Evgeni Malkin in an interview said that he was going to seriously improve his English because, in his view, his communication with the journalists was not enough to get him the Hart Trophy. How would you look at it?
If someone believes that Hart Trophy is given only for communicating with the journalists, they can even start learning Chinese if they think it would help.
Alex Ovechkin, via Alexovetjkin Sportsbox.ru interview (follow the link for the rest)
over 2 years ago
zephyr
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If the quality and/or quantity of a player’s "communication with the journalists" mattered in awards voting, Brooks Laich would be in the Hall of Fame already.
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Ask Jim Rice how he feels about this topic. I don’t think you can just dismiss it. Journalists are people too and if they are comparing nearly equal on-ice performances I don’t think it is unreasonable to think that some of the journalists let their personal relationships with the players serve as the tie-breaker. I’d like to think that journalists are above it but every year you look at the awards voting and there are some random, undeserved votes that are handed out.
There is a difference between being a dick to the journos like Jim Rice was, and having poor English like Malkin.
I think Malkin was the runner up because in spite of his production, the Pens weren’t even a playoff team until Gonchar came off the IR, Bylsma was named coach and Kunitz and Guerin came over via trade.
Because now I can justify browsing and commenting during the work day with the argument that I am promoting my business.
by Sombrero Guy on Jul 26, 2009 4:45 PM EDT up reply actions
There is a difference between being a dick and being not-accessible, but only in degree. The point is that the journalists have a better relationship with AO so I think many of them may allow that personal relationship influence their votes. Another point that takes away from Malkin: he also played with the 3rd leading scorer in the league, and was widely seen as the 2nd best C on his own team.
Another point that takes away from Malkin: he also played with the 3rd leading scorer in the league, and was widely seen as the 2nd best C on his own team.
The usual argument around this place seems to be Crosby isn’t even the best player on his team? :)
Malkin played at even strength with Petr Sykora (4 goals in his last 25 reg. season games) and Ruslan Fedotenko (a streaky point producer who scored 2 goals in 21 games from Jan – late March).
Sure Malkin gets to share the ice with Crosby occasionally (especially on the power-play) but Ovechkin plays with Backstrom, Semin and Green. I don’t think who else is on a team ought to determine value as much as the individual’s performance. Sure it’s a factor, but everyone has angles on it.
Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*
*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night
I’m not saying I buy into the line of reasoning, I’m just pointing out that it exists. How many times have you had to hear people say that Malkin is freed up to play against the lesser opponents because everyone’s top D pair is against Crosby? I’m not even talking about PP time (which is usually the only time AO/Semin/Backstrom/Green are all on the ice), but 5 on 5 Malkin is perceived to benefit from playing against lower quality competition. I would also suggest that there are far more people that credit Backstrom’s numbers to playing with AO than there are people who credit AO’s numbers to playing with Backstrom.
And I’d say that, at least around here, the playoff series against the Pens put to rest the “Crosby is the second best player on his team” arguments. There was only one player in that series that played better than Crosby, and he wasn’t wearing Black and Gold.
I gotcha, even if I don’t agree with your last sentence. The best player in that series buried his breakaway in Game 7.
Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*
*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night
Hooks doesn’t honestly believe that Sid was the better player in the series – he has a better hockey mind than that. He’s just sticking up for his guy.
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I know. I wasn’t going to argue any further than what I wrote. AO scored more points against tougher opponents with less help. Q.E.D.
Different strokes for different folks then. I wasn’t trying to knock Ovechkin, but there’s no denying that Crosby was the best in the series deciding game.
Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*
*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night
by Hooks Orpik on Jul 27, 2009 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions
But that’s not what you wrote. You wrote that Sid was the best player in the series. He wasn’t.
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by J.P. on Jul 27, 2009 1:20 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Final stats were nearly identical: 8 goals, 5 assists for one, 8 goals, 6 assists for the other. Both had a +/- of +4.
