toby91_ca

Looks like a good fit, but I can't link him to #17. Side note.....I've never asked anyone for their autograph, so I wouldn't know, but it is common practice to ask people for autographs when you don't even know them? I find that a little funny.

The fact of the matter is that there is a very healthy amount of people on here with a similar attitude going into the playoffs and no matter how legit a call against the Wings may be, when it happens, they will be blinded by the attitude to the point where the call is obviously BS and there is a conspiracy. Now, most normal fans will think a lot of calls against their team are BS or missed calls are BS, but that's just bias, what happens around here goes way, way too far. There will be legitimate bad calls made against the Wings, but it generally goes both ways, things will get missed, which again, generally goes both ways. Here's a fact - after almost every series, fans from both teams will think their team got screwed when it comes to officiating.

It's only happend once....54 years ago when there were only 6 teams in the league. Montreal and Detroit made the finals from 1954-1956.

That would be good....but he suggested that Doug wasn't even there that night, so how could it be his auto, I'm totally confused by that.

I saw that part, but didn't understand the relevance. Crosby has done better with Malkin in the lineup than without....not sure what that shows from an MVP perspective. Also, there was a hell of a lot more than just Malkin missing for those 7 games that you are referring to, not that it matters. If you don't think Crosby was the MVP of the Pens this year, then it's probably a non-starter from a debate perspective.

Really looks nothing like a Doug Brown auto if you ask me. Also, why we he all of a sudden start putting #17 in a different spot....guys don't typically do that.

I thought the whinning about the refs was bad in the past....now its starting a couple days before the playoffs even start? Unbelievable. Will it even be possible for the Wings to commit a penalty without it being a BS call? Do you think it's possible? Nah, can't be.

What does 2 years ago have to do with this year? Crosby missed only 1 game this year, they lost that game. He was there for all other games, which is a + when comparing to Ovechkin who wasn't there for 10 games.....therefore, couldn't help his team. Suggesting Washington would probably be 4th or 5th in the conference at best is nothing more than complete speculation, you can only go by facts and in the 10 games he was out, they had a better record than the 72 games he was in. If you only consider these 2 guys, I vote for Ovechkin for Pearson, but I vote for Crosby for Hart. When it comes right down to it, the Hart can be awarded to any 1 of 5 guys and you wouldn't have too many people questioning the result. I can't remember that ever being the case in the last number of years I've been watching. Perhaps, but not sure why this would have any impact on Crosby's chances at an NHL award.

Just thought of something else regarding Hart vs. Pearson and that it doesn't always work the way I think it should. In 1988/89, Yzerman won the Pearson and Gretzky won the Hart. If I was voting, I would have picked the other way around or even gave Yzerman both. Yzerman had 62 more points than his closest team, while Gretzky was only up 18pts on his next teammate. Points don't always tell the story, but when it's that much of a gap, I think you need to consider it. Therefore, I think Yzerman was probably more deserving of the MVP, but I wouldn't have had a problem with Wayne as the most outstanding player......actual results went the other way. I think there is 2 reasons, number 1, the Hart has generally been handed to the best player (not necessarily MVP, so you never know how the voters might vote, but I have seen a bit of a change in that regard), number 2, these awards are voted on by different groups of people, so comparing doesn't make a lot of sense anyway.

I know, the voters don't always consider the pure definition of the award, but I wonder if they are starting to more in recent years, especially when scoring is tight. I think when a guy scores more points than the competition by a healthy enough amount (yes if Ovechkin scored 120pts, no doubt he'd win), it's one thing, but if it's close, I wonder if they think of the other things. Take last year as an example. Malkin led the league in scoring, but only by a few points over Ovechkin. Perhaps voters went which Ovechin because they felt Malkin had more help with Crosby.

I think you make good points for why Ovechkin should be considered the "most outstanding player" (Pearson), but not the MVP (Hart). The fact that he missed 10 games is 1 knock against him regardless of how the team did without him since he was unable to help his team for 12% of the season. I understand the teammate argument, but as I put it earlier, when it's clear cut (like in Gretzky's case), I wouldn't go there, but with it so close this year, you probably need to look to the little things. No one is outscoring the competition by 100pts like Gretzky used to do.

To be honest, I haven't seen much discussion on either one, don't see much action out of TSN or NHL.com, it's been relatively quiet. I think it's impressive for both of them, as you say, Stamkos going from 23 in his rookie year to 51 this year (storyline with a certain someone feeling he wasn't NHL ready last year, etc.). Crosby, having question marks about his goal scoring ability (not sure why though, even before this year, his totals were very good), so in the off season he makes a specific effort on improving that part of his game and he comes in this year and ties for the lead league in goals....that's impressive. Not sure I'd look at Stamkos being on a weaker team though, his linemates are way better than Crosby's.

