MVP

[RusDRW 155]

this is not a homer topic to praise Dats, for example. Also, this topic is not for those who initially say "Crosby" or "Overchkin" and only then thinks whenther they are worth this trophy this year. Just a general question and please provide you thoughts.

I would say this year it has to go to either Parise or Dats and my vote goes to Parise. He is heart and sould of the team, very active in the corners and , in general, reminds me Zetterberg last year. Third vote goes to Towes.. but this is my personal preference I can't explain. He just looks like Yzerman in his first years and I'm bit afraid of Chicago of the future.

Edited April 4, 2009 by RusDRW

[IceMunkee 15]

The bad thing is that Parise or Dats won't get the recognition they deserve. The league is so Crosby and AO oriented thats all they can think about. Do they deserve it? I think so, but other players do to. The thing about MVP is it should be about who is the best player in the league. Not the best name. So my guess is it will go to Crosby or AO with a possibilty of being Malkin.

[RusDRW 155]

I do not think MVP should be the best players in the league. As title suggest he he should be the most important player for his team and Parise is the classic example in this category. I would add Mitchell for Vancouver, Chara from Boston...

[IceMunkee 15]

I do not think MVP should be the best players in the league. As title suggest he he should be the most important player for his team and Parise is the classic example in this category. I would add Mitchell for Vancouver, Chara from Boston...

Exactly. I must have worded it wrong. Most Valuable Player should be the best to his team, not the league.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Exactly. I must have worded it wrong. Most Valuable Player should be the best to his team, not the league.

In that case, a goalie would win it every year. This year it would be Mason from Columbus.

The award should go to the best player in the league that year, despite what the initials stand for. They already have an award for goalies, it's called the Vezina. Everyone knows that a goalie is by far the most important player on the team, miles above anyone else.

I'd give the MVP to Ovechkin or Malkin, with Ovechkin getting the slight edge.

[Carman 387]

Going to Ovechkin or Thomas. I think it probably should go to Parise, but I don't see it happening.

[Yzerman191 37]

I'd say Ovechkin too. The guy is going to finish the season with around 60 goals, which equates to well over one-fifth of his team's goals, and generates many more with the sheer quantity of shots he hurls at goaltenders. They'd be fighting for a playoff spot without him.

[Broken 16 381]

In my opinion, Pavel Datsyuk is the closest thing I've ever seen to a perfect hockey player. I know I'm a corn bread eatin homer for saying that, but it's true.

[bonan78 1]

If the MVP should go to the player most valuable to his team, then it's Parise hands down. He practically carried the Devils all season, especially without Brodeur there to win a bunch of 1-0 games. I think Ovechkin will win, because of the hype he receives, and rightly so. I can't see them giving it to Crosby, he isn't even the leading scorer on his team, and giving it to Malkin would take way too much spotlight off Bettman's golden boy. Here's my top 3 vote-getters IMO:

1) Ovechkin

2) Datsyuk

3) Crosby

Datsyuk should win it, but won't. Here's why:

Can't have a repeat of that with the Hart, now can we?

[interminded 1]

Dark horses: Dwayne Roloson and Tomas Vokoun.

[Guest Shoreline]

Chris Osgood

Brendan Witt

Raitis Ivanans

Edited April 4, 2009 by Shoreline

[elriqo28 2]

I can't believe no one has said this. Calgary is in the playoffs for one reason. Miikka Kiprusoff. He has won every game for them. If he wasn't on the team and they had to mediocre goal tenders as we do, they'd be F'ed! Case closed, thread over.

Edited April 4, 2009 by elriqo28

[interminded 1]

I can't believe no one has said this. Calgary is in the playoffs for one reason. Miikka Kiprusoff. He has one every game for them. If he wasn't on the team and they had to mediocre goal tenders as we do, they'd be F'ed! Case closed, thread over.

Kiprusoff has a decent season, but really nothing spectacular.

Besides that, he has been pulled a record 7 times this season.

