NEW YORK -- Washington's Alex Ovechkin, Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin and Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk -- the finalists for the Hart Trophy -- are also up for the Lester B. Pearson Award.
The Pearson Award is for the league's "most outstanding player" as picked by fellow NHL players. The Hart goes to the player selected as the most valuable to his team in voting by media.
The announcement of the Pearson finalists on Wednesday assures it will be awarded to a Russian player for the third time. Sergei Fedorov won it in 1994, and Ovechkin took both the Hart and Pearson last year.
The winner will be revealed June 18 at the NHL awards show in Las Vegas.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
