Quote Originally Posted by RGM81 View Post
With a team like the Canucks, who have so many key guys in key roles, it can work against any member of the team even being a finalist for the Hart. You look at the contributions of the Sedins, Kesler, and in a great regular season Luongo - if none of them is head and shoulders above even his own teammates, how can they be held up against someone like Pekka Rinne in Nashville?

That's an issue that I have with the way people who get a vote, vote. When guys like Henrik (09-10) or Malkin (11-12) win the Hart, sometimes I question that they're even necessarily the most valuable player on and to their own team. Yes the year that Henrik won it he played a quarter of the season without Daniel, but at the same time you had Luongo putting up 40 wins and some pretty good goaltending numbers and you had Kesler really stepping up into a strong leadership role. Did Henrik really carry the whole team and play a more significant role in the Canucks' success than, say, Ovechkin did for the Capitals that year? That was really the final year that Ovy was a truly dynamite player - the Caps finished first in the East and it certainly wasn't because of Jose Theodore or Mike Green.

All this isn't to single out any player or diminish what they did that season, but I think it's a flawed process that the Art Ross carries with it a seemingly de facto nomination for the Hart as well.

That's a very good point, and you're right, I think it does.

However, I do think Malkin deserved the Hart last season. Whenever Sid is hurt, Malkin plays like an animal. Besides Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins team has been average the past 3 seasons. Sure, Fleury puts up a lot of wins, but his GAA and Save % are not top numbers. True, the defense in front of him has not been wonderful the past 2 seasons, but he racks up a lot of wins because he plays behind one of the best offensive teams in the NHL. Letang is a big part of the team, I will say that. But James Neal is overrated IMO. He's a great sniper, one of the bets in the league. But without a true playmaker (a la Sid or Geno), he'd be a 20 goal scorer tops. He definately does not score 40 last year if he doesn't play w/ Malkin. I guess my real argument here is that last year, Malkin carried an average team without help from Crosby for much of the season, and led them to within 2 points of top seed in the East. That's why I personally think he deserved it. Just my opinion though.