Perhaps it’s just because it’s Alex Ovechkin, but it’s hard to say anyone was really “robbed” because of this. It’s a boring argument to make that so and so should have made it over the best player of the past five years because that player is having a rough stretch.

Ovechkin had a real stat killing stretch earlier this year in which he only had one goal and four assists in 12 games… which hurts the stats horribly. It should be noted that said stretch was not just bad for Ovechkin, but the Caps as a whole as the team went through a tough time that saw their coach fired. Take that out of the picture and he has 16 goals and 12 assists (28 points) in 29 games. He also has 9 goals and 5 assists in the 15 games since that stretch ended, which is very solid for anyone.

Basicaly, stats can be used to say anything. The fact of the matter is, despite trouble finding the net this year, Ovechkin is still one of (if not the) best goal scorers in the league. Odds are he will still be one of the first 4 guys picked at the ASG since the guys that play against him know how dangerous he really is… even if the stats don’t show it this year.

That having been said, Ovi’s amongst the least-productive offense-minded players in this game going by the numbers. There are a LOT of guys who seem much better at scoring, and since he doesn’t bring much else to the game (for instance, two-way play), well, he ain’t gonna go all that high. There are a lot of more productive forwards this season. Simple as that.