Three Stars - Part 5 - Should the MVP be awarded using the Three Stars system?

Consider this: The Three Stars are awarded to the best performers on a nightly basis. The players with the most selections to the Three Stars would figure to be among the best in the league. What if we awarded the MVP to the player who earned the most Star selections?

Here's a chart showing the Star selections by players who earned 20 or more total selections, sorted by the number of selections:

	First	Second	Third	Total
S. Crosby	13	8	11	32
Z. Parise	10	11	9	30
H. Lundqvist	9	12	8	29
N. Backstrom (Wild)	10	7	9	26
P. Datsyuk	6	12	8	26
R. Nash	10	4	11	25
A. Ovechkin	14	8	2	24
I. Kovalchuk	8	7	9	24
D. Roloson	13	9	1	23
M. Hossa	13	4	5	22
R. Miller	10	9	3	22
J. Carter	11	6	5	22
E. Malkin	8	10	4	22
P. Rinne	9	8	5	22
M. Koivu	9	7	6	22
T. Thomas	13	3	5	21
S. Mason	11	5	5	21
E. Staal	9	6	6	21
M. Richards	6	9	6	21
M. Savard	7	11	2	20
J. Toews	8	5	7	20
P. Elias	5	9	6	20

Sid clearly leads the way with 32 selections. Zach Parise is a bit of surprise at #2, but he's a solid, consistent performer. The only other surprises for me are the Russians - Geno is way down the list, and Ovechkin was either #1 or not much else. Kovalchuk was named one of the three stars just as many times as Ovechkin - that was also a surprise to me. Best player on a bad team, maybe?

Now, consider if we looked at the same thing, but assigned weights so that a First Star is worth 5 points, a Second Star is worth 3 and a Third Star is worth 1. How would that change things (since the top player in the game should get a bit more credit than the #3 star, right?) This one is sorted by the calculated MVP column.

	First	Second	Third	Total	MVP
S. Crosby	13	8	11	32	100
A. Ovechkin	14	8	2	24	96
D. Roloson	13	9	1	23	93
Z. Parise	10	11	9	30	92
H. Lundqvist	9	12	8	29	89
M. Hossa	13	4	5	22	82
N. Backstrom (Wild)	10	7	9	26	80
R. Miller	10	9	3	22	80
T. Thomas	13	3	5	21	79
J. Carter	11	6	5	22	78
S. Mason	11	5	5	21	75
C. Mason	12	4	3	19	75
P. Datsyuk	6	12	8	26	74
E. Malkin	8	10	4	22	74
P. Rinne	9	8	5	22	74
R. Nash	10	4	11	25	73
M. Koivu	9	7	6	22	72
I. Kovalchuk	8	7	9	24	70
M. Savard	7	11	2	20	70
E. Staal	9	6	6	21	69
P. Marleau	10	5	4	19	69
R. Getzlaf	9	6	4	19	67
M. Richards	6	9	6	21	63
J. Toews	8	5	7	20	62

Now we see Ovechkin move up. If we took this data and weighted it by games played, the goalies would run away with it. I'm not sure we can consider them in the same discussion as the skaters if we did that.

The Pens, Flyers and Red Wings are the only teams with two forwards each on the list.

Pretty interesting way to think about it, eh? It certainly casts Geno is a slightly different light. Keep in mind that I'm not saying he didn't deserve to be one of the finalists for MVP this year - I think he did - but if we look at things differently, we can see that Sid was just as valuable (maybe more so) than Geno.

Next week I'll probably move onto a new topic. Maybe the refs again. That's always fun. I'm also interested in whether specific linesman affect the faceoff % for a team like the Pens. No idea on where that one will lead... but it might be worth looking.