Evgeni Malkin wins scoring title, but how close was Ovechkin?
by FrankD on Apr 12, 2009 9:00 AM EDT
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PrintTalk about a great race for the title. On a night where picking up one point would easily set him apart from Alex Ovechkin, Malkin tallied the game's first goal in a 3-1 win over the Habs. Ovechkin put in a two-point effort as well in Florida but the gap was too big to come in any closer.
So do we have ourselves an MVP candidate or what? Is this the year where Malkin sweeps in and takes the hardware?
There's no denying Ovechkin's versatility. The guy brings it every night and leaves it all on the ice. His speed, intensity and passion is rivaled by only a select few in the league. In the end he fell only three points short of the scoring title.
Three points isn't all that much, especially when you consider the three games Ovie missed this season.
I'd imagine no fan base (yes, Capitals and Flyers included) is cold enough to hold Ovechkin guilty for missing the October 28 game against the Predators and November 1 game against the Sabres. After all, his grandfather passed away and anyone with a heart can only assume what he must have gone through at the time when he opted to return home to be with his family. Outside of that leave of absense, the only other game Ovechkin missed was on March 5 against the Leafs (foot injury).
Malkin, on the other hand, put in a complete 82-game season despite a few occasions where he was admittedly under the weather. All in all both players had a healthy, injury-free season.
Given circumstances of the season Malkin won the title fair and square. Yet in the back of your mind - no matter how buried it may be - do you think Ovechkin would've won if given a full 82 games to work with?
If we're basing an answer off of stats then the answer is best addressed as, "It still would've been a close one." Even in a 113-point tie Ovechkin would have won based on the premise that he accumulated more goals.
Factor in how he performed against those teams throughout the season:
- In one game against the Preds Ovechkin picked up an assist.
- In three games against the Sabres he tallied 2G, 2A.
- In three games against the Leafs, 3G, 1A.
Take Ocho's average point total against each team, add it together and you get roughly 3.6 points.
So in stats alone, yes - but just barely. Keep in mind he was also held scoreless in one game against the Leafs and Sabres as well so really it could have swayed in either direction. Plus, it's not like you can really dismiss a guy for winning the Maurice Richard Trophy...
This is the last place you'll see us take anything away from Malkin. But given the intensity of the race I just figured we could provide a little food for thought and give credit to each player where credit is due.
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Here's a stat
that needs to be considered in the Hart if someone is comparing Geno to what’s his name in Washington! 290 shots of goal for Geno, 528 for the other one! Now if Malkin takes 528 shots, how many goals does he score? Evgeni is also a great two-way player! Case closed!
Would be shocked to see Malkin win the Hart
You take a stat that will be looked at and probably be the difference in Ovi winning the award and try and turn it against him.Here this may work for some who don’t truly understand hockey but to the writers 528 shots will give the award to Ovi.Had Malkin had 528 shots he would win the award but Malkin can’t get himself in the position to shoot that many times.Ovechkin still was tied for 10th in assists despite shooting the rubber 528 times.There is no player in the world who commands as much attention as OVI.He will win the hart in what will be considered a close vote but he will win it handily.While Malkin gets the takeaways Ovi delivers the big hits and alot of them and those hits often lead to retaliation and power plays,along with getting his team fired up. I am 100% that Ovechkin wins this award.
I think Ovechkin will win the MVP handily, despite Malkin being a better all-around and two-way player. Malkin also will probably be overlooked for the Selke trophy, where he rightfully should be a contender because he led the league this season in takeaways. I guess he’ll have to settle for the Art Ross, which is not bad at all! Anyway, these things matter a lot less than winning in the postseason….. I’d much rather see the Pens win less individual trophies than the Caps but beat them in the playoffs!
go pens!
Who cares about missed games?!
Mario still was able to pull out the Art Ross against Wayne Gretzky even when he played only 58 games in 88-89. Gretzky played 78 games that year, albeit his first season with the woeful Kings. No excuses on the missed game tallies. It’s not like OV came within 5 points of Geno, and only played half a season. Case closed.
I think Malkin has a legit shot at winning the MVP. Look at the 05-06 race between Jagr and Thornton. Thornton finished with 125 (29+96) to Jagr’s 123 (54+69). Thornton won, and maybe rightfully so, because 96 assists is rather impressive. These numbers sort of compare to Malkin and Ovenchicken this year. Malkin has 78 assists to Ovi’s 56 goals. And, as history shows, the last 5 Art Ross Winners won the Hart.
by soccerrocker1977 on Apr 12, 2009 5:06 PM EDT reply actions
As a diehard, lifelong Caps fan (and therefore an OV fanboy), I have to admit that Malkin is a monster and deserves MVP this year. I hope he shows it in the playoffs.
Well we appreciate that mucho. It feels good knowing we’re not the only hockey fans who think he’s worthy.
