It wasn’t much of a secret last month when Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals took home the Hart Memorial Trophy. Before the awards ceremony, the NHL’s online shop briefly linked to an Ovechkin T-shirt proclaiming him the league’s MVP.

Not that we needed a T-shirt to tell us that. Ovechkin also won the Art Ross Trophy and the Rocket Richard Trophy for most points (112) and goals (65). He was easily the best player (non-goaltender category) in a season where Sidney Crosby was shelved for six weeks with a high-ankle sprain. In the Hart voting, Ovechkin took 128 out of 134 first-place votes, leaving Evgeni Malkin and Jarome Iginla in the dust.

Other award winners included Martin Brodeur (Vezina), Niklas Lidstrom (Norris), Patrick Kane (Calder), Pavel Datsyuk (Lady Byng, Selke) and Washington coach Bruce Boudreau (Adams). Lidstrom has won six of the last seven Norris Trophies and needs two more to tie Bobby Orr for the record.

Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin have been linked in the NHL public consciousness (with an assist from league marketing) since they made their respective debuts three years ago. They’re considered the best two players in the league; Crosby was the first to win the Hart Trophy in 2006-07, while Ovechkin got the duke this year.

So, who’s better? Ovechkin has 163 career goals, while Sidney Crosby has 99. But the Pittsburgh Penguins captain is ahead on assists 195-147, and that’s despite missing 28 of 29 games last year to a high-ankle sprain. Then again, Crosby has more talent surrounding him in Pittsburgh, including Evgeni Malkin and (for now) Marian Hossa.

There’s only one way to solve this: Let the market decide. Crosby’s 2005-06 rookie card from Upper Deck is valued at around $350, while Ovechkin’s clocks in at about $125. Just when you thought it was safe to put hockey cards between the spokes of your bicycle wheels again.

 
Surprise, surprise (not really). Steve Stamkos is now a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Picked No. 1 overall at the 2008 NHL Draft in Ottawa Friday night, Stamkos was the first overall pick in the 2006 OHL entry draft and posted 105 points (58 goals, 47 assists) with the Sarnia Sting this past season. Additionally, Stamkos helped Canada win gold at the world junior hockey championship. Picking No. 2, the Los Angeles Kings went with Drew Doughty, an offensive defenseman who had 13 goals and 37 assists in 58 games playing for the Guelph Storm. (The Kings have nine more picks in the first four rounds.) Picking No. 3, Atlanta selected Zach Bogosian.

As far as trades go, Montreal traded 25th pick and second round next year to Calgary for Alex Tanguay, and Calgary’s fifth-round pick.The New York Islanders traded their seventh pick for the ninth pick and 40th pick.

You can follow the 2008 NHL Draft live here.

Detroit Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek announced his retirement – in 2002. It seemed premature at the time; Detroit had just won the Stanley Cup, and fans in Hockeytown chanted for “one more year” during the victory parade.

Here we are six years down the road. Hasek’s season ended with another Stanley Cup, the second of his storied career. But the Czech native wasn’t the hero this time. Chris Osgood took over in Game 4 of the first round and never wavered, leaving Hasek to cheer on his Detroit teammates from the bench. The writing was on the wall for Hasek at age 43.

The Red Wings expect to have Osgood in goal for the 2008-09 season, backed up by prospect Jimmy Howard. At age 35, Osgood’s turn to hand over the torch is drawing close. But a few more successful years wearing the Winged Wheel might be enough for him to reunite with Hasek in the Hall of Fame.

Marc-Andre Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins

Old school hockey prevails. The Detroit Red Wings are the new NHL champions, rolling over everyone in their path to the Stanley Cup. At least they got a good fight from the Pittsburgh Penguins, who extended the series to a Game 6 with a stunning last-minute goal by Max Talbot, followed by a classic triple-OT winner by Petr Sykora.

Unfortunately for Penguins supporters, their lasting memories of the Stanley Cup final will be about how agonizingly close Pittsburgh came to making a second storybook comeback. The score was 3-1 for Detroit with less than two minutes to go in Game 6; Marian Hossa made it 3-2 on the power play, and then came agonizingly close to scoring again just as time expired.

At least that amazing ending will help people forget about the play that led to Detroit’s third goal. Marc-Andre Fleury had the misfortune of putting it into his own net as he tried to cover it up after initially making a save. Luck happens.

