Michael Russo's Sunday Insider: Ovechkin defines MVP

Sure, his team hasn't had the success of other candidates, but he has made the most difference in his team's play.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: April 6, 2008 - 12:35 AM

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WILD WEEK IN REVIEW

Record: 2-0

What a week! To win its first division championship, the Wild emerged to sweep a four-game homestand by beating Colorado 3-2 in overtime, then knocked off nemesis Calgary 3-1 behind the brilliant goaltending of Niklas Backstrom and clutch goal scoring of Marian Gaborik.

STAR TRIBUNE'S STAR OF THE WEEK: Marian Gabork, Wild

Living up to the term "gamebreaker," Gaborik scored two goals in both games, including the overtime winner against Colorado and the two third-period goals to break a 1-1 tie against Calgary.

THIS WEEK

Today: at Colorado, 2 p.m. Wednesday or Thursday: Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild and Avalanche close out the regular season this afternoon. The Wild is 5-2 against the Avs, having won the past four meetings.

THE QUOTE

"We have all the right ingredients to go all the way." — Wild veteran Chris Simon, who has won one Stanley Cup and been to two other Stanley Cup Finals.

MICHAEL RUSSO

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It's that time of year again -- voting time for us in the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, and for the first time, picking a Hart Trophy winner (MVP) is keeping me up at night.

After debating it with colleagues, I'm still pondering the Eastern Conference's exhilarating Russians, Washington's Alex Ovechkin and Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, and one of the NHL's most complete players, Calgary's Jarome Iginla.

There's the age-old debate: Should a player win MVP honors if his team doesn't make the playoffs? But you know what, even if the Capitals fall out of the top eight this weekend, to me Ovechkin's magnificent, 65-goal season to become the highest-scoring left winger in history and getting the Caps back on the map in D.C. is enough.

Sure, Malkin nearly scored 50 goals, topped 100 points and lifted the Penguins to the Atlantic Division title while Sidney Crosby was out because of an ankle injury. And sure, you have to wonder where the Flames would be without Iginla.

But Ovechkin is the literal definition of the Hart ("Most Valuable to his Team"), so I've gone from an undecided voter to an Ovie supporter -- no matter what.

Runners-up: Pavel Datsyuk of Detroit, Joe Thornton of San Jose, Alex Kovalev of Montreal.

Norris Trophy (best defenseman): Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom has won five of the past six awards, and this could be a landslide. Should lead all defensemen in points, the entire league in plus-minus, and the only time the Red Wings struggled was when the smooth blue-liner was sidelined (they lost four of six). Runners-up: Dion Phaneuf of Calgary, Brian Campbell of San Jose, Brent Burns of the Wild and Mike Green of Washington.

Vezina Trophy (best goaltender): No matter the cast in front of him, Martin Brodeur is annually the New Jersey Devils' backbone. Many predicted the Devils would take a step back, but Brodeur was again superb and near the top in victories, goals-against average and save percentage. Runners-up: Evgeni Nabokov of San Jose, Henrik Lundqvist of the N.Y. Rangers and Jean-Sebastien Giguere of Anaheim.

Calder Trophy (rookie of the year): Chicago's young duo of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews made the Blackhawks relevant again. Kane, 19, led all rookies in scoring and was healthy all season, so he gets the nod over Toews -- the Hawks' future captain. Runners-up: Peter Mueller of Phoenix, Nicklas Backstrom of Washington, Matt Niskanen of Dallas and Tom Gilbert of Edmonton.

Jack Adams Award (coach of the year): Barry Trotz all the way. The Nashville coach was expected to be at the helm of a cellar-dweller, but the underrated coach guided the Predators to a playoff spot by winning five of their last six. Runners-up: Bruce Boudreau of Washington, Ron Wilson of San Jose, Claude Julien of Boston, Guy Carbonneau of Montreal.

Selke Trophy (best defensive forward): Talk to anybody in the Red Wings locker room, you'll hear there's no better two-way forward than Henrik Zetterberg. Everybody sees the obvious offense -- 43 goals and 92 points -- but he's a plus-30, brilliant in the neutral zone and on the penalty kill. Runners-up: Mikko Koivu of the Wild; Saku Koivu of Montreal, John Madden of New Jersey, Chris Drury of the N.Y. Rangers.

Lady Byng Trophy (most gentlemanly): The most unwanted award, but despite his fight with Alex Burrows, the Wild's Pierre-Marc Bouchard is as skilled as they come without taking penalties. Runners-up: Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Thornton and Martin St. Louis of Tampa Bay.

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