Let me begin by saying that I have no delusions about this and I realize that Ovechkin will be given the Hart Trophy. For WHATEVER REASON, he seems to be the favorite among sports writers / announcers (even a few from PITTSBURGH - *cough* Bob Smizak *cough*) and I couldn’t disagree with them more and here are some reasons why (taking a closer look at the stats which speak for themselves; links have been included so you can check them out yourself):
PLUS / MINUS: Malkin +17, Ovechkin +8
BLOCKED SHOTS: Malkin - 39, Ovechkin - 32
SHOTS TAKEN / PERCENTAGE: Malkin - 12.1% (35 goals / 290 shots), Ovechkin - 10.6% (56 goals / 528 SHOTS)! Out of ALL THE PLAYERS in the league, Ovechkin leads with the number of shots he's taken this season and logic dictates that the more shots you take, the more goals you're going to score!! Keep in mind now, Ovechkin played three games less than Malkin and his total is still almost DOUBLE Malkin's total. Let's just say for argument's sake that we double Malkin's shots to even the two up -- Malkin would easily have more goals than Ovechkin (giving him a total of 70 goals). But better than that he's MORE ACCURATE and wouldn't you want the more accurate player on your team? I know I would!
TAKEAWAYS (STEALS) - according to HockeyAnalysis.com, out of 100 of the top players in this category, Malkin is at the top (with 87; 108 adj*) and Ovechkin is nowhere to be found on the list; how can a player be useful to his team when he's not multi-faceted and helps to get the puck from the opponent?
GIVEAWAYS (TURNOVERS) - I looked at this stat to be fair since Malkin is at the top of this list as well with 80 (90 adj*) which isn't a good stat looking at it alone; however, in light of the fact that Ovechkin DOES make THIS list (and not the other), I still view this as a "check" in Malkin's column. BTW - Ovechkin is #11 with 100 giveaways (60 adj*).
*from HockeyAnalysis.com - adj* = So what I have done is to attempt to remove these biases by adjusting the stats to reduce the number of stats awarded in 'generous' cities and boosting the number of stats awarded in stingy cities. So far I have done this for hits, giveaways and takeaways for both teams and players. I have also taken a look at how many giveaways have led to shots on goal and goals against but in doing so instead of using adjusted stats I only looked at road stats which would eliminate a significant portion of the bias in the RTSS stats. It's not perfect but it is better than nothing
PLUS / MINUS: Malkin +17, Ovechkin +8
BLOCKED SHOTS: Malkin - 39, Ovechkin - 32
SHOTS TAKEN / PERCENTAGE: Malkin - 12.1% (35 goals / 290 shots), Ovechkin - 10.6% (56 goals / 528 SHOTS)! Out of ALL THE PLAYERS in the league, Ovechkin leads with the number of shots he's taken this season and logic dictates that the more shots you take, the more goals you're going to score!! Keep in mind now, Ovechkin played three games less than Malkin and his total is still almost DOUBLE Malkin's total. Let's just say for argument's sake that we double Malkin's shots to even the two up -- Malkin would easily have more goals than Ovechkin (giving him a total of 70 goals). But better than that he's MORE ACCURATE and wouldn't you want the more accurate player on your team? I know I would!
TAKEAWAYS (STEALS) - according to HockeyAnalysis.com, out of 100 of the top players in this category, Malkin is at the top (with 87; 108 adj*) and Ovechkin is nowhere to be found on the list; how can a player be useful to his team when he's not multi-faceted and helps to get the puck from the opponent?
GIVEAWAYS (TURNOVERS) - I looked at this stat to be fair since Malkin is at the top of this list as well with 80 (90 adj*) which isn't a good stat looking at it alone; however, in light of the fact that Ovechkin DOES make THIS list (and not the other), I still view this as a "check" in Malkin's column. BTW - Ovechkin is #11 with 100 giveaways (60 adj*).
*from HockeyAnalysis.com - adj* = So what I have done is to attempt to remove these biases by adjusting the stats to reduce the number of stats awarded in 'generous' cities and boosting the number of stats awarded in stingy cities. So far I have done this for hits, giveaways and takeaways for both teams and players. I have also taken a look at how many giveaways have led to shots on goal and goals against but in doing so instead of using adjusted stats I only looked at road stats which would eliminate a significant portion of the bias in the RTSS stats. It's not perfect but it is better than nothing
TIME ON ICE: Malkin (30) = 1,846:24 minutes; Ovechkin (35) = 1,817:22 minutes (at first glance it appears that Malkin has more ice time; however, keeping in mind Ovechkin played a total of 79 games and Malkin played a total of 82 games, these totals amount to approximately 22:31 minutes / game for Malkin and 23:00 minutes / game for Ovechkin, so Ovechkin had more time on ice even after missing three games this season!). You could argue that Malkin did more with his time on the ice seeing as how he has better stats or you could also view it as Ovechkin had more time to score more goals!