Thanks for commenting, despite your poor team affiliation ;-)
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com
This shapes up as perhaps the most hotly contested — between the players and their fans — Hart Trophy race, certainly since the 2002 race between Jose Theodore and Jarome Iginla. And it will be for similar reasons. Where Theodore and Iginla played different positions, breaking out the skater-versus-goalie argument, Ovechkin and Malkin share only a nationality as players. They are as different in style and temperament as two players can be. Ovechkin is the big goal-scorer, the big hitter, the big personality. Malkin is more balanced, the artist, the more understated (but certainly not less effective) player who might be more varied in the ways he can beat you. I don’t put a lot of stock in the relative shot totals. Ovechkin takes a lot of shots, but that goes with the position he plays, and it isn’t often he’s just throwing the puck at the net. Besides, Mike Green led all NHL defensemen in shots/game. Even Alexander Semin averaged almost four shots a game, often playing with Ovechkin. The Caps shoot a lot (led the East in SOG/game).
The difference, though, might come down to this. When Crosby and Malkin are not playing on the same line, Malkin will — perhaps more often than not — not draw the top defensive opponents. Ovechkin draws those players every single night, no matter who is on his line.
If you've read this far...seek help.
The difference, though, might come down to this. When Crosby and Malkin are not playing on the same line, Malkin will — perhaps more often than not — not draw the top defensive opponents. Ovechkin draws those players every single night, no matter who is on his line.
This might be different that Crosby has Guerin and Kunitz (instead of his previous linemates) but in the past opponents almost always check Malkin with their best defensemen.
Malkin, for instance, usually draws Timonen-Coburn but the Flyers match Richards against Crosby. Ottawa almost always put Volchenkov-Phillips against Malkin.
We’ll see how it shapes out this year -especially with Malkin’s linemates as the currently slumping Petr Sykora and the cold Ruslan Fedotenko- but I suspect that teams will still break up their best checking units and try to get their center to lockdown on Crosby and their best defensemen on team to go against Geno, or vice versa.
Malkin MVP?
I would have given it to him last year even more than this year. While you can’t totally ignore a 60 goal season, Malkin carried the Pens on his back after Crosby was injured. No one knew he could do that. So all things considered, I would reward the guy who everyone thought was good, but no one knew he was THAT good.
Why is this article all about overchicken? Ok this is unprofessional. Seriously who wrote this? Overchicken is an incredible talent however this arcticle should have a small reference to Overchicken is any. Malkin deserves his credit. He won and he should be talked about not some punk runner up. I am sick of Malkin not getting the recognition this acticle is a prime examp[le. This is to the writier of this arcticle….when someone wins the Superbowl the winning team is held high and given a trophy not the runner up, get it???? Thank you have a wonderful time now I have to put my Jordan Staal jersey on focus on twirling my Terrible Towl!!! I say good day sir!!
AO and Malkin have both won trophies this year. AO was runner up for Malkin’s trophy (which he already owns) and Malkin wasn’t on the radar for AO’s trophy. It’s a fair question to ask what AO could have done with those 3 other games, and I suspect the NHL writers will be contemplating the same thing when they vote on the Hart trophy, which as I’m sure you are aware is still up in the air. We are talking about individual awards over which there is a lot of disagreement, not a team award decided in an objective manner so your SB analogy doesn’t fit.
I’m happy to say I wrote it. Thanks for joining and reading what is obviously a Penguins blog.
I try to provide a fair and balanced approach to things like this. I could’ve easily written a “Malkin rocks Ovechkin sucks” post but that approach, to me, would’ve been unprofessional and completely inaccurate. They’re both great players and you know it as much as the next hockey fan. If you’d care to read anything else on the site you’d see it is not entirely all about Ovechkin, at all. Give it a try sometime.
And just in case you missed that last part in the post:
This is the last place you’ll see us take anything away from Malkin. But given the intensity of the race I just figured we could provide a little food for thought and give credit to each player where credit is due.
Good day sir.
Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com
by FrankD on Apr 14, 2009 5:02 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
What ifs?
Does it really matter about AO missing the 3 games? What if he played in those 3 games. He MIGHT be the scoring champion! or he might be 3rd considering Crosby’s 5 games missed!
All that matters is that the season is over and there are ZERO games left to be played towards this regular season. Does Malkin’s 82 game season show his dedication to hockey and the penguins, similar to his dedication last year?
Another thing about AO, Malkin and Crosby. Yes, AO shoots a lot, but his team’s whole design on winning is based on “giving the puck to AO” to make something happen. The penguins are based on sharing that time between 2 lines, one with Crosby and one with Malkin. Even if you take away the shooting differences and the strategy design, there is a more clear way of figuring things out. Fractions! AO has a 10.6% shooting percent, while Malkin has a 12.1% and Crosby has a 13.9%. Out of 100 shots, according to stats, AO would finish 3rd. Also, Malkin and Crosby both have proven to earn more assists than AO, per game.
