By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/penguins/
LAS VEGAS -- Sunday, Evgeni Malkin looked a bit like he belonged in Las Vegas when he walked into the Penguins' locker room at Mellon Arena wearing shades and carrying the Conn Smythe Trophy he had just picked up as NHL playoff MVP.
Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette
Penguins broadcaster Paul Steigerwald (right) takes a photo of center Evgeni Malkin entering the locker room with the Conn Smythe Trophy Sunday. Malkin could add to his trophy collection at tonight's NHL awards show.
Malkin already had clinched the Art Ross Trophy as the regular-season scoring champion, and he has had his hands all over the Stanley Cup the Penguins clinched last week.
Tonight, amid the glitz and glamour of the first NHL awards show in Vegas, Malkin could add to his collection.
The 22-year-old center is one of three finalists for the Hart Trophy as regular-season MVP and the Lester B. Pearson Award, which goes to the best player in a vote of fellow NHL players.
The awards show, in the Pearl Theater at The Palms Casino and Resort, can be seen at 7:30 p.m. on Versus.
Teammatee and fellow Russian Sergei Gonchar described Malkin's improvement better than most. The two played together for Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Russian Elite League during the 2004-05 NHL lockout, before Malkin's rookie NHL season of 2006-07.
"I knew before he came here how talented that guy is," Gonchar said. "To me, there was no question that he would be able to play at the level he's playing, but what I can see of him now, he has more confidence.
"As you can see, he's doing things that he's never done before. You could see it coming. I knew it was going to be there, but he probably surprised everybody with how quickly he developed himself into probably one of the best players in the league."
Malkin won his first Art Ross Trophy with 113 points and also led the regular season with 78 assists and -- in a testament to his two-way play -- 94 takeaways. He led the playoffs with 36 points.
Voting for the season awards took place before the playoffs, and Malkin has some strong competition from two players he and the Penguins faced in the playoffs.
Washington winger Alex Ovechkin, widely considered the most dynamic player in the league, led the regular season with 56 goals and was second to Malkin with 110 points. He beat out Malkin last year for the Hart.
Detroit center Pavel Datsyuk, widely considered the most complete two-way player, finished fourth in scoring with 97 points.
This is the first time all three Hart finalists have been Russian. The same three are up for the Pearson.
Datsyuk also is chasing his second consecutive Selke Trophy as the top defensive forward and his fourth consecutive Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship and skill.
Penguins center Sidney Crosby -- who, in 2006-07, had the kind of year Malkin had, winning the Art Ross, Hart and Pearson -- is up for two lesser honors, the Mark Messier Leadership Award and the NHL Fan Fav Award, the first MVP-type award decided in a fan vote.
Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721.
First published on June 18, 2009 at 12:00 am
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