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.

The first round of the NHL playoffs has the same kind of frisson as March Madness. The No. 6 Philadelphia Flyers (25-1 at press time to win the Cup) and the No. 7 Calgary Flames (12-1) are making a lot of Cinderella noise, but chalk still rules.

Fast-forward to the Stanley Cup finals, where I expect to see the top seeds in both conferences: the Detroit Red Wings (11-4) from the West and the Montreal Canadiens (11-2) from the East. Anything can happen in a seven-game series, and the Habs have the hot goalie in Carey Price, so they’re my value pick on the futures market.

My prediction, on the other hand, stays with the Wings. They dominated the NHL this year at 54-21-7. If Dominik Hasek (a substandard .902 save percentage in 2007-08) has one of his occasional playoff meltdowns, Chris Osgood (.914) is there to pick up the slack. Put the champagne and the octopus on ice.

Excellent timing. March Madness is over, and now hockey poolies are getting their fill with the greatest tournament of all, the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Working a 16-team bracket is a lot easier than the 64-team monstrosity college basketball fans fill out every year. There’s little point in relying on seed vs. seed numbers, especially this season with the playoff races going to the wire in both conferences.

For a quick and dirty way of projecting who will advance, the Detroit Red Wings are runaway leaders in goal differential at plus-73 and the deserving favorites to win the Cup at 3-1. The Montreal Canadiens are tops in the East at plus-40, although the Pittsburgh Penguins (plus-31) are 13-2 for the Stanley Cup compared to 7-1 for the Habs. If you choose to focus on the differentials, plug Detroit and Montreal into your bracket for what would be an Original Six finals matchup and go from there.

I predict the Montreal Canadiens will win the Northeast Division.

Oh, wait, that already happened. Montreal blanked the Ottawa Senators 3-0 on Tuesday to clinch the division title. The Central (Detroit Red Wings) and Pacific (San Jose Sharks) have also been decided. The Pittsburgh Penguins have all but wrapped up the Atlantic.

The drama is concentrated in the Southeast, where the Washington Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 on Tuesday to tie Carolina for first at 90 points with two games remaining. The Hurricanes have the tiebreaker, leaving Washington in ninth place in the East, one point out of a playoff spot. It could be either feast or famine for both these clubs.

Strength of schedule won’t matter, since each team is playing the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers at home to finish the season. It’s only two games, so Carolina has to be the smart choice to win the division just because of the tiebreaker.

With so many hockey greats to choose from I decided to give one greatest player title for each position. I know that there is no right or wrong person here, its all just personal opinion.

Goaltender- Patrick Roy
There is no goaltender in history that has more success in the NHL than Patrick. He’s not only the all time leader in victories in the playoffs but holds the record for regular season wins in the NHL. Patrick, in his rookie year captured the Stanley Cup and got his first Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP.

Center- Wayne Gretzky
Know as “the great one” Wayne is the NHL’s all time leading scorer, has won 4 Stanley Cups and holds almost every scoring record in NHL history. In his 1,487 NHL games he’s made 894 goals, 1,963 assists for a total of 2,857 points.

Defensemen-Bobby Orr
This guy proved that forwards weren’t the only ones who could dominate games. Bobby is the only defensemen to ever win the Art Ross trophy for the League scoring championship twice. This former rookie of the year produced 270 goals and 645 assists in his career.

Right Wing- Gordie Howe
Although this guy had a rough start in his 24 year NHL career, Grodie went on to win 6 Heart Trophies and the League’s MVP, 6 scoring titles and was voted First Team All-Star 12 times. In his 1,767 games played he finished with 801 goals and 1,049 assists for a total of 1,850 points.

Left Wing- Bobby Hull
This guy struck fear into the hearts of goalies. “The Golden Jet” had a shot that was clocked at 120 mph, which made him a nightmare. Bobby was voted the top NHL player of the 60’s bringing in 610 goals and 560 assists in his career.

The cool thing about hockey’s players is that even if you have no interest in the game (which is hard for me to believe) you some how know these players. Their greatness extends beyond the ice.

It’s pretty rare that you get an impact rookie in the NHL these days. We did get both Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin in 2005-06; the yield from this year’s crop is more typical.

The Chicago Blackhawks have arguably the two best rookies in Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. But Toews suffered a strained MCL and has played just 55 games, opening the Calder Trophy door for his teammate. Kane has 17 goals and 45 assists after 73 games to lead all first-year players in points.

Nicklas Backstrom of the Washington Capitals was two points back at press time with 11 goals and 49 assists. The top rookie defenseman appears to be Tobias Enstrom, who is playing 24:33 a game for the Atlanta Thrashers. There is one goalie of note that could crash the Calder party: Montreal Canadiens starter Carey Price (.915 save percentage). Nashville’s Dan Ellis (.920 SV%) deserves kudos, but remains virtually anonymous as the Predators backup.

The NHL regular season will end in three weeks, and at press time all 30 teams were still mathematically alive for the playoffs. But don’t bet your hockey dollar on all 30 teams. It would take some heavy quantum lifting to get the Los Angeles Kings, Tampa Bay Lightning and a few others into the postseason.

The Kings (27-38-6) are the worst team in the league this year, 20 points back of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with 11 games remaining. Tampa Bay isn’t much better at 27-35-8; the Bolts need at least 18 more points to get into the Eastern playoff picture. They also have 12 games to get there. But really, they’re toast.

It won’t be long before we can write off all the pretenders. The 10th-place teams in each conference (there are six such teams, including ties) are seven points off the pace. One of them might sneak in; the Washington Capitals have the shortest Cup odds of this sextet at 30-1.

Things have gone to hell in a handbasket for the Ottawa Senators. They were still the favorites to win the Eastern Conference at press time, checking in at 11-4, but that’s a very slim lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins at 3-1. Ottawa is 3-6-2 in its last 11 games, firing head coach John Paddock in the process. The Penguins added former Senator star Marian Hossa at the trade deadline, and Sidney Crosby returned Tuesday night from his ankle injury. The Pens were 11-6-4 without the league’s reigning MVP.

The mighty Detroit Red Wings are in a tailspin, too. Although they remain 11-8 favorites to take the West, the Wings are 2-8-2 since Feb. 5. That gives the Dallas Stars a chance to grab the green at 5-1; the Stars are just five points behind Detroit in the standings after winning 13 of 15. The Brad Richards trade might even earn Dallas the Stanley Cup at 10-1.

Mats Sundin may be staying in Toronto for a while longer, but Tuesday’s frenzy at the NHL trade deadline made up for that disappointing non-event.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were 12-1 to win the Stanley Cup at press time; they might be the new best team in the East after shipping Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito and a 2008 first-rounder to Atlanta for Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis. It’s an excellent trade down the road for the Thrashers, but it’s go time right now in Pittsburgh.

Tuesday’s other blockbuster saw the Tampa Bay Lightning finally move one of their many scorers for a reliable goaltender. Tampa Bay dealt Brad Richards and Johan Holmqvist to Dallas for Mike Smith, Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Halpern, and a fourth-round pick. The Stars may have been better off trading Marty Turco, but getting Richards on board makes Dallas a strong Stanley Cup value pick at 15-1.