That's not really MVP material.

[elriqo28 2]

Kiprusoff has a decent season, but really nothing spectacular.

Besides that, he has been pulled a record 7 times this season.

That's not really MVP material.

when you play every game you are likely to be pulled a few times. Still think he is mvp. If it werent for him, his team would not even be in the playoffs.

[Spinner 6]

Osgood...oops wrong thread. Seriously tho, I agree with just about everyone that Dats is the best all around player as he has definately been the most important on the Wings this year, but the award will go to Malkin or Thomas with Crosby and Ovie also in the running because it's required for the NHL ratings

[IceMunkee 15]

Here is my thing...

There are two types of players (well a lot more but for my arguement only 2), Players that need a cast to be better. Players that make thier cast better.

A.O. - Makes everyone around him better.

Datsyuk- Probably the best at making everyone aroud him better.

Crosby- Needs good players.

Malkin- Makes everyone better.

Datsyuk is the best hockey player in the world.

[Barrie 900]

My vote goes to Ovechkin.

[MacK_Attack 108]

I think it's Malkin.

[T-Ruff 47]

In that case, a goalie would win it every year. This year it would be Mason from Columbus.

I don't think Columbus would be totally lost without Mason, they have a decent set of forwards and play a really solid defensive system

Dark horses: Dwayne Roloson and Tomas Vokoun.

I dunno about Vokoun... twice this year he has been relegated to the bench while Craig Anderson took over....

[shoe 165]

All Those picking Datsyuk for MVP and knowing its a Crosby AO thing deep down inside...

Would you settle for Datsyuk as the winner of The Lester B Pearson award? Basically thats MVP as voted by the players themselves, an award I think should carry more swaggar than it does.

[IceMunkee 15]

All Those picking Datsyuk for MVP and knowing its a Crosby AO thing deep down inside...

Would you settle for Datsyuk as the winner of The Lester B Pearson award? Basically thats MVP as voted by the players themselves, an award I think should carry more swaggar than it does.

I would be happy if Datsyuk just got the recognition with more then Detroit fans, coaches, players and media. So yes I would be satisfied with the LBP. Better then the Bing...

[YoungGuns1340 1]

What the hell is with all the Crosby nominations? He isnt even the MVP on his own team, but PENS FANS own admission.

[StevieY'sguy 1]

What the hell is with all the Crosby nominations? He isnt even the MVP on his own team, but PENS FANS own admission.

Obviously you don't watch any NHL games other than the ones the Wings are in......

Here's the rundown on the top candidates:

Parise: Plain and simple kept NJ's head above water while Brodeur was out. I watched him in college and you could always tell he was going to be a star, but he really took it to another level this year, Clemmensen played well but the single biggest reason the Devils are where they are is because of Parise....not only with the goals but playing with the heart that isn't often displayed in a scorer.

Mason: Played out of this world for a goalie and in my opinion should win the Vezina, putting a team on your back and leading them to the playoffs when they have never been their in franchise history is really something. With that being said, he is in too tough of a field to have a shot at the Hart. I don't disagree with the idea of a goalie getting the MVP but this year i don't think it should go to someone that lives between the pipes.

Datsyuk: Pav has done it all this year from his increased physical play to playing excellent defense (a +/- in the 30s) to his accustomed excellent offensive play. For right or wrong, he will lose credibility due to the offensive prowess of many of his teammates. However, I think it would be foolish of anyone to dispute that this season Pavel Datsyuk has been the most complete forward in the NHL.....Most Valuable Player? possibly.

Crosby: Although i do not think Crosby should win it this year, he most definitely deserves to be in the conversation. For most of the season (before the arrival of Kunitz and Guerin at the deadline) he was playing with a decent Pascal Dupuis and a bum in Matt Cooke which is bad enough, but when you consider the fact that Crosby's line (Not Malkin's) is the one that always drew the opposition's top line, the fact that he has been in the top 3 in the league in points all season is absolutely remarkable. Add to that the fact that he is expected to not only be the captain of his team, but also the face of the greatest hockey league in the world at only 21 years of age and you have yourself a very bona fide MVP candidate. I'm not saying he should win, but if you can't give credit where it is due to Crosby then you are simply a homer for the Red Wings and please don't respond to this post.

