TORONTO, April 29 (UPI) -- Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk, Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin and Washington's Alex Ovechkin -- all Russians -- are finalists for the NHL's most valuable player award.
Ovechkin, in his fourth NHL season, is up for his second consecutive Hart Memorial Trophy, given to the NHL player deemed most valuable to his team. The award is decided on a vote of members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. The winner will be announced June 18.