Ovechkin vs. Crosby The Great Debate -- Year 3
Posted 2:02 AM ET | Comments 43
It is difficult to make a comparison on the 2007/2008 season with these two superstars due to the injury of Crosby, but here are some key points.
Ovechkin side--
Ovechkin averaged .79 goals per game and 1.37 points pergame to Crosby's .45 goals per game and 1.36 points per game. These statistics are more accurate than total numbers due to Crosby missing several games. Ovechkin was the MVP of the league with his 65 goals and 112 points. Ovechkin became the first left winger in the NHL to reach 65 goals.
Crosby side--
Crosby still managed to come up with some all star type numbers (24 goals and 72 points) in just 53 games played. Due to Crosby's adequate supporting cast his Penguins still stormed into the playoffs as the no. 2 seed in the East. Sid led his team to the Stanley Cup Finals where they gave overmatched Detroit a run for their money, while Ovechkin and his Caps made a first round exit.
Year 1-- Ovechkin definetly wins this one with the Calder to confirm it.
Year 2-- Breakout year for Crosby leagues top scorer and MVP
Year 3-- ?????
Ovechkin side--
Ovechkin averaged .79 goals per game and 1.37 points pergame to Crosby's .45 goals per game and 1.36 points per game. These statistics are more accurate than total numbers due to Crosby missing several games. Ovechkin was the MVP of the league with his 65 goals and 112 points. Ovechkin became the first left winger in the NHL to reach 65 goals.
Crosby side--
Crosby still managed to come up with some all star type numbers (24 goals and 72 points) in just 53 games played. Due to Crosby's adequate supporting cast his Penguins still stormed into the playoffs as the no. 2 seed in the East. Sid led his team to the Stanley Cup Finals where they gave overmatched Detroit a run for their money, while Ovechkin and his Caps made a first round exit.
Year 1-- Ovechkin definetly wins this one with the Calder to confirm it.
Year 2-- Breakout year for Crosby leagues top scorer and MVP
Year 3-- ?????
Sid has better supporting cast at this stage of the game. Individually I would give year 3 to Ovie. MVP!!!
year 4 to be exact.2005-062006-072007-082008-09 this yearsorry buddy, you might if had too much to drink last night.
bottom line sid puts in more effort. all around better player.
Better numbers and a heart trophy.... You have to give year three to AO
"bottom line sid puts in more effort. all around better player." Better effort? Really?
Yr "3" to Alex the great
Message Posted
I love the Crosby/Ovechkin debate! Both guys are great hockey players and both are fun to watch. Obviously, as far as the regular season goes, Ovie gets the nod. But for the playoffs, Sid gets the nod. So who's year was year 3? I guess it all depends on whether or not you include the playoffs in your decision. If you do, then Sid gets the nod. If not, then it goes to Ovie. I think this coming season (4) should be the best yet (barring injury). Sid didn't really seem to get his stride back until the Philly series. But once he did, he showed he is as good as people say he is. And Ovie has a better team this year than last (should be at least). So he should benefit from an improved supporting cast. I'm not sure who finishes year 4 on top, but I'd love to see somebody average 2 points per game (160 plus in scoring)....don't know if it will ever happen again...
AO
I think last year showed that the penguins can still win without crosby and actually played their best when he wasn't there. I'm not at all saying they play better without him but do you honestly think that washington could do the same without AO? So you have to agree that sid has the better team to play with but still only got about the same PPG avg.Year 3 goes to Ovechkin.
Not sure why people still insist on comparing these 2, other than rookie years they have little in common... most noteably age, and position. For the record, last year crosby was the same age ovechkin was as a rookie. so lets compare:age 20 ovechkin - 106 career NHL pointsage 20 crosby - 294 career NHL pointsPretty pointless to compare these players last year when 1 played 29 less games
I guess the point is that they are considerd 1/1A best player in the game. So we could change the question to: Who was the best player this year?
Hey Ronnyweed. Since Ovechkin could not play in the NHL LOCKOUT of 04-05, when he was 19, your argument holds no water. 'I have these apples over here, check them out next to these oranges!'I would like to know how many points each would have if you got rid of 2nd assists. I will admit that I am biased, but how do you ignore the MVP status and the 65 goals?? Year 3. OVIE. 'Nuff said...
There isn't much of an argument for year 3 due to Crosby's injury... oh, and the fact the Ovechkin was clearly the best player in the league. Yes, Crosby deserves major credit for carrying the team to the Finals, but what about the Caps run to just MAKE the playoffs? Year 1 to AO, 2 to Crosby and 3 to AO. Having said that, I think Crosby will end up being the better player when we look back in 15 years. But at that time Ovie may be considered the greatest goal scorer of all time! Either way, their impact on the game is huge and I love watching both of them play.
blueshirt... you might had too much drink... He is asking who was better this past season... Their 3rd year...Ovechkin win 3rd year IMO....
