A Three-Way Battle

The race for the NHL's MVP remains undecided

Now that the season has ended I have narrowed the worthy winner of the Hart Trophy down two three players: Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Pavel Datsyuk.

The case is good for all three.

First, we have Alex Ovechkin, probably the favorite of the three. Why not him? This year the Capitals winger once again succeeded in scoring fifty goals and led the NHL in that category. And, oh yeah, he did manage to score while on the ice AGAIN. Don't forget his toughness either. All this gives OV a good chance of repeating.

The case for Malkin is there, too. He leads the NHL in both assists and total points, making it hard to see a reason as to why he doesn't deserve it.

And then we have Datsyuk.

Yes, Datsyuk.

Despite scoring less than Malkin or Ovechkin, Datsyuk may actually be more skilled than either of his rivals.

Take for instance the fact that our Red Wings center plays an average of nearly four minutes fewer than Ovechkin per game and about three less than Malkin. Datsyuk also averages less time on the Power Play than Ovechkin or Malkin, as well as more time on the penalty kill. Despite all of this, Pav averages the most points per minute of the three.

Datsyuk also could be the most deserving of the three due to his all-around play. What can he do? He can pass, stickhandle, shoot, kill penalties, win face-offs, hit, steal the puck, I could go on forever.

A better question would be: What doesn't he do? Answer: He doesn't take days off. Even when the rest of the Red Wings look bad, Datsyuk looks good.

He plays from both sides of the rink. He is solid both offensively and defensively.

"If you're down a goal in the last minute, who do you want out there- Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, or Datsyuk?" says Coach Mike Babcock, "Any of them. But if you're up a goal in the last minute and you need to protect the lead, who would you want? You'd want Pav."

Babcock hits the nail on the head. While all three of our candidates are about even offensively, it is clear that Datsyuk has an edge defensively.

But can he still win it?

Despite the fact that Pavel is probably the most deserving of the three, there still remains a good chance that he won't win. This is partly because of his lack of publicity, and partly due to the fact that he is not alone among the solid players on the Red Wings roster, which contributes to his lack of ice time, resulting in fewer points and hurting his Hart Trophy Case.

So my opinion is that while Datsyuk SHOULD win MVP, it is likely that Ovechkin or Malkin WILL.