Ovechkin Smokes Malkin for Hart Trophy

Every spring, one of the most anticipated trophies given out at the NHL Awards Show is the Hart Trophy. While the Stanley Cup is easily the most coveted trophy in the league, the Hart Trophy is the most coveted individual trophy, as it designates who the best player was during a given season.The anticipation was felt on Thursday, as Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Pavel Datsyuk waited to see who would receive the honor. Prior to the show, I gave my predictions on who I thought would win each award. With the Hart Trophy, I joined most of the continent by thinking that the race would be a tight one between Ovechkin and Malkin. I did pick Ovechkin correctly, but the margin of victory was far from close. A grand total of 133 first-place votes were handed out for the league's MVP trophy. Ovechkin took home 115 of those, easily beating out Malkin's 12 for the victory. Compare that number to Zdeno Chara's 68-50 win over Mike Green for the Norris Trophy, and there should ...