Your Hart Trophy winner, er, finalist

Per the NHL, the Russian Machine has been named a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy (along with also rans Evgeni Malkin and Jarome Iginla), which is awarded annualy to "the player judged to be most valuable to his team" by the members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

If (when) Alex wins the award, he would be the first player in the Capitals history to be named regular season MVP. He would also be the second Russian (after Sergei Fedorov) and 6th European born player (Stan Mikita, Fedorov, Hasek twice, Jagr, Forsberg) to receive the award.

If you need a reminder of why Ovechkin deserves the award (yeah, right) the NHL's summary on the Machine is below:

"Ovechkin, a first-time Hart nominee, tallied 112 points (65 goals, 47 assists) in 82 games, capturing the Art Ross Trophy as NHL scoring leader and Maurice Richard Trophy as the League’s top goal scorer. He also led all players in power-play goals (22) and game-winning goals (11). Ovechkin set the single-season NHL record for goals by a left wing, surpassing Luc Robitaille's 63 with Los Angeles in 1992-93, and his 65 goals were the most by NHL player since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. Ovechkin scored 51 of his goals in the 61 games after Bruce Boudreau was named head coach Nov. 22, pacing the 37-17-7 run that carried the Capitals into the playoffs."

Finalists for the Jack Adams Award for Coach of the Year will be announced tomorrow. Don't be surprised if, despite the amazing season he had, Coach Boudreau is left off the list. It seems asinine, but there are already some sportswriters who have already let slip that they refuse to vote for a coach in his first year with a team. Whatever. I think Coach B is probably too busy househunting for a long term living space in DC to be concerned about it.