Duel M.V.P. Awards

There was a comment made on the HNIC broadcast tonight about the idea of duel M.V.P. awards. One M.V.P. for the Eastern Conference, and one M.V.P. for the Western Conference. At first I was unsure of the idea, but the more you think about it the more it seems like a good idea.

With the NHL schedule the way it is you can't compare two players against each other when one plays in the east and one plays in the west. The type of game played in the west are dramatically different now as well. With the East being a run and gun type of game, where in the Western Conference is all about tight defensive hockey. A perfect example of this is the Calgary Flames. With four games left in the season they have 209 goals against. Out of the eight playoff teams in the Western Conference they place eighth in goals against. In the Eastern Conference however they would be second only behind New Jersey.

The current voting process is done by the media. Can they still be counted on to cover their assigned team day in and day out, while still keeping up to date with what's happening in another conference? Especially when you only see two-thirds of them other conference over the course of the season. It can be easily argued that the only reason Vancouver is the Northwest leader is the play of Luongo, who is by far the Canucks M.V.P. Does someone in Pittsburgh know how valuable he is to the Canucks? Probably not, and Luongo isn't even going to be considered for M.V.P.

If you compare Sidney Crosby to Joe Thornton most would think that Crosby's eleven more points this season could indicate that he is more valuable to his team. When you break it done though both have contributed to 43.4% of their teams goals. It just happens that Western teams a more defensively focused. Can you punish Thornton because of that?

With game play and schedule starting to make two very distinct conferences maybe it' time to have an M.V.P. for both conferences.