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Did Sidney Crosby Deserve 2013 Hart Trophy?

August 21, 2014, 10:39 AM ET [46 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
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The 2013 Hart Trophy almost did not exist. The bickering back and forth between owners and players led to a lockout which jeopardized the entire season. Most of the season was lost and we were left with a smaller sample size of 48 games.

This year we saw the return of two megastars to the Hart Trophy voting in Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. We also saw John Tavares jump into the lime light with his splendid 2012-13 season.

Here were the actual voting results for the 2013 Hart Trophy:

1. Alex Ovechkin, WSH 1090 (50-43-40-27-8)
2. Sidney Crosby, PIT 1058 (46-42-41-29-12)
3. John Tavares, NYI 556 (38-38-33-29-21)

This was an incredibly close vote that was made close because of Alex Ovechkin's amazing hot streak of goal scoring towards the end of the year, but more so because of an errant Brooks Orpik shot to Crosby's jaw.

The errant shot broke Crosby's jaw and as a result sidelined him for the last 12 games of the regular season.

Here are their offensive numbers:



Alex Ovechkin scored 32 goals in only 48 games. This was a return to his previous elite goal scoring ways that had departed him for the previous two seasons.

Sidney Crosby scored 15 goals in 36 games which wasn't as prolific as Ovechkin but he did have a remarkable 56 points. That put him at a 1.55 points per game average, which is actually above his career average of 1.40, which is fourth all time in NHL history. Crosby missed out winning the Art Ross Trophy (Martin St. Louis) by four points despite missing 12 out of the 48 games.

John Tavares had 28 goals and 47 points while leading the Islanders back into the playoffs.

Let's check out their roles:



John Tavares had the most offensive zone starts with medium competition. Ovechkin had middle of the road offensive zone starts while facing the easiest competition. Sidney Crosby had the hardest zone starts and competition. Considering the role he played it makes his 1.55 points per game all the more impressive.

Tavares had an impressive rel Fenclose percentage of +7.0% which led the Islanders team. Ovechkin had a rel Fenclose percentage of -1.2%. Sidney Crosby came in at +7.9%

Let's take a look at the raw possession totals:



Jonathan Tavares leads the way with a Fenclose percentage of 56.3% but despite playing in much more difficult role than the other two finalists Crosby is only the smallest fraction behind him at 56.2%. Falling way behind is Ovechkin with a Fenclose percentage of 46.9%.

Conclusion

Sidney Crosby was the best player in the NHL in the 2012-13 season. His possession numbers are through the roof and his offensive output was above his career level which is already one of the best in NHL history.

Crosby was punished in the voting for missing the last 12 games of the season because of a fluke play.

Alex Ovechkin finished the season like someone possessed, he had 21 goals and 41 points in the last 29 games of the season. This deserves the highest amounts of praise, it was a terrific run.

Where the voters lose me is when they hold Crosby's games he missed against him but don't hold Ovechkin to the same standard. Crosby missed his games because of a broken jaw, Ovechkin's slump to start the season was completely on him. If Crosby missed the first 12 games of the year instead of the last 12 he wins the actual award from the voters.

Ovechkin led his team into the playoffs at the end of the year, but Crosby gave his team a 16 point lead in the division in only 36 games played. Pittsburgh also had a seven point cushion in the conference. That is a remarkable cushion in such a small time frame.

Lastly Ovechkin's Capitals played in the lowly Southeast Division in 2012-13. The Capitals were the only team in the division to make the playoffs. The Jets missed the playoffs by 4 points and the other three teams (CAR,TB,FLA) were the bottom three teams in the conference. Ovechkin cleaned up against the weaker competition. In 18 games played vs the Southeast he had 16(!) goals and 13 assists. In the 30 games against the other divisions he combined for 16 goals and 11 assists. Ovechkin benefited from easier competition in his division as well as an easier role on the ice than Crosby.

I think Crosby did enough to prove that he was the best player in the league in 2012-13. You can look at his point production, his possession, and the difficulty of the role he played in and when the data is analyzed together it towers over the other two finalists.

My 2013 Hart Trophy winner is Sidney Crosby.

This is Sidney Crosby's third career Hart Trophy within this series of blogs. He only has two in real life. Will he earn his fourth Hart Trophy in 2014? Check back tomorrow.

You can find the other blogs of this series below:


2008 Hart Trophy is here

2009 Hart Trophy is here

2010 Hart Trophy is here

2011 Hart Trophy is here

2012 Hart Trophy is here

Thanks for reading!

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