There are also those things that cannot be measured in stats. For instance, do you ever notice how Malkin is aware when one of his linemates is close to a benchmark / milestone and how he makes certain to get the puck to them at all costs (he's been a big contributor to Sykora's first hat trick as well as making sure he scored his 300th career goal!)? Now has anyone ever seen Ovechkin do this (with his total number of shots at 528 - THERE'S NO WAY especially with only 54 assists for the season - that only amounts to about 1/10th of the number of shots he's taken!).
According to the NHL, the Hart trophy is given to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team. The winner is selected in a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association in all NHL cities at the end of the regular season.
Now granted, both Ovechkin and Malkin are two of the top hockey players in the league today, but how can anyone seriously say that Ovechkin is more valuable to his team when Malkin is better in almost every stat category there is (when they're looked at more closely) and Ovechkin makes it quite apparent that he is his top priority while on the ice? I, for one, have no clue!
There are also those things that cannot be measured in stats. For instance, do you ever notice how Malkin is aware when one of his linemates is close to a benchmark / milestone and how he makes certain to get the puck to them at all costs (he's been a big contributor to Sykora's first hat trick as well as making sure he scored his 300th career goal!)? Now has anyone ever seen Ovechkin do this (with his total number of shots at 528 - THERE'S NO WAY especially with only 54 assists for the season - that only amounts to about 1/10th of the number of shots he's taken!).
According to the NHL, the Hart trophy is given to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team. The winner is selected in a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association in all NHL cities at the end of the regular season.
Now granted, both Ovechkin and Malkin are two of the top hockey players in the league today, but how can anyone seriously say that Ovechkin is more valuable to his team when Malkin is better in almost every stat category there is (when they're looked at more closely) and Ovechkin makes it quite apparent that he is his top priority while on the ice? I, for one, have no clue!
But by those in the PHWA voting for Ovechkin, it would seem to me they would be sending a message that "showboating" and possessing qualities such as arrogance and selfishness makes one more worthy of this trophy (since that's the only difference between these two players). Yet, aren't those the very things a good athlete, in any sport, are told to avoid being. I guess in this case, Ovechkin will be rewarded for them and always will.
Malkin - winner of the "Harts" of all Penguins fans!!
Posts
6 comments:
I just know that AO will get the MVP but there are so many ways that Malkin deserves it much more. My husband and I keep having this discussion that Malkin is much more of a better player!!
Even worse is that Pgh based writers seem to give it to Ovie as well!
I constantly have this discussion with my dad, who says "the only thing that matters is the scoreboard". Well that's just not accurate.
Yes all that matters IS the scoreboard. But a truely great player does EVERYTHING in his power to light it up.
My playoff prediction is that Ovechkin's selfishness is going to cost the Caps, their playoff run.
The reason Malkin won't get it, and I hate this reason, is because of Crosby. The writers seem to think that if Malkin went down, the team would be alright. If Ovechkin goes down, they feel the team will falter. That is the only reason Ovechkin will win the Hart. I hate this because last year, we were in the reverse scenario and Malkin didn't win it, so why should Ovechkin this year? Ask the writers that question.
http://www.everythingpittsburgh.net
I agree Malkin is the better player and deserves the award much more than AO, but your arguement about there shooting percentage is rediculous. It's not easy to get that many shots and would love to have a guy on the Penguins team that could take 500 shots and have a shooting percentage of 10. That being said Malkin is a much more rounded player that actually plays defense. People will make the arguement that AO is not one dementional because he is in the top ten in hits in the league, but if you watch him play he takes himself out of position to take cheap shot runs at people which is a big reason a guy with 56 goals can have such a low + - rating. Another reason Malkin is being overlooked for this award is because he lives in Crosby's shadow, maybe not here in Pittsburgh but in every other city he is. If you went to any city other than Pittsburgh and asked who the team MVP is almost everyone would say Crosby. And if Crosby played the entire season the way he has over the last month that would be the correct answer.
As you can see, this was a very popular post today, so I wanted to tell all of you THANK YOU for the great comments and pointing other things out to me -- I appreciate it!! KEEP THEM COMING!!
Post a Comment