3 reasons that show why Alex Ovechkin should win the Hart Memorial Trophy

#2 His durability

Ovechkin’s only real injuries this season have come from maintenance days. Other than last season, there was rarely a time where Ovechkin missed games due to injury. This year he’s only missed time due to COVID protocols which who hasn’t been added to the list at this point?

Ovechkin also knows how to pad his stats. His goal against the Bruins came on an empty net buzzer beater. It was his ninth empty net goal of the season which tied Pavel Bure’s all time single season empty net goal mark that he set in the 1999-00 season.

Of the 81 forwards with at least 15 minutes of ice time against an empty net this season, Ovechkin’s 43.48 on ice shots for percentage ranks third and his 90.91 goals for percentage is tied for eighth.

In all Ovechkin is not just durable in terms of lack of games missed due to injury. He still isn’t afraid to lay out the big hits despite being a 17 year league veteran by now. In fact this season he has 138 hits thus far which is a lot higher than the 98 he had last season.

While it isn’t as high as 184 he set in the previous season, Ovechkin has shown his durability thanks to his physical play and electrifying goals.