Even as a Pens fan, I'd have to give year three to OV. He played out of his mind for most of the season. Still, he wasn't without his faults (the last few sec. of the final game v. Philly where, for the first time ever, OV passed up a shot and dished it off to Federov...What was he thinking?). Overall, i'd still rather have Sid long term - guys who play physical like OV tend to have shorter, injury-plagued careers (IE - look at Sackic v. Foresberg as an example)
As most (aside from the insane pens87fan7) have said, it is no contest. AO wins easily. Crosby, in my opinion, was not even the best Penguin. Yes, injuries were a huge part, but Malkin was the Pens' MVP last season.
i dont know how anyone could give anyone but AO the advantage. He absolutely dominated the league this year without a doubt. every time i turned my tv on i saw alex do something amazing. 65 goals...and think about it, put Ovechkin on the Pens?!! it would be ridiculous
hands down alex the great
Both are good, but I will take Zetterberg over both right now. He has a perfect two way game.
Why does everyone compare these 2 so much? One is a center and the other is a winger. Thier games are very different from each other. As a center I think that makes Sid more valuable. I'd take him or Malkin over AO. Probably Thornton too.
Mr Ovechkin wins hands down. And I agree with Claude - Malkin surpassed Crosby as Pens MVP, even with a lackluster final. Tchus Numero 87!!
Was last year really in doubt? AO' 4 boys(Richard, Art Ross, Hart, and Lester) do all the talking.Its a fun little rivalry. Keeps NBC happy--and gives Pierre McGuire more air-time to display his man crush on Sid.
65 goals....most electrifying player in the league. Are we really debating year 3?
The only thing that makes Crosby a contender for the face of the NHL is refusing to back down on promoting him as such. Truthfully- Crosby's a really good passer and that's the only area he excells in statistically at this point. Joe Thornton is a great passer, so Crosby's not even the best in that aspect. I could name 10 better goal scorers (I'll spare everyone as 6-10 are subjective anyway), and end with the topic of Crosby by saying he'll continue to mature- and probably become a very good player in a few years. He'll never live up to the hype. A.O.- Doesn't have the hype he deserves and so far it hasn't mattered. He's as powerful a skater I've ever seen, has hands that nobody can touch, loves to play the body, and finishes his check most of the time. No comparison between Ovie and Crosby. If only the NHL gave up on marketing just one player instead of marketing it's talent as a whole- it wouldn't fail to live up to women's amateur volleyball.
I can't deny that Ovechkin is a great player.....But I can't stand his pathletic goal scoring celebrations it is completly classless. Long tern Crosby will be the better player. C
AO, barring injuries year 4 will be a fun one.
AO wins this one, but considering Sid was hurt for 30 games or so, it's not much to brag about when comparing the 2. AO had a great season, 65 goals is extremely impressive, but Sid is still the better of the two without any doubt. Crosby healthy would have easily hit 35-40 goals and 80-90 assists. Davey you don't know what you are talking about to sit there and say Crosby only excels at passing, that is a rediculous statement to make, he has amazing vision, is one of the strongest skaters in the NHL, with or without the puck, the guy can get back in his zone like lightning and is near impossible to knock off the puck when he's got it, splits the D like no others in the NHL on nearly a nightly basis, his shot does need some work, but he is without a doubt the more crafty of the 2. I like them both, but any smart hockey guy would take Sid over AO for the long term. This coming season, barring no injuries, Crosby will be ahead of AO in the pt standings, and over all ability, minus the physical department, but in fairness, Crosby has improved in that aspect over the yrs as well.
And not that it's all that important, but take into consideration that AO is 2 years older than Sid, so he is a bit more physically developed...minus the leg strenth, Crosby has the legs of a horse
Zetterberg is the best player in the world, IMO.
Anyone who says Sid is a better all around player clearly doesnt watch hockey. AO could be the most complete player the NHL has seen over the last ten years. Comes back and plays D, and knocks the $h*t out of people.
sid is the more crafty of the two????? ha...ha... this really is not an argument. i dont like the pens or the caps, so im not one of these pens or caps fans giving their biased opinions (more so the pens fans). stop sucking crosbys dick.
nice argument mentalorgasm5 !! LOL. Hitting makes him a better player??? Route 76 will take you straight to Philadelphia.
s0rcerer1984, do you really think physical players have short careers? Guys like Messier, Roenick, Howe, Richard and Geoffrion don't count?Having said that, AO wins for the past season (injuries are an excuse, not a reason) and I would have to agree with those above and say that the best player on the Pens last season was AO's buddy Malkin. Personally, I just love watching AO play, he's the full package and unlike Sid, he doesn't b!tch and moan whenever he gets a bad call -- he's the new Gordie Howe.
