Misguided Mike Strikes Again
By DC Sports Chick -
March 18, 2008
Another day, another post about who should win the Hart. Mike Brophy, THN columnist, treated us to his completely original ruminations that featured suggestions like this:
I will say, though, I have narrowed it down to four candidates -- goalies Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils and Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, left winger Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and right winger Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames.
All fair choices. However, he follows up with this:
I firmly believe, had Sidney Crosby not missed so much action with that high ankle sprain, he would have repeated as the Hart winner. Oh well.
It's the Sidney Crosby machine at its finest. Any shred of credibility that Brophy may have had went out the window with that statement. Does he understand the whole point of the Hart trophy? Yes, Crosby is an asset to his team. However, it's not like the team fell apart in Crosby's absence; if anything, they improved and now sit fourth in the Eastern Conference. Brophy does make this concession in regards to Ovechkin:
And if the award were for the best player this season, he'd win it hands-down. Voters are supposed to reward "The player adjudged to be most valuable to his team." Has anybody been more valuable to his team than Ovechkin?
No argument there. But that's not good enough for Brophy. He proceeds to throw out Iginla's statistics; while impressive, they don't match Ovechkin's. Then he puts down the Canucks and the Devils' defense in order to make his point for Luongo and Brodeur. No one is suggesting that those players aren't worthy of consideration, but shouldn't the candidates be presented in a more positive fashion than "without them, the team would be gunning for a lottery draft pick and not a playoff spot?"
But that's all right. Brophy is still looking for a winner:
With a few weeks to go, the Hart Trophy is still wide open from my perspective. So wide open, in fact, Daniel Alfredsson might sneak into the pack with a strong finish.
Alfie definitely is valuable to his team, but this suggestion goes against his logic for the other candidates (except for Brodeur and possibly Iginla). Ottawa is a team who went through much of the season in the number one spot in the conference, but they're now in a bit of a decline. Yet, according to Brophy's logic, because the Sens are going to the playoffs, a player like Alfredsson would be a good candidate.
I'm not the only one who feels this way about him- other bloggers don't quite worship at the Church of Brophy. The Battle of Alberta said this about him last year:
Note to print, television and internet editors everywhere: hire about five to ten of us, give us some money and support, and we'll put out a product a hundred times greater than the boring, illogical and demeaning junk being put out by Mike Brophy and others of his ilk.DMG of Caps Blue Line felt similarly about Brophy:
Mike Brophy is becoming my favorite hockey writer. Because he's so damn easy to mock.The compliments go on and on. You also have to wonder about a guy who allegedly champions convicted child molesters, but that's neither here nor there. That's Mike Brophy, mental genius.
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