Tavares Nominated For Hart Trophy

The finalists for the Hart Trophy as league MVP were announced today and it's no surprise that John Tavares of the Islanders was nominated for the award, along with Alex Ovechkin of the Capitals and Sidney Crosby of the Penguins. Of the three guys nominated, two have already been nominated and won the award. Crosby won it back in 2007, and Ovechkin won it in back to back years in 2008 and 2009. This nomination is the first for Tavares.

As for Tavares chances to win the award he does have a pretty good shot at it. He lead the Islanders in goals with 28 and points with 47. His 28 goals had him finished 3rd in the league, and his 47 points placed him 17th in the league. It's more than just his stats that got him nominated for the prestigious award.On most nights it seemed as if Tavares was carrying the club. He seemed to be the Islanders best player on a lot of nights this season, and is one of the biggest reasons, along with Evgeni Nabokov, that the Islanders got into the playoffs this year.

The only time in franchise history that an Islanders player has won the MVP was Brian Trottier in 1979. Now what are the chances that Tavares actually wins the award? To be honest I'm not sure. Now most know that i'm a big Islanders fan, but here's the thing that's stopping me from picking Tavares. Not only did Crosby and Ovechkin have better numbers offensively that John, but I think they had a bigger impact on their team. And this is not to say that Tavares didn't have a big impact on the Islanders, he did. I think that both Crosby and Ovechkin had a bigger impact on the Pens and Caps respectively.

So who will walk away with the Hart Trophy at the end of the year? We will just have to wait and find out.