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Today the focus shifts to the 2011 Hart Trophy. So far in this series I have only disagreed with the actual vote once in the three prior seasons (I had Crosby over H. Sedin in 2010).

Here was the official vote from the 2011 Hart Trophy:

1. Corey Perry, ANA 1,043 (67-47-8-1-1)
2. Daniel Sedin, VAN 960 (51-56-9-4-1)
3. Martin St. Louis, T.B. 332 (1-6-36-28-16)

Corey Perry and Daniel Sedin were pretty tight in the voting and ultimately Perry earned his first and only Hart Trophy. Was it well deserved? Let's look at the numbers.





Corey Perry won the Rocket Richard Trophy with his first and only 50 goal campaign, he also barely missed the 100 point barrier with 98 points.

Daniel Sedin took home the Art Ross Trophy with 104 points and had a very impressive 41 goals.

Martin St. Louis had a solid year with 31 goals and 99 points.

How did their teams utilize them?





Corey Perry and Martin St. Louis had very similar roles, both of which were much tougher than the one Daniel Sedin was in. In fact there is almost a 25% difference in offensive zone starting percentages between the Perry/St. Louis combo from Daniel Sedin.

St. Louis is the first player in this series who has a negative relative corsi on the chart. Corey Perry on the other hand was able to do a better job driving possession in a similar role.

What were the raw possession numbers?





Here is where it gets tricky. Daniel Sedin has some great numbers here. His Fenclose of 56.3% is high level stuff, but you have to keep in mind the player usage chart above. He was consistently put in a position to succeed by his coach (which is smart) but when we are talking about the most valuable player in the league this can work against you.

Corey Perry is lagging behind here with a Fenclose percentage of 47.4%. On the surface this would appear to be lacking way behind Daniel Sedin. It is worth adding that no forward on the Ducks had a Fenclose above 50% in the 2010-2011 season.

If you take a look at the rel Fenclose percentage numbers the gap in possession starts to shrink. Daniel Sedin's rel Fenclose percentage was +4.0% while Perry's was +2.7% in a much tougher role.

For this reason I am not as concerned with what looked like a huge difference in possession between the two players.

Martin St. Louis has a Fenclose at 53.1% but carries a negative rel Fenclose percentage of -1.3%.

Conclusion

This was a two man race, which is what the original voting showed.

Corey Perry scored nine more goals than Daniel Sedin and only trailed him by six points for the Art Ross Trophy. When you take into consideration that Perry played way tougher minutes than Daniel Sedin it makes it easier to overlook the raw possession numbers that Sedin has the advantage in. When breaking down the rel Fenclose numbers it closes the gap that appeared to be wider than it was.

I have no issues with the voting from this season. I think they had all three players in the proper order. Daniel Sedin had a great year but I think Perry's achievements were more impressive.

Corey Perry is a deserving winner of the 2011 Hart Trophy.

Take a look at past blogs in this series:

2008 Hart Trophy is here

2009 Hart Trophy is here

2010 Hart Trophy is here


Thanks for reading!

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