It took them six games to do it and it would have been way cooler had they won it at The Joe, but on Wednesday night the Detroit Red Wings stunned a Penguins crowd to finally put an end to the NHL season by winning the 2008 Stanley Cup (by a score of 3-2). This is Detroit’s fourth National Hockey League Cup win in 11 years. They’ve also won the President’s trophy six times and the Clarence Campbell Bowl (as the Western Conference champions) five times.

With the win, Nicklaus Lidstrom became the first European-born and trained captain of an NHL team to hoist the Stanley Cup, while Henrik Zetterberg became only the second European player to win the Conn Smythe trophy as the playoffs MVP. Lidstrom was the first in 2002.

And so Hockeytown, USA lives on. Any guess as to what the odds are on Detroit to win the 2009 Stanley Cup? Pretty good, I would imagine.

If history is any guide, the Detroit Red Wings are more than familiar with what it takes to win the Stanley Cup. They’ve brought home the silverware 10 times, including three since 1996. The Pittsburgh Penguins have two Stanley Cups in franchise history and none since 1992.

Both teams have a lot of work to do before they catch up to the Montreal Canadiens. They have 24 Stanley Cups to their name, dating back to 1916 when the National Hockey Association was still trying to establish itself. The Habs would split from the NHA one year later with three other teams to form the National Hockey League.

The Red Wings might never catch Montreal. The Habs filled their trophy case during the Original Six era, taking advantage of their exclusive regional rights to Quebecois players like Maurice Richard and Jean Beliveau. But the second-place Toronto Maple Leafs and their 13 Cups (the last in 1967) are well within reach of the Red Wings.

Just when you thought the Pittsburgh Penguins had the game, a determined Detroit Red Wings came back in the second and third period in what looked like a Cup winning performance. Then with 12 seconds left in the third period, the Penguins came back again to tie the game and force overtime.

Game five of the Stanley Cup Finals was headed into sudden-death.

But wait — it would take not one, not two, but nearly three full overtime periods (and a double-minor penalty) for the game winner to be decided. With Jiri Hudler of Detroit serving a double-minor for high-sticking Rob Scuderi, Peter Sykora took a pass from Evgeni Malkin to finally win the game.

“I missed a one-timer right before, by 20 feet,” Sykora said. “It was a lucky play, because it hit the ref Dan O’Halloran and went back behind the net to Gino. I was frustrated the last few games. Nothing was going for me - no bounces, no shots on net. You know, now we get to live another day.”

Game 6 goes back to Pittsburgh.

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Chris Chelios has been a healthy scratch in the Stanley Cup finals. Is he done?

Michael Wilbon really tore a strip off the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday afternoon. “Score a goal!” Wilbon demanded in his best angry hockey parent voice on Pardon The Interruption, after the Pens failed to light the red lamp against the Red Wings in Detroit.

The Penguins did play the role of a young and nervous team in losing the first two games of the Stanley Cup final. But chalking it up to inexperience is a bit of a red herring. There are more disadvantages with being a 20-year-old hockey player than lack of wisdom. Lack of physical maturity is a more tangible concern, and yet there comes a point in every player’s life when age becomes more of a burden than a benefit. Yes, even for Chris Chelios.

From a value-based handicapping perspective, experience is an important but overrated factor in winning a hockey game. Home-ice advantage should prove more critical in the end to Detroit’s chances of returning the Cup to Hockeytown.

Beware of the mighty “Mule”, Penguins fans; Detroit Red Wings top goal scorer Johan Franzen has been cleared by the team’s doctors to practice with the guys on Friday. Although he probably won’t lace up for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins, he’ll likely get the green light for Game 2 if all goes well.

“Based upon the news we got today, we are hopeful to see him sometime during the series, but he’s doubtful for Game 1,” general manager Ken Holland told reporters.

Franzen missed the last five games of the Red Wings’ series against the Dallas Stars due to “concussion-like symptoms” but has maintained his top spot on the NHL’s playoff goals list (12). So you can see why everyone in Detroit is anxious to get him suited up and back in the lineup.

“He’s ready,” Coach Mike Babcock said. “He’s tipping pucks to the back of the net, he’s flying around at a hundred miles an hour. He’s ready to go, we’ve just got to get the OK.”

Sportsbooks have the Detroit Red Wings favored (slightly) to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins and win the Stanley Cup.