Trophy or not, Toews is best rookie

Jonathan Toews should be the NHL Rookie of the Year.

As for the question of whether he will be, well, it's a good question.

His main competition is Washington's Nick Backstrom, who's in town with potential MVP Alex Ovechkin tonight, as three of the top rookie candidates take the ice.

But with Patrick Kane hanging around the top of the rookie scoring list, battling Backstrom for the lead, Toews and Kane will split some votes and Backstrom could sneak in the back door and steal the prize.

Toews has been the best of the best rookies, including Kane, Backstrom and Peter Mueller (Phoenix). He's also the most responsible, most unselfish, best leader, and he's his team's next captain.

It's no coincidence that when Toews left the lineup for an extended period after a knee injury, the Hawks suffered a rash of selfish play, and several players began focusing on their own stats instead of winning.

As for who'll turn out to be the best, Toews gets that nod, as well.

Right now, Toews would be a No. 2 center on a good team, but he's got a very good chance to be a No. 1 center, because he will get bigger and there's nothing about the game he doesn't understand.

He's an excellent defensive center who can play against the other club's top line, or he can play against shutdown lines and produce.

He's already a man on a team filled with kids, mature beyond his years, and too smart to buy into some of the nonsense he's forced to hear every day in that room.

His work ethic is top-notch and his drive to get better shocking for someone who's about to turn 20, and he probably means more to his team than anyone on that rookie list.

This is no slight to Backstrom, who's also an excellent two-way player and completely deserving of serious consideration for top rookie honors.

He has good hockey sense and has been much better since the coaching change in Washington, where he had 51 points in his last 51 games heading into Tuesday's contest at Nashville.

True, it sure helps playing with Ovechkin, but Backstrom deserves all the press he's gotten of late and is a healthy plus-6 for the year.

Mueller is also a good two-way player and dynamic on the power play, and Kane shows flashes of brilliance, but he's one-dimensional and his play sometimes reminds you that he's a 19-year-old rookie in the NHL with a lot of growing to do, which is much less a criticism than an acknowledged fact of NHL life.

Kane (minus-8) leads in points (62) and Mueller (minus-9) in goals (21), but it should come down to Backstrom, who leads in assists (49), and Toews (plus-9), who has played nearly 20 fewer games than the leaders, and may yet lead all rookies in goals.

For Toews' sake, let's hope common sense prevails and he gets the trophy he deserves.

Ivan Boldirev-ing

Taking nothing away from Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin is as fun to watch as any player in the game, and it's not just because of his tremendous goal-scoring ability.

Ovechkin's got a bunch of Jeremy Roenick in him and will run over absolutely anyone in his way, but as happened to Roenick, Ovechkin definitely risks shortening his career or lowering his productivity if he doesn't learn to pick his spots and avoid injuries.

The line

Consider for a moment that the odds on Tiger Woods winning the grand slam have fallen all the way to 8-1. That's 8-1 to win every single one of the four toughest tournaments on the planet.

Now, consider that Phil Mickelson is 15-1 to win the WGC-CA this weekend at Doral, while Ernie Els is 20-1 and Vijay Singh 20-1.

That's merely one tournament, and these are some of the best golfers of all time.

But Tiger is 8-1 to win the four majors.

Sit with that one for awhile.

The line II

Odds on winning the Final Four MVP: Tyler Hansbrough (N.C.) 4-1, Kevin Love (UCLA) 7-1, Chris Douglas-Roberts (Memphis) 8-1, Brandon Rush (KU) 10-1, Darren Collison (UCLA) 10-1, Ty Lawson (N.C.) 12-1, Chris Lofton (Tenn.) 15-1, Darrell Arthur (KU) 15-1, Derrick Rose (Memphis) 15-1, and Kyle Singler (Duke) 15-1.

Best point

From Mount Prospect e-mailer Dan Marich: "Some of the old-time golfers must be turning in their graves with Tiger Woods and Lorena Ochoa, two minorities, currently the best golfers in the world on their respective tours.''

Stack and tilt

Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: "A woman in (Kansas) sits glued to her toilet seat for two years, and we're supposed to be impressed when flu-stricken golfer Vijay Singh claims he 'never left the bathroom for four days'?"

Running of the bears

In the fourth quarter, the Bulls should start calling it the "Bear Stearns Defense.'' You know, the one where they drop 20 points in 12 minutes.

And finally ...

Dan Daly of the Washington Times: "Billy Crystal, the most famous Yankees fan this side of Rudy Giuliani, got to bat for his favorite team the other day in an exhibition game against the Pirates. Unfortunately, he was robbed of a hit on an incredible diving catch by Jack Palance.''