Traditionally, when a player wins the Maurice Richard Trophy for scoring the most goals in the NHL, that usually means that they are at least in the conversation for the Hart Memorial Trophy. That was not the case last night. Alex Ovechkin, despite winning his fourth Maurice Richard Trophy with 51 goals (Corey Perry was second with 43 goals), got completely disrespected in the Hart Trophy Voting.
Am I saying that Alex Ovechkin should have won the Hart Trophy? No, Sidney Crosby, Ryan Getzlaf, or Claude Giroux should have won it. However, getting just one fifth place vote despite leading the NHL in goals is extremely disrespectful to Alex Ovechkin. Here’s how the Richard Trophy winners have done in the Hart Trophy voting since the Richard Trophy debuted following the 1998-1999 season:
- 1998-1999: Teemu Selanne finished fifth
- 1999-2000: Pavel Bure finished third
- 2000-2001: Bure finished ninth
- 2001-2002: Jarome Iginla shared the Hart Trophy with Jose Theodore
- 2002-2003: Milan Hejduk finished 12th
- 2003-2004: Goal lead was shared by Ilya Kovalchuk, Rick Nash, and Iginla. Iginla finished second, Kovalchuk finished 10th, Nash finished 25th (but also only had 16 assists that season)
- 2005-2006: Jonathan Cheechoo finished 15th
- 2006-2007: Vincent Lecavalier finished fourth
- 2007-2008: Ovechkin won both
- 2008-2009: Ovechkin won both
- 2009-2010: Goal lead was shared by Crosby and Steven Stamkos. Crosby finished third while Stamkos finished sixth
- 2010-2011: Perry won both
- 2011-2012: Stamkos finished second
- 2012-2013: Ovechkin won both
- 2013-2014: Ovechkin finished 23rd with just one fifth place vote
Alex Ovechkin received the second least amount of Hart Trophy votes ever given to a Rocket Richard Trophy winner. Only Nash did worse, and he was a special case. While he did score 41 goals in 2003-2004, he also only had 16 assists, which gave him 57 points in 80 games. This season, Ovechkin had 51 goals and 28 assists for 79 points in 78 games.
Anybody who watched the Washington Capitals regularly this season knows how important and valuable Alex Ovechkin was to the team. Ovechkin took a team that shouldn’t have been anywhere close to the playoffs to being within 4 points of making the playoffs. The Capitals finished 13th in the NHL in scoring with 226, meaning that Ovechkin scored 22.566% of his team’s goals. Take away Alex Ovechkin’s 51 goals and the Capitals would have 175 goals, which would have been 29th out of the 30 NHL teams in goals scored.
I think I know why Alex Ovechkin finished in 23rd, and quite frankly, I think it’s pathetic. Critics love to point at Ovechkin’s +/- this year as a reason to say that he should not be in the Hart Trophy discussion. Why should a team stat like +/- have anything to do with an individual award? Suppose Alex Ovechkin plays defense perfectly. He covers his guy, doesn’t give him an inch of space. However, a teammate blows his coverage and allows the other team to score. All Alex Ovechkin would have to show for that is a minus. I trust goals and assists a lot more than I trust a stat that Jeff Schultz once led the league in.
I hope Alex Ovechkin is as offended as I am that he was disrespected in the Hart Trophy voting. Knowing Ovechkin, I bet he is. I hope he uses this as motivation to have an even better season next year.
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