Malkin: Simply put, Malkin has had a spectacular season leading the league in scoring nearly wire to wire. However when it comes to breaking down the MVP race you have to be objective, and as already stated, Malkin was rarely facing the oppositions top line and had a much better line then Crosby as he was paired with Petr Sykora and Ruslan Fedotenko. With Crosby taking most of the pressure off of Malkin both on and off the ice, the door was open for Evgeni to have a fantastic year and he certainly took advantage of that oppurtunity.

Ovechkin: Alex has led the league in goal scoring nearly wire to wire and has led Washington to be one of the East's most formidable teams and has analysts saying that he may indeed win the Hart for a second year in a row. I have 2 major issues with giving Ovechkin the MVP:

1. He has an excellent supporting cast with one of the best centers in the NHL in Backstrom and one of the top 5 snipers in the league in Semin. Also, Mike Green is a 30 goal scorer as a defenseman which hasn't been done in almost 15 years.....and yet you never hear about his supporting cast losing him votes like you do with Datsyuk

2. Yes he has more goals than anyone else but he shoots WAYYYYY more than anyone else in the NHL here are some numbers for you: Ovechkin has 496 shots which is 142 shots more than the person with the SECOND most shots in the NHL (Staal). Ovechkin has 55 goals out of those 496 oppurtunities; if the players above shot 496 times (assuming they kept up thier current shooting percentage): Crosby would have 68 goals, Malkin would have 62 goals, Parise would have 62 goals and Datsyuk would have 64 goals. Still impressed with Ovie's 55?

Overall i think it should go to Parise or Datsyuk, I'm a big fan of players who put it all on the line and carry a team through adversity so for that reason i would vote for Parise, NJ has just had a much harder road this year and i think Zach has done a hell of a job and should be rewarded with the MVP

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

and please don't respond to this post.

Without regard to this issue at hand, this was funny.

Yes he has more goals than anyone else but he shoots WAYYYYY more than anyone else in the NHL here are some numbers for you: Ovechkin has 496 shots which is 142 shots more than the person with the SECOND most shots in the NHL (Staal). Ovechkin has 55 goals out of those 496 oppurtunities; if the players above shot 496 times (assuming they kept up thier current shooting percentage): Crosby would have 68 goals, Malkin would have 62 goals, Parise would have 62 goals and Datsyuk would have 64 goals. Still impressed with Ovie's 55?

Ovechkin also takes more shots from farther away and worse angles, because his disposition is to shoot from everywhere. The guys you've mentioned are more likely only to shoot when they have higher percentage shot. You can argue about the merits of Ovechkin's shot selection for sure, but you can't argue that those players would score more than Ovechkin if they shot more if that's you're only basis for comparison.

Edited April 5, 2009 by Heroes of Hockeytown

[Yzerman191 37]

I'm always amazed at the argument that Ovechkin scores so much because he shoots so much. That's the game his coach asks him to play. He generates so much offense with those shots that don't go in that many of his line mates score on the rebounds. His hard, fast shot is extremely difficult for a goaltender to hold onto, and Semin, Backstrom, and Green certainly benefit from that. Also, don't try to scale the shooting percentage of others to Ovechkin's; it's common knowledge that statistics deteriorate when taking a larger sample size. For example, if you took Kyle Wellwood's 20% shooting percentage and scaled it to Ovechkin's 496 shots, he'd have 99 goals. Playing the "if" game just isn't a valid argument. Aside from Ovechkin's 55 goals (10 of which being GWG), he's got 49 assists, and he's top ten in the league in hits. He's definitely Hart-worthy.