Regarding Miller and Bryzgalov, no doubt, Miller should get the Vezina, I don't think Bryzgalov has much of a chance there, but when talking about MVP, I think it's different. Buffalo's leading scorer had 69pts, total of 3 guys with 60+ pts and they have a Calder worthy d-man. Phoenix's leading scorer had 55pts, Bryzgalov didn't have much help. I think there are 2 things that will hurt Bryzgalov, 1. his backup atually had a better GAA and SV% (not sure voters would really notice though and really shouldn't anyway since the workload is so different) and 2. His stats are not as good as Miller's. One thing that I think will really help Bryzgalov, but I don't think it should (meaning I don't think it shoudl play a factor in the voting, but I bet those that get the votes will take it into account) - Phoenix came further in the standings this year than Buffalo did (vs. where the teams were last year) + the stuff that franchise has gone through over the past year.

I understand why there is no tie-breaker for the Richard and it makes sense when you compare to the tie-breaker for the Art Ross, I'm just saying you could look at it differently and logically come up with a tie breaker, no biggie really though.

For what it's worth: Washington record without Ovechkin this year = 7-2-1 (ever so slightly better than with him) His linemates: Backstrom - ppg without Ovechkin in the lineup = 1.40 (1.23 with Ovechkin) Knuble - ppg without Ovechkin in the lineup = 1.00 (0.76 with Ovechkin) I think Ovechkin probably deserves the Pearson, but I just don't see him as the MVP, a lot of which has to do with the above, along with this: Nicklas Backstrom - 82gp 33g 68a 101pts Alexander Semin - 73gp 40g 44a 84pts Mike Green - 75gp 19g 57a 76pts Brooks Laich - 78gp 25g 34a 59pts Mike Knuble - 69gp 29g 24a 53pts Tomas Fleischmann - 69gp 23g 28a 51pts I have a hard time giving Sedin the Pearson simply because his brother is just as good, but I also have a hard time not including him in the hunt for the Hart, he did lead the league in pts and he did show that he doesn't just get the points because of his brother, he kept the same pace while his brother was gone. Can't ignore the 2 goalies and can't ignore Crosby (32pts more than #2 on his team, 59pts better than #3 and +/- and goals way better than those 2 as well. Can you ignore his league leading 8 shootout goals? I wish you could, but not sure you can). So, when looking at it closely, I don't think I would be a complete idiot for excluding Ovechkin from the top 3 regarding Hart voting. I think it's just too close to call this year. In other years, I probably wouldn't have been nit picking because the winner is generally more clear cut.

Oveckhin gets my Pearson vote over Crosby, but not my vote for Hart over Crosby...if you go by the definition of the awards. The fact that Ovechkin had the same number of points as Crosby in 9 fewer games doesn't really mean much when you are talking about an MVP award, in fact, if you look at what his team has been able to accomplish in those 9 games he missed, probably hurs his chances at the Hart.

Ovechkin doesn't make my top 3 for the Hart...not the most goals, not the most points and if you compare his stats to his teammates, it's not like he's carrying the team on his back. I think he has a better shot at the Pearson.

You got Daniel and Henrik mixed up....which is funny, because that's one of the reasons I think Crosby is more deserving than Henrik for the Hart. Crosby - 51 goals, 109pts +15 Malkin - 28 goals, 77pts -6 Gonchar - 11 goals, 50pts -4 I think Crosby's got a pretty good chance, but I still wouldn't be surprised to see Bryzgalov win it.

Between the players listed, I saw it's Crosby, followed by Sedin, but if I was voting, my vote would go to Ilya Bryzgalov.

Why have several people referred to the NYI as the "worst team in the league"? They do suck, but at least 4 teams sucked more this year. Oh....Crosby did have 1 empty netter (still 50 with a goalie in the net)...so the person asking about if anyone scored 50 without a single empty netter being scored, I don't know, but Crosby didn't. And a point is a point no matter how it is scored, so why isn't there ties for the Art Ross. I know you can say goals are better than assists, or second assists, but that logic can't be used at the same time saying empty netters are the same as any other goal.

If it's any consolation to Crosby, he's the only player to score 50 with a goalie in the net this year. Ovechkin had 5 empty netters (2 agains the Pens) and Stamkos had 3, so they each had 45 and 48 with a goalie in the net. Don't see why they couldn't have that as a tie breaker the same way they have goals as a tie breaker for the Art Ross.

If anyone is watching the Pens game and saw Crosby's last shift....someone must have told him that he's tied with Stamkos.

So, the Rocket Richard is not locked up yet and with him gunning for Sedin (really unrealistic though), why on earth does he only play 1 minute on the powerplay? You'd think he'd be playing as much on the PP as possible. He's +4 in the game as well.

I've been getting really accustomed to the irrational hate of Crosby around this site, but the hate got to a new level when I read this the other day....can't remember where, but it wasn't here. "The only reason Crosby has a lot of goals this year is because he is so selfish" In some people's eyes, the guy really can do no right. When he only gets 35 goals or so.....he's okay, but he doesn't score many goals (even though 35-40 goals is a lot)....then, when he scores more goals...must be because he's selfish.

In any given game, any team can win, so the results of few games played between East and West can be misleading. I do think the West has more strong teams, but I don't think it's that significant. They are able to beat up on Edmonton as well. I think the big difference is how points are spread out. As of today, the average team in the West has 92pts vs. 88pts in the East. Less significant than the difference between the bottom playoff teams in each conference.