Why the Hart is a no-brainer: Malkin is NHL’s MVP

It was originally a tiny slip-up in a post-game interview in a difficult language he’s still learning. It became a YouTube meme, a Paul Bissonnette Twitter joke and a T-shirt.

“I’m score,” Pittsburgh Penguins Russian centre Evgeni Malkin said. He meant that he did score. But perhaps his choice to conjugate the wrong verb rings true.

This season Malkin — with his long reach, brute strength and seven sets of eyeballs — has become the personification of score.

And Score is in search of a Hart. Word to the Tin Man.

With all due respect to Henrik Lundqvist, Claude Giroux and Steven Stamkos, the race isn’t even close. This is Usain Bolt versus your great aunt, Tortoise versus Hare if Hare weren’t all cocky and instead spent its summer training diligently in Russia. In fact, the only guy in Malkin’s class this season — fellow better-than-a-point-per-game Penguins centre Sidney Crosby — hasn’t played nearly enough games (15 thus far) to warrant consideration.

Leave aside the Crosby-free days for a minute. Even under the glorious third coming of No. 87, Geno has shone brighter than a bull in a china shop, his skills mixing like metaphors. One can get carried away discussing the standout aspects of his game: his deft stick-handling, his rebounder’s sense of body position, his marksman’s accuracy, his ability to create opportunities for his teammates. (Side note: In reviewing clips for this website’s forthcoming Goals of the Year countdown, we reluctantly had to edit out a few beauties because the list was getting too Malkin-heavy.)

In the half-dozen games since Crosby’s return to the lineup, Malkin has notched 11 points. Last week Malkin was again named the NHL’s first star. He recorded his fourth five-point game of the season with two goals and three assists in the Penguins’ 8-4 thrashing of the Winnipeg Jets. One of those goals was the 200th of his NHL career.

Malkin, who had three five-point games in his career entering this season, is the first NHL player to score five or more points in a game four times in one season since 1995-96, when the man bronzed outside of Malkin’s home rink, Mario Lemieux, had six such games for Pittsburgh.

The breakout games aren’t anomalies. Scan 71’s game log and you’ll notice remarkable consistently. His longest point “drought” of the season is two measly games. Then he’s back on his grind.

Showing no wear-down in a grueling season, Malkin has turned a close scoring race with Stamkos and Giroux into a blowout. His 46 goals scored this season bring him within one of his career best (47, in 2007-08), a mark he is all but certain to surpass as both 50 goals and 100 points are within grasp. As of Monday, his 97 points are 10 more than runner-up Stamkos’s 87. The Art Ross should already be at the engraver’s. The NHL could save on shipping and send the Hart along with it.

Although Malkin did claim the Conn Smythe (the first Russian to do so) and the Art Ross trophies in 2008-09, the last season during which he averaged 1.4 points per game, he has a bridesmaid’s knack of being unfulfilled when it comes to the Hart.

Despite Malkin winning the ’09 scoring race, the Hart went to countrymate Alex Ovechkin. In 2008, Malkin was also voted a runner-up for the league’s sexiest individual award, also to Ovechkin.

The last two seasons’ Hart recipients, Henrik Sedin and Corey Perry, haven’t been nearly as dominant as the 25-year-old bulldozer with the cartoon flightless bird on his chest. Of course, Malkin’s worthiness stems from what he does on the offensive end, but it’s not just what he does offensively.

Malkin has pushed his linemates, James Neal and Chris Kunitz, to their best seasons. He is working on his best-ever plus/minus (plus-18), and has cut down on his penalty minutes (66, his lowest excluding the injury-shortened 2010-11). He’s improved his performance in the face-off circle, and he’s been clutch too, scoring a career-best nine game-winning goals.

With Crosby back in the lineup, the consensus is that the Penguins are the team to beat. To be sure, the Penguins have a deep team and stability in net, but it was the excellence of Malkin, who ranks in the top 10 of ice time for forwards, that allowed the franchise to minimize the panic and allow Crosby to return unhurried. And, truth be told, even without Sid dressing, the Penguins could contend for it all. Remember: well-rested Crosby had the benefit of rejoining a Pens lineup working on nine-game winning streak and a run at the Eastern title.

Note to T-shirt makers: Start silk-screening “I’m Hart” tees for the NHL Awards.

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