there is already bias against OV and the rest of the Caps by anyone with a touch of power in the NHL. He clearly did not need the perpetually classless in Philly to tip the balance even more. Furthermore, Boudreau's team finished 10th in the Jack Adams voting, which also took place before the playoffs even started. Who were the other guys voted ahead of the coach with the best record in the league? There was the chicanery of the Pitt series last year, the OV suspensions out of nowhere during the regular season, the rock salt sabotage in Montreal during the playoffs, and now the skewed voting by the biased media. Its been a frustrating year for the Caps. At least Neuvrith and Hershey won the Calder again; that was something the NHL, cheaters and the media could not take away.
Theodore won the Masterson, which even the heartless had to vote for after the year he had on and off the ice. He will be missed and we will be left to wonder if the Caps could have overcome their sabotaged skates if he was put back in net during the Montreal series. I think it is smart bringing Neuvirth up. Nabokov was released by the Sharks, but there is not any point in wasting cap space on a goalie when the Caps need a free agent defenseman like Michalek from Phoenix to really get to where they want to be. I have no doubt the Caps cruise to the playoffs again with Varlamov and Neuvrith splitting the net; the rest of the team is too talented. A guy like Michalek is a stay at home d-man who always finds a way in front of shots, and a big name goalie is becoming less and less of a commodity in the playoffs. Guys like Miller and Brodeur got nowhere this year; guys like Halak and Niemi seem to come out of nowhere to be the hot goalie.
Niemi was the second rookie in six years to win the Cup. In order, the last six goalies with the Cup were Niemi, Fleury, Osgood, Giguere, Ward (the other rookie,) and Khabibulin. The one thing they all had in common is that none played over 62 games during those seasons. (In contrast to Brodeur, 77 games, Nabokov, 71, Bryzgalov, 69, Miller, 69 for the top four goalies this year without even counting the Olympics.) The lesser-played were rested and got hot at the right time. Neuvrith has gotten hot at the right time two years in a row at the highest level the Caps have let him play. Having a stay at home defenseman coupled with the best defenseman in the league should certainly help him make it three. So will the three time reigning MVP if all his playoff goals count next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment