Hart Trophy Candidates

On Tuesday, it was another award candidate announcement for the year-end bash, which goes on June 12th and it's feature award for the day was the Hart Trophy. The player deemed most valuable to his team, which in some respects has been thought to be the league MVP voted on by the media.

The first candidate is a 50-goal scorer and helped guide the Flames to the playoffs, but in the confines of the Northwest Division, Jarome Iginla doesn't quite have the value that the other two candidates have, thanks to the support players he has in Dion Phaneuf and Miikka Kiprusoff, who were available to him all season. Iginla is a true leader and is undoubtedly the best player for the Flames, but he falls short of being the most valuable player to his team.

What a stretch Evgeni Malkin had when Sidney Crosby fell to his high ankle sprain. Malkin not only kept the Penguins afloat in the East, he managed to keep them in the race for the regular season title as best team in the East. Malkin finished second in regular season scoring with 106 points, including 47 goals. His dominance was such a big lift to a Penguins team that really needed one, but he did have last season's Hart Trophy winner healthy for 53 games. Malkin's numbers are impressive... but not quite good enough.

65 goals. 112 points. First playoff birth for the Capitals since 2004. Southeast Division title. The resume could possibly go on and on for Alexander Ovechkin this season, but it won't here. You've probably heard or read it all already, so why go through it all again. Ovechkin help revitalize the hockey market in the US capital and helped bring people to the away buildings of the league as well. Not only was he the MVP of the team, but he could very well be considered the MVP of the marketplace in Washington and that should be worthy enough of capturing the trophy. It should be a pretty solid haul of hardware for the Russian superstar.