NHL Award Races: Hart an all-Eastern affair, Vezina in King's court

Stamkos might celebrate a lot of goals, but probably won't celebrate a postseason berth. That matters. (US Presswire)

Welcome to Award Races. For every week the remainder of the season, we will break down two of the awards races at a time and see how they are stacking up as the NHL season hits the home stretch.

We return to the big ones this week in the Hart Trophy (MVP) and Vezina (Top goaltender).

Let's just get this out of the way now; yes, you'll notice it's an all Eastern affair when it comes to the Hart. That does not mean that I am an East Coaster with a bias against the Western Conference. I'm originally from the West Coast; I understand the Westerner's plight.

Nor does it mean that the Eastern Conference is superior. That's not the case at all, although I will say that for the first season in a long while they are pretty close to balanced (the bottom of the East far better than in the West, makes up for a little at the top, in my opinion).

No, what it all means is what is irrefutable: The East has the best individual scorers. The Western Conference teams rely a lot more on balance. Case in point: The top eight and 10 of the top 12 in the NHL points race play in the East. Like it or not, the Hart is an individual award. The guys who are going to be considered for this award are more often than not going to put up points, a lot of them.

With that covered, I'd like to clear up another thing here. I had been criticized a bit for not having Steven Stamkos on my previous lists. To that I'll say I believe in the importance of team success when you're talking about an MVP. The idea is that that person makes your team better just by his presence, he's that important.

Clearly the Lightning are better with Stamkos than without him, I wouldn't dare argue otherwise. But if the Bolts aren't going to make the playoffs -- and right now that looks like a very good chance to happen -- I just can't see him winning the Hart. He'll get the Rocket Richard for leading the league in goals and that's nothing to sneeze at. That is more to show the "best" player, if you will, while the Hart is about most "valuable."

However, even if the Lightning were doing better in the standings I'm still not sure he'd be ahead of Evgeni Malkin in my mind. Yes, Stamkos has the 50 goals but right now they are tied for the lead league in points right now at 84. Oh by the way, Malkin has reached that point total with eight -- eight! -- fewer games than Stamkos. That carries weight with me.

The Vezina? Well the race 2-5 remains very good (2-10 really).

Remember, this is just one man's opinion. You have your opinions too, share them below (as if you needed that invitation).

Award watch
Hart		Vezina
Evgeni Malkin	Really, I don't think this one is as close as a lot of people want it to be. Malkin has been the best player in the league for most of the season and is a huge reason why the Penguins are where they are, which is with the second-best record in the East and actually closing in on the Rangers. Four games with at least four points this season is impressive this day and age.	Henrik Lundqvist	This award is going to be his, I just don't see anybody behind catching him in the final 10 or so games. In 51 games this season he has 32 wins and more impressively has maintained a GAA below 2.00 (1.88 as of now) while holding a .935 save percentage. They have leaned on him heavily as usual and he's been better than ever.
Claude Giroux	If he hadn't missed a few games this season with a concussion, he'd probably be tied with Malkin and Stamkos in the points race too. As it stands he is four points behind them, which can be made up with a good game or two in a row. Until Ilya Bryzgalov had caught fire, Giroux was a huge reason why the Flyers have kept their success despite the hurdles (roster remake, big injuries on defense).	Jonathan Quick	Quick remains the sole reason why the Kings are in the position they're in now, which is still in the playoff hunt. While the offense was anemic he was asked to stand on his head night after night and for the most part he did. He hasn't been as good lately, but the offense has been better. That doesn't wipe out his whole season. The GAA is still 2.00.
Steven Stamkos	He is without a doubt the best scorer in the league right now. That's reflected in him lapping the field in the race for the Rocket. But I mentioned above I think the Lightning have to make it to the postseason if he's really going to be a true contender for the Hart. He is certainly in the conversation though.	Brian Elliott	Normally a guy who leads the league in save percentage (.938) and goals against average (1.61) would be the leader for the Vezina, but he is hurt by sharing the net with Jaroslav Halak in St. Louis and Halak have just about as much success. Halak's 1.87 GAA is second in the league. But Elliott deserves his credit.
Ilya Kovalchuk	Known only for his scoring in the past, Kovalchuk has become close to a complete player in New Jersey under Peter DeBoer. He still scores (he's sixth in the league with 71 points on 30 goals) but he does a lot more. The Devils are back as one of the East's upper echelon teams this season and they can give Kovalchuk's development a big thanks.	Pekka Rinne	Consistently one of the best goaltenders in the league, Rinne is a workhorse in Nashville . It shows with his league-high 39 wins this season. My favorite stat concerning Rinne is that the Predators haven't won a game he didn't start since Nov. 28. Backup Anders Lindback is just 2-7-0, which shows the individual strength of the starter Rinne.
Henrik Lundqvist	He has taken a fall in the Hart talk to where he's probably no longer a viable candidate. His and the Rangers' "struggles" recently drop him in the conversation. He has allowed at least three goals in each of his five March starts. Hey, even kings have slumps.	Jimmy Howard	I'll concede that there are a lot of names that could be filling this spot but I went with Howard on the fact that he's still third in the NHL in wins despite missing as much time as he has recently and his 2.09 GAA, .922 save percentage are better than the other name I most debated putting here, Marc-Andre Fleury.