Ovechkin had points in all games (Sid 6 of 7), Crosby had 5 multi-point nights, Ovechkin had 4.
Given the game seven performances, Crosby was better. Don’t expect you to see it different.
Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*
*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night
Sid was the reason his team moved on….to the victor go the spoils. Had the Caps moved on, the opposite would be true.
It’s a team game. Talbot’s team moved on, he must have been better than AO was, right? Crosby got his spoils, but that doesn’t include being the best player in that series. Crosby wasn’t the reason his team won game 7 either. The Caps had 1 player show up. The other 19 were the reason the Pens moved on (or at least the reason the final score was so one-sided).
by Rob Parker on Jul 27, 2009 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
Instead we had to settle with Ovi stealing the puck from MAF behind the net and burying it. I wonder when MAF will put in the 3 months of work to learn how to play the puck correctly. That only cost the Pens 3? goals that series.
There is a difference between being a dick to the journos like Jim Rice was, and having poor English like Malkin.
Agreed, but Malkin has been pretty uncooperative with the media (dodging television cameras, not answering questions, avoiding the limelight). He’s “come out of his shell” a little more lately but you can tell he’s nervous to speak in English for potential mistakes he might make.
Ovechkin has a more gregarious personality and dove right in to learning English and that probably gives him a better rapport with the reporters but I think Ovechkin got the Hart based off his output, not personality.
Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*
*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night
I’m not convinced Ovechkin’s English is even much better than Malkin’s. I think it’s more of a personality issue — Ovechkin is much more willing to just start talking, and if what he says doesn’t make any sense at all, it’s no less charming.
by Gould Old Days on Jul 26, 2009 6:15 PM EDT up reply actions
Journalists are people too and if they are comparing nearly equal on-ice performances I don’t think it is unreasonable to think that some of the journalists let their personal relationships with the players serve as the tie-breaker.
I challenge anyone to make a reasonable argument that, by the numbers, anyone other than Albert Belle was the AL’s most valuable player in 1995. Extra points if you can argue with a straight face that the numbers support Mo Vaughn (the guy who won the award) for MVP. No “intangibles” or “leadership” arguments allowed — this is strictly by the numbers (although you can take difficulty of fielding position into account).
With all that said, I don’t think I would have voted for Belle for MVP. That guy was a dick.
by Gould Old Days on Jul 26, 2009 6:20 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Albert…Albert… YOU SUCK! Man I hate that guy!
by MetalCap on Jul 27, 2009 5:15 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
If his English were really the thing keeping him from winning, wouldn’t he have won the Pearson? Or do the players also care so much about PR?
No, if you want a simple “this one thing is why” factor that pushed Ovie over Malkin, look at the goals. Two very high scoring players, the goal scorer is always going to get more “respect” in votes like these.
I still think it had to do with the fact that Malkin’s presence didn’t affect the Pens’ fortunes as much as Ovi’s affects the Caps. The Pens weren’t a playoff team, let alone a Cup team, until Gonchar came back, Bylsma was brought on board and Guerin and Kunitz were added.
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Delores Ibarruri
I think there’s a lot of that, but not all. Remember that in 2008, the pundit argument was that Ovechkin shouldn’t win the Hart unless the Caps made the playoffs, and that didn’t happen until the last game of the season. It didn’t matter to them that he was running away with the goal lead and winning the Ross, too. So if they feld Malkin should win, he would have. I know there was the argument that the Ross winner generally has the advantage, but with the point differential so small, the goal differential had to be the overriding factor. So many of the those goals being highlight reel scores helped, too.
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| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Florida
|
53 | 25 | 17 | 11 | 61 |
|
Washington
|
54 | 28 | 21 | 5 | 61 |
|
Winnipeg
|
56 | 26 | 24 | 6 | 58 |
|
Tampa Bay
|
53 | 23 | 24 | 6 | 52 |
|
Carolina
|
55 | 20 | 25 | 10 | 50 |
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