Ovechkin Should Be MVP Favourite As He Carries Caps Through Injuries

The Hart trophy – probably the most coveted individual award in the sport of hockey – is awarded annually to the NHL player judged to be the Most Valuable to his team. It is an award that few players have won, and even fewer have won it 3 or more times — a very short list that includes the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, Mario Lemieux, and you guessed it… Alexander Ovechkin — the most recent and only active player to have won the award at least 3 times.

One month into the 2021-2022 season, a 36-year-old Ovechkin looks primed to make another run at another Hart trophy — and should probably even be considered the front-runner as of now.

Here’s the numerical proof in the form of Ovechkin’s stats after one month (12 games played):

• 11 goals (1st in NHL)
• 10 assists (tied for 4th in NHL)
• 21 points (2nd in NHL)
• 1.75 points-per-game (2nd in NHL)
• +9 (tied for 3rd in NHL)
• 60 shots on goal (1st in NHL)
• 8 even-strength goals (tied for 1st in NHL)
• 14 even-strength points (2nd in NHL)
• 21:46 TOI-per-game (tied for 6th in NHL among forwards)

I could go on and on and on, but you get the point — the Great Eight is having a spectacular season.

He’s hit a number of milestones already this season as well (no surprise there, as it honestly feels as though he breaks a record of another NHL great every game he plays these days) — first scoring a pair of goals in the Caps’ season opener against the New York Rangers in order to surpass Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne for 5th on the NHL’s all-time goals list, then most recently scoring his 741st NHL goal just the other night to tie Brett Hull for 4th on that same list. He also added a pair of assists in that same game, the 599th & 600th assists of his career. He has scored in almost every game so far this season, he’s put up an insane amount of multi-point games already this season, he began the season on an 8-game point streak — basically, he’s been the picture of consistency as he dominates a much younger league, doing things that have never been done by any other age 35+ player in NHL history.

But honestly, it’s been so much more than just the numbers and the milestones, as impressive as all of those are. It’s also been his leadership. His play in all situations. The defensive responsibility — the blocked shots, the hits, the backchecking, the takeaways… All of this is contagious, and his Caps’ teammates are feeding off of it. He is leading by example, and as we have so often seen, good defense leads to offense. Ovechkin has been the prime example of that this season.

And the Caps have to be especially grateful for it this season, as they likely wouldn’t be in a playoff position in the uber-tough Metropolitan Division without Ovechkin being the best player on the ice every night… They have about half of their team on the injured reserve, including exactly half of their regular top-6 forwards. Currently, this is the injured list for the Caps:

• Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
• TJ Oshie (lower-body)
• Anthony Mantha (shoulder surgery)
• Nic Dowd (lower-body)
• Vitek Vanecek (undisclosed)

With so many key injuries, the Caps have managed to stay in a playoff position largely thanks to the play of their captain, Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin has been missing his longtime regular center – Nicklas Backstrom – for the entirety of this season so far, but it hasn’t slowed the Great Eight down at all and in fact, the Caps’ current top line of Ovechkin with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson has been one of the very best in the entire NHL.

Most teams would not be able to be without half of their top-6 and still be in a playoff position, let alone hold a top-3 spot in the toughest division in hockey the way that the Caps do now. But then again, most teams don’t have Alex Ovechkin.

Ovechkin was already named the NHL’s 1st Star of the Month for the month of October, but the numbers tell us he hasn’t just been the most flashy and fun to watch, but also the MOST VALUABLE in the entire NHL, especially when you consider all of the injuries that the Caps have faced to start this season.

And I know what a lot of people are going to wonder when reading this article: But what about Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl?

And it’s certainly a fair question. Those two are amazing players in their own right. They’re currently the only two players ahead of Ovechkin in the points race for the Art Ross trophy — McDavid and Draisaitl are tied for 1st with 23 points apiece, while Ovechkin is 2nd with 21 points. But I’m going to lay out a couple of very good reasons why Ovechkin should currently be the favourite to win the Hart:

• Firstly, yes, McDavid and Draisaitl each have a couple more points than Ovechkin does (but Ovi does lead in goals, as well as in a number of other categories) — but there are two of them playing on one team, which as you know, kind of inherently makes you less valuable to the team as an individual, by default. And we see this time and time again when it comes time to vote for the Hart trophy each year.
• Secondly, McDavid and Draisaitl are doing a lot of their damage on the power play, as opposed to at even-strength. Edmonton’s league-leading power play is clicking at a ridiculous 46.9%. Many of McDavid and Draisaitl’s points are coming as a result of that power play. For example, McDavid and Draisaitl have combined for 8 power play goals already (or nearly half of the total goals they’ve scored). Ovechkin, by contrast, has only scored 2 of his 11 goals via the power play. Ovi has been the best even-strength player in the NHL this season, which tends to be a lot more sustainable than a 46.9% power play. And it should be noted, as well, that the Caps’ power play is currently clicking at just 18.6% — a far cry from what this power play usually does, having been the #1 power play in the NHL over the last decade-plus. But they are missing 3 players who would normally be on the PP in Nicklas Backstrom, TJ Oshie, and Anthony Mantha. Missing those 3 guys is going to cause a significant drop in any power play’s effectiveness and so getting them back in the lineup will definitely boost its percentage and as a result, boost Ovechkin’s power play points, too. Whereas Edmonton’s current power play percentage is certain to drop off/return somewhere closer to the norm. So when you factor that in with Ovechkin’s dominant even-strength play (all of his advanced stats are off the charts this season as well, so the scoring splurge isn’t an accident), #OviForHart seems like a pretty good bet.

With all of the injuries that this team has dealt with/is dealing with, with Ovi carrying them like he is to the record they have and where they are in the standings, #8 in Washington is the League MVP hands down right now.

AND HE’S 36 YEARS OLD.