It was the 1989-1990 season, and the NHL was gung-ho about an 18-year-old phenom that was going to enter the league by the name of Eric Lindros in the 1991 Draft. During the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs were on the bubble to make the playoffs and felt they needed to make a move. They spoke to the New Jersey Devils about defenseman Tom Kurvers, who was coming off a 66-point season. When talking to the Leafs, the Devils had the foresight to notice that the Leafs were going to age and lose most of their talent the following year. Therefore, rather than asking for that year?s 1st round pick they asked for the one next year. The Leafs agreed, not really thinking about the future and the deal was done. The following year, as expected by the Devils, the Leafs plummeted down to the bottom of the standings, shipped off Tom Kurvers to the Vancouver Canucks for Brian Bradley, and were doing whatever they possibly could to make sure they weren?t going to be known as the ones who traded Lindros for Kurvers. The pick they traded ended up being the #3 pick in the NHL Entry draft, where the Devils picked someone by the name of Scott Niedermayer. Over his career, Niedermayer has won nearly everything humanly possible. As part of Team Canada in the World Juniors in 1991, he won a gold medal. He won the Memorial Cup with the Kamloops Blazers in 1992, also winning the Stafford Smythe Trophy for MVP of the tournament. In 2002, he was a part of Canada?s Olympic team that won the gold medal for the first time in 50 years. In 2004 he was awarded the Norris Trophy for the league?s top defenseman. As well, in 2004 he won the World Championships and World Cup with Team Canada on both occasions. To top it all off, he has four Stanley Cups, three with New Jersey (1995,2000, 2003) and one with the Anaheim Ducks (2007) where he also took home the Conn Smythe Trophy for the most valuable player in the playoffs. Imagine what could have been for Toronto and what might not have been for Scott if they did not make this trade. The one thing that?s missing from his mantel is the Hart Trophy for the most valuable player during the season. After winning the Stanley Cup last year, he elected to contemplate retirement while sitting out the beginning of this year until he decided. With him gone, the Ducks have been average, stuck in the middle of the pack in the race for the playoffs. Since he has decided to come back, one has to wonder what affect it will have on the team. If the team improves to the point where they become the great power they were last year, shouldn?t Niedermayer be considered for the Hart Trophy? What better way to show your value than to not be there for a bit, while your team sinks only to come back and have a massive improvement? To be honest, something should be done to make sure he doesn?t win. Any player in the NHL would love to have the first two or three months of the season off before having to play again. Those players, though, do come out at the beginning of the year and show that the games matter at the beginning of the year too, not just at the end. On top of that, in order to stay under the salary cap, the Ducks had to suspend Niedermayer indefinitely while he was trying to figure out what he wanted to do as a formality. The league needs to correct that rule because it is unjust to the other 29 teams in the league. Either Scott is a part of the team or he is not; there is no in between. Maybe the league needs to rule if a player is suspended indefinitely for no reason, then that athlete is not allowed to play for the entire season. The rule would obviously be a rarity to be enforced, but if not created then this loophole in the salary cap might be overused. Anyway, as of now if the Ducks do improve dramatically after Niedermayer?s return then he will most likely be considered for the Hart Trophy. Let's look at his competition so far this year, starting with last year?s winner Sidney Crosby. At the moment, the Penguins are life and death to make the playoffs. Crosby has been himself so far this year with 40 points, but the rest of the team hasn?t been up to par. Crosby?s value to the team in monumental, especially off the ice where there probably wouldn?t be a team in Pittsburgh without him. But this trophy is not awarded to value off the ice. On the ice he is very valuable as well, but with future stars like Malkin and Jordan Staal on the team, they could easily be in the same spot without him. Let's move on to Tampa Bay where Vincent Lecavalier is lighting it up. Lecavalier should have been a Hart Trophy candidate last year maybe even ahead of Crosby. On a team consisting of three good players, he?s the glue that holds the team together in order to have any type of success. He?s the one who makes everyone better, including line mate Martin St. Louis. This year he?s leading the league in points with 44 and is 4th in goal scoring with 19. In fact, he is probably competing with Crosby as the best player in the league. However this trophy is for the most valuable, and like Crosby, the Lightning are not contenders at this present time. With that said, he is still the most valuable player on that team, so he could be an extremely strong possibility for the Hart. Moving on to Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers. While up to now Lundqvist has been the best goalie in the NHL, the Rangers really haven?t hit their stride yet. The fact is, goalies can?t do it alone. This is shown earlier in the year where Lundqvist was awarded a shutout but lost to Boston in the shoot-out in a 0-0 game. On top of that, Lundqvist is one of many stars in that Ranger line up. So when you?re talking about Lundqvist?s value to his team as a goalie he would be the most valuable, but that would be the same for any team?s starting goalie. Due to where he plays and the quality of his play, he will get major consideration for this trophy. Lastly, let's look at Roberto Luongo in Vancouver. The Canucks only goes as far as Luongo goes, and last year he took them to a 1st place finish in the North West Division and carried them through the 1st round of the playoffs. This should have gained him the Hart Trophy last year, but the league has not made up its mind if they want to give it to the most valuable player on his team or the best player in the league (last year?s case being Sidney Crosby). However this year, he faltered coming out of the gate, and the Canucks faltered with him. Only recently has he started to pick up his play after his own fans were booing him. If Luongo and his team can recover in time, then he should have as much of a chance as anyone to win this trophy. What Luongo has going against him is in order to be successful, he needs his forwards to score for him, which they haven't been doing so well. You can?t have a Hart Trophy debate without mentioning Martin Brodeur of the Devils, though. He has a combination of the problems that all the MVP candidates have. His team got of to a slow start like Luongo but unlike Luongo, he has the forwards in front of him so that even without him the system could be changed to suit the forwards. Like Lundqvist, he would be the most valuable player to his team because he is the starting goalie, but Zach Parise has also carried that team on his back, as well. And like Lecavalier and Crosby, the Devils will be fighting life and death to make the playoffs, though unlike those two the Devils have won 9 straight to put them right back on top in the Atlantic division. So the decision is tough with Brodeur. Whether he should be considered or not is not the debate right now unfortunately. The question is if Niedermayer comes back and uses his ability to see the ice, along with the skills and leadership to bring the Ducks back to championship contenders, does that make him an MVP of the league. The fact is any sports' league whether it?s the NHL, NBA, MLB, or NFL love feel good stories that make people talk about their league. What?s a better feel good story than a captain leading his team to the Promised Land and landing the most valuable player award? Nothing really beats that, but before we rush into giving it to him yet, let him deliver the goods first.