Sidney Crosby had to settle for the Mark Messier Award last night at the NHL Awards Show in Las Vegas.

Henrik Sedin got the Hart Trophy for MVP (voted on by the writers) and Alexander Ovechkin got the Ted Lindsay Award which goes to the best player as voted on by NHL players.

I don’t think there is a GM in the league who would rather have Sedin than Crosby and I think most would pick Crosby over Ovechkin.

Crosby and Ovechkin may have helped Sedin win by splitting so many votes between them.

I think there’s at least a little bit of Sid backlash in play here. Ovechkin’s numbers and his highlight reel speak for themselves and it’s perfecty understandable that lots of players would vote for him over Crsoby, but I think there are some players, especially North American ones, who are tired of the Sid the Kid routine.

Crosby may be a little too perfect.  I can see where Crosby could get on a player’s nerves. Unless Crosby was his teammate. You have to see Crosby every game to appreciate him. As spectacular as his highlight reel could be, it’s never going to measure up to Ovechkin’s.

Playing well in your own end, winning face offs and digging pucks out from along the wall are not highlight reel material but they translate into wins.

The Messier Award may be the one most suited for Crosby. It’s for leadership, which means it’s the award that rewards the little things.

Crosby not getting the Hart Trophy or Lindsay Award should be considered good news by Penguins fans because it’s just going to make Crosby more intense.  Watch him for five minutes and you know he HATES to lose. This will only make him play harder. If that’s possible.

The NHL knows how to hand out awards and there are plenty of them to hand out tonight in Las Vegas.

Alexander Ovechkin is considered the favorite to win his third Hart Trophy for Most Valuable Player. Sidney Crosby and Henrik Sedin are the other two finalsists.

I would be surprised if Ovechkin didn’t win, but I still believe that at least 90% of the GMs in the NHL would pick Crosby if given a choice.

Both disappeared a little too early in the playoffs and both disappeared against the same Montreal Canadiens team, so, the lustre is off both of them at least a little bit this Summer.

I will always favor Crosby because of the little things that he does, even those little things aren’t really that little.

Despite having trouble against Montreal, Crosby is still one of the best face off guys in the league and he’s so much better than Ovechkin in the defensive end of the ice.

Ovechkin is probably going to outscore Crosby every year, but I think Crosby, despite having superstar statistics, is so much more than stats.

Check out the “Big Three” video on TSN for a good look at the three finalists.

Several weeks ago the Hockey News had a cover story on NHL free agents and Matt Cooke was on the front page. He’s not a 30 goal scorer and he’s not going to win the Hart Trophy but he was a huge part of the Penguins’ success.

The Penguins signed him to a three year deal today. He could have been an unrestricted free agent July 1st.

Ray Shero may have gotten away with one here.  It had been looking like he had made a mistake by not signing Cooke before his value went up and his value went way up with the way he played in the post season.

Cooke is one of those guys you hate with a passion if he’s playing for the other guys.

Penguins fans should love the fact that he’s going to be here for three more years.

By the way, I’d be fine if they dropped the first puck tomorrow. Anything to get the Pirates out of the news.