Tuesday Roundup: Player Of The Week Is Nice, But...

With four goals and three assists in four games, Alexander Ovechkin has been named the NHL's Offensive Player of the Week (Stars' goalie Marty Turco took home the honor on the defensive side). The accolade is, of course, nice, but it will seem of little consolation if El Ocho is not awarded the Rookie of the Month honor for December. Alex leads all rookie scorers by three points (with a game in hand over number two), and had a phenomenal December. Further, per the WTimes, Ovechkin's 24 goals are nearly one-quarter of his team's total of 102 - the highest percentage in the league - and he has had a hand in 45 percent of Washington's offense, a stat that finds him second in the NHL.

After getting ripped off in October, some of the more conspiracy-minded among us are worried that the PoW is just throwing Alex a bone before jobbing him again for RoM. We shall see, but it certainly is nice to see that Alex - who is 13th in the League in scoring and has played fewer games than half of the guys in front of him - is now not only being considered among the best rookies in hockey, but among the game's best players, period.

In other Caps-related news, a special thanks to DK for my Xmas present - an autographed AO stick. As I get older (yet another birthday nearly upon us), it's always nice to feel like a kid again. Cheers.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Antero Niitymaki (27 save shutout win at Boston)
  
• Ross: Slava Kozlov, Ilya Kovalchuk (4 points each)
  
• Norris: Lubomir Visnovsky (2G, A in 3-2 win)
  
• Vezina: Antero Niitymaki (27 save shutout win at Boston)
• Richard: Slava Kozlov (3 goals)
  
• Calder: Antero Niitymaki (27 save shutout win at Boston)
• Aiken: Ray Emery (8 goals allowed on 27 shots against)