Sidney Crosby MVP Argument
The face of the NHL is still it’s most valuable player.
By the end of the year, Crosby might be carrying around some different hardware.
There’s one thing any person interested in hockey, the National Hockey League, and the ways of the world should know: This is Sidney Crosby’s world.
We’re all just living in it.
With that being said, I will declare it for all to hear: Sidney Crosby should be the Hart Memorial Trophy recipient as the league’s most valuable player.
Let’s talk about this real quick.
The Hart Memorial Trophy is interesting because of the words specifically: “the most valuable player to HIS OWN TEAM”. So, rather than simply being the most dominant player in the game, or the highest scoring individual, it is how important that player is to his own team’s success.
As of the last day of March, the Art Ross Trophy for the league’s highest scorer seems like a lost cause — Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers (another generational talent) has jumped ahead by nine points. Unless Crosby loses his mind (which isn’t totally impossible), it seems as though McDavid is going to grab his first scoring championship.
Crosby roared ahead early in the season, displaying goal-scoring talent we haven’t seen from him ever in the NHL — including his 51 goal season back in 2010. He got to the 20-goal plateau in 22 games, which is much faster than any other point of his career. To this day, Crosby still sits alone at the top with 43 goals scored.
The biggest argument for Crosby as the league’s MVP is what he’s had to play without. Evgeni Malkin is still sitting in the picture of the league’s top scorers with 33 goals and 72 points. That’s usually a solid output, even from Malkin, but he’s also been on the shelf since March 15th with an injury. In fact, the amount of lost man games from the Penguins is astounding. Malkin, Chris Kunitz, Kris Letang, Olli Maatta, Carl Hagelin, Jake Guentzel, and Trevor Daley have all missed time with significant injuries. Letang and Malkin specifically are both currently out.
Even so, the Penguins have already clinched a playoff spot and continue to battle for the top spot in the conference.
The goaltending tandem of Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray have remained solid. The kid effect (that’s not ironic at all) led by Conor Sheary, Guentzel, Scott Wilson, and Bryan Rust continue to prove that the Baby Penguins system down in Wilkes-Barre is laced with diamonds, but the number one reason that the Steel City brothers will challenge for a repeat begins and ends with 87.
Crosby deserves some Hart.
Sean Fevrier is a sports writer for theocho.ca, perennial 5th place in most fantasy football leagues and Tom Brady worshiper. You can always find him running five minutes late for class. Follow the mayhem that is Sean on Twitter at @seanfevrier.
