You are here
Premature Release Spoils Alex Ovechkin's Fun
Alex Ovechkin loves t-shirts this much. (AP Images)"]
Nearly a week before the NHL was set to announce the winner of this year's most valuable player award, somebody within the league's official web site screwed it all up by releasing a t-shirt featuring All-Star winger Alex Ovechkin as this year's winner.
Ovechkin, along with Jarome Iginla and Evgeni Malkin, is one of the three finalists for the award known throughout the hockey community as the Hart Trophy. Fortunately for Penguins fans, Flames fans and fans of surprises in general, the news is not yet set in stone.
NHL spokesman Frank Brown spoke about the incident on Saturday essentially claiming that the release means little in the big picture. In order to ensure that the merchandise can be sold immediately following the official release of the winner, the league must order, and be prepared for, any of the three finalists to win.
In other words, in order to provide thousands of over-anxious Capitals fans the opportunity to wear their Ovechkin merchandise as soon as humanly possible, the league takes the liberty to have t-shirts made for all of the possible winners before the field is narrowed to one.
Kind of like the NFL with the New England Patriots 19-0 gear from last fall. At least the 18-1 Pats donated their lies to children in Nicaragua.