Ovie captures third Hart Trophy

Jackets’ Bobrovsky wins Vezina, Subban takes home James Norris

CHICAGO — When Alex Ovechkin got off to a slow start and Sidney Crosby looked to be back to pre-injury form, for a while it seemed like the MVP debate was over.

That all changed by the end of the season, with Ovechkin capturing the Hart Trophy Saturday. The Washington Capitals right-winger narrowly edged the Pittsburgh Penguins centre for the third Hart Trophy of his eight-year career.

Ovechkin and Crosby finished with the same number of points — Ovechkin led the league with 32 goals, while Crosby missed the final 12 games of the season with a broken jaw. Ultimately, Ovechkin scoring 23 goals in the final 23 games to lift the Capitals into the playoffs was enough to sway the voters.

“Sidney Crosby was definitely head over heels a frontrunner and is an MVP in this league,” Washington coach Adam Oates said. “But in saying that, he also didn’t have an MVP season. Not in my view.”

Ovechkin received 50 firstplace votes to Crosby’s 46 and finished with 32 more points in the balloting as conducted by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. John Tavares, of the New York Islanders, finished third, while Jonathan Toews, of the Chicago Blackhawks, was fourth.

Other winners dealt with different kinds of adversity.

Sergei Bobrovsky of the Columbus Blue Jackets won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender after being traded from the Philadelphia Flyers.

Bobrovsky went 37-21-11 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .932 save percentage and almost led the Jackets to just the second Cup playoff berth in club history. He’s the first Vezina winner from a team that didn’t make the playoffs.

Defenceman P.K. Subban helped get the Montreal Canadiens into the playoffs and was rewarded for his 48-point season with the Norris Trophy.

Jonathan Huberdeau of the Florida Panthers landed the Calder Trophy as the best rookie. He tied for the rookie lead in scoring.