Alexander Ovechkin (Capital Punishment) deserves to win the Hart Trophy this season. Some people think that the Hart Trophy should go to the Most Valuable Player to his team in the NHL and others think it should go to the best player in the league.

Ovechkin is both.

He leads the NHL in goals with 62.

He leads the NHL in points with 109.

He leads the NHL in power play goals with 21 and is ninth this season in plus/minus with a plus 26.

What more could one player do. I know the argument will be that the Washington Capitals won't make the playoffs and that the MVP has to be on a playoff team. Well, if Ovechkin wasn't on the Capitals, they would be the favorites to get Steve Stamkos in the Entry Draft. The Capitals would have finished last and the only way that Stamkos would not be Washington-bound would be if some team jumped up in the lottery.

Nobody has stats like Ovechkin in the NHL and no one deserves to win the Hart Trophy more than he does. Not Nicklas Lidstrom, not Evgeni Malkin, not even Martin Brodeur or Jarome Iginla.

It should be Ovechkin, Malkin and Lidstrom as one, two, three.

We shall see how the voting goes in June.