A solid case for Lidstrom over Ovechkin as MVP

The Capitals' playoff hopes would not even be flickering without the electrifying nightly production of Alex Ovechkin. Gregg Forwerck/Getty Images

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As the ballots for this season's awards arrive at the inboxes of hockey's deepest thinkers, the Great 8 is stirring up a great debate: Does a player whose team fails to make the playoffs deserve to be recognized as the NHL's MVP?

The case for Alexander Ovechkin as a worthy winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy is fairly easy to make. The Washington sniper leads the league with 63 goals, the most by any player in a single season since Mario Lemieux netted 69 back in 1995-96 (a time, it should be noted, when goals were as easy to come by as cheap gasoline). Ovechkin's 110 points give him a comfortable six-point cushion over the hard-charging Evgeni Malkin, so the Art Ross Trophy is all but in the bag, headed for a place on A.O.'s mantle alongside the Rocket Richard Trophy.

Ovechkin's candidacy, as if it needed it, took on an additional air of legitimacy on Tuesday when the NHL announced that he was the league's first star for the month of March -- a time when teams lean most heavily on their superstars. He outshined them all, leading all scorers with 26 points in just 14 games. It's worth noting that the Caps went 10-4 in the month, keeping alive the playoff hopes that appeared dead back in November. And don't overlook the fact that he was a very healthy plus-17 over that span. Say what you want about the validity of that stat, but you don't rack up that number in so few games unless you're personally making things happen.

The debate may be moot by Sunday. Thanks to an impressive 4-1 win over the Hurricanes last night, the Caps are statistically tied with Carolina for first place in the Southeast division, although the tie-breaker would leave them out of the playoffs. Both teams have a pair of games remaining to settle the score, but even if the Caps' bid does fall short, that's hardly a deal buster.

Despite what some wags might suggest, there's nothing in the definition of the award that stipulates that a player has to be part of a team that earns a postseason berth to qualify for the silverware. A playoff bystander has captured the award four times in the past -- most recently by Lemieux in 1987-88 -- so it would hardly be a precedent-setter to hand it to Ovechkin this year.

Of course, there's one way to end the debate right now, and that's by awarding it not to the most glamorous choice, but the best possible one.

That would be Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom.

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