You can say all your little comments about how you can’t use shot %, but the truth is…its the best way to even the playing field of these three star players regarding goals scored. (I know there are players with higher %’s, but they would not be considered due to the lack of a large enough sample size / they didnt break 100 points this season / or i just dont want to bring them up)
All that I am trying to prove is that there are a million ways to look at each player. AO did good, but Malkin did better this year! Gratz to the friends who ended #1 and #2!
Malkin!!
Ok, both players are amazing athletes and are adding new levels of excitement and talent to the game, I think everyone can agree on that. The Hart is for the player adjudged to be most valuable to his team. While 56 Goals are valuable to your team, isn’t a player who can dish out 78 assists more of an asset. I mean, Ovi shoots a lot and sooner than later he’s gonna see goalies making saves they weren’t before. He’s a good shot and he’s explosive but if his shot gets shut down what is he to the caps. Sure he’ll make a couple big hits, but he also misses hits. I’d rather have malkin pick-pocketing players and finding a teammat across ice for a goal. When malkin has the puck he’s a triple threat. He could put a slapshot over the blocker, make a houdini pass, or walk the puck to the front of the net and deposit it in the five-hole. I think he should get the Hart easily.
He won't
and no a finisher is always better than a setup man.Ovi did finish 10th in assists thats nothing to laugh at and he is a balanced player 56 goals 54 assist thats an MVP ,I guarantee he wins the hart 110%.78 assists is great but it isnt as good as 56 goals.How many of those assists are secondary?who really cares though like I said a finisher over a setup man any day.Ovi wins the hart by a decent margin ,not huge it will be somewhat close ,but handily.
Come On!!
I think deep down everyone knows that Ovechkin is the better man for the award. It’s a tough debate to even figure out the MVP for the Penguins…if you can’t even figure that out, then how can you argue he is the best in the NHL this year. Penguin fans just want Malkin to dethrone Ovechkin, due to rivalry.
A better argument, against Ovechkin, to claim MVP over him, would be TIm Thomas…with the best GAA ans Save % and getting his team to the number one spot in the East. His only down-side is that he didn’t play 60+ games…
So…It’s still Ovechkin.
Ovechkin?
there seems to be some confusion about who’s going to win the mvp. id like to clear it up here and now. malkin will win the mvp. yeah ovechkin has the goal lead and the shots lead but if malkin couldnt do anything with the puck but shoot it every time he got it then he would have beaten ovechkin in both of those categories. it takes true talent to be able to find the open guy every time because he wont be in the same exact place like the goal is. for anyone who actually understands what it takes to do what malkin does, malkin is the mvp. plus out of all the forwards in both conferences of the nhl, ovechkin led in toi. of cource he’s going to score more points if you sit him out there longer. how anyone could think that malkin is not going to win the mvp is rediculous.
MVP
See, there is a difference between who will and who should win the Hart. The argument for Malkin over Ovechkin is a strong one. Malkin has more points. Malkin has more takeaways. Malkin has a considerably better plus/minus. Malkin showed great leadership, taking a team that looked down and out to the fourth seed in the East. The argument for Ovechkin is weak. He has more goals, but that is his only advantage. The argument over how their teams would do without them is pointless because their teams didn’t go without them, and the MVP isn’t about wild conjecture. It’s about fact. Besides, Ovechkin, it can be argued, had a stronger supporting cast throughout the year than Malkin. Crosby is the only other Penguin to score 50 points for the Pens. AO had Semin, Green, Backstrom, and Laich. However, all the media cares about is Ovechkin. Goals are a sexier stat than assists or plus/minus, and people are willing to work purely off of reputation when judging the rest of a guy’s team. That is why Ovechkin will get the Hart, despite not earning it. For what it’s worth, I think Datsyuk, with 97 points and +34, deserves it more than AO, and it should be between the Detroit center and Geno for the MVP.
a comment about the shot difference thing
the guy that made the comment about mario and gretzky is absolutely right. also, i’d like to suggest that if someone managed to actually look at all video from every pens game this season, if you could determine the number of times Malkin could have shot with a good scoring chance and chose to pass instead, it would add a huge amount of shots to his total, so anyone who thinks ovechkin has more shots because he puts himself in more or better scoring chances is way off, at least by saying that’s the only reason. it would be a waste of time to do this analysis with alex because he is more selfish of a player and it wouldnt add that many shots to his total. Also, whoever wrote this article is going to look completely bad if the pens end up playing the caps in the next round and Malkin does better. why would you leave yourself with a future reality that is a 50% chance of setting yourself up for failure.
crosby would have won the scoring title if he played all 82
by crosbykillsflyers on Apr 28, 2009 4:28 PM EDT reply actions
and look at the playoffs so far…ovechkin was a no show in 3 games against new york, malkin is just a better all around player so is crosby…malkin also last i checked led the nhl in takeaways, the mvp aint just about who scored the most goals
by crosbykillsflyers on Apr 28, 2009 4:31 PM EDT reply actions
this debate is why id like to see pens and caps next round
by crosbykillsflyers on Apr 28, 2009 4:36 PM EDT reply actions
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