Some interesting comments. There always seem to be 2 camps on the Ovie/Crosby debate...those that think Sid is too whiney/soft and those that think he's ok with his physical play/on ice verbal skills. People who think Ovie is the man always point to his physical play and his goal scoring because those are the two primary areas where they feel he is better than Crosby. It's tough to argue against the goal scoring...Ovie is a better goal scorer right now (even if Sid had played all the games, Ovie would have taken about 200 more shots than Sid!!!). As far as physical play goes, I think you should be as physical as you need to be to get your main job done. It's nice that AO likes to hit...but unlike what others have posted, the more physical players generally do have shorter careers. I woud also say that in today's NHL...where the speed and size of players is way ahead of the NHL of 20 years ago...that is going to prove to be even more the case. And as far as the whiney Crosby goes, it's pretty obvious he whined a lot his first year...and has lodged a few complaints in the last two years but the trend seems to be that he is complaining less each year...so I guess he is growing up (just turned 21 I think). BTW...injuries can sometimes be used as an excuse, but when you are trying to explain why one guy scored more points than another, epsecially when their points per game average was almost exactly the same, then the injury is the MAIN reason why Sid scored less points than AO (Sid playe din 29 games less).
"Tullyte" When talking about an overall team, no injuries are not a reason for demise as a team is expected to have the depth to compete in order to be great, so it is no excuse on an overall team analysis, now, when comparing 2 specific players on ONE season, and one guy plays 82 games, and the other plays 53, how in the blue hell can you not say injuries are an excuse? It's a pretty ligitimate excuse when used to compare the 2 last season
"sid is the more crafty of the two????? ha...ha... this really is not an argument. i dont like the pens or the caps, so im not one of these pens or caps fans giving their biased opinions (more so the pens fans). stop sucking crosbys dick. "You're right, this is not an argument, Sid is the more crafty of the 2, without any doubt, he can move with the puck like seldom few can, and he does that aspect of the game better than AO, arguable, better than anyone else
"Anyone who says Sid is a better all around player clearly doesnt watch hockey. AO could be the most complete player the NHL has seen over the last ten years. Comes back and plays D, and knocks the $h*t out of people. "Crosby doesn't come back and play D? Are you retarded, how can you say that anyone who says Sid is the better all round player doesn't watch hockey when you follow it up by saying AO is the most complete player in the league? Crosby back checks every time he needs too, more often than AO does, Crosby can SET PLAYS UP, he can finish plays, he can play in his own end and cause turn overs at any given chance, which normally lead to opportunities at the other end. Crosby is a plus 27 in his NHL career, AO is a plus 11, BUT, in 2006/07, AO was a minus 19 while Crosby was a plus 10. How you can say AO is the more all rounded player I just don't know, hitting people does not make you an all round player, sorry friend, maybe you should tune in to a couple more games each season
i'm tired of all these people saying OV can't set people up. the man has 147 assists in three seasons in the league. obviously he is not the set up man the crosby is, but he can do it, and he does do it. he wouldn't be the best player in the league without having pretty good 'vision'. OV was a -19 two seasons back on probably the worst hockey team we've seen in DC since they first came here. i mean that team was HORRIBLE. and even in his first season, with how bad that team was, he was a 2. now this year he was a 28. so they 'OV can't play Defense' statements are a bunch of BS. And how can anybody (jakrabbit) say that 'crosby comes back on D and backchecks more than OV'? do you watch each of their games at the same time? do you can't how many times each player backchecks in a game? Sid is a great hockey player and he's very well rounded, but the notion out there that OV is a one dimensional player is completely wrong. and just for the record, this was OVs season, hands down, and i can't wait to see what these two kids do next year.
my plus signs got knocked off there...he was a plus-2 and a plus-28 was what i meant to say.
Both are good but neither bring the intangibles that Avery does.
'jackrabbit'- for the record I am not retarded. Do you really need to stoop to name-calling when you don't agree with someone's opinion? I've just re-read my original post and confirmed that I didn't resort to name calling. Outside of mentioning Crosby's penchant for 'b!tching and moaning', I didn't make insulting comments about anyone. The only thing that I would change in that post is the closing comment when I stated "...he's the new Gordie How" I should have more clearly stated that I was referring to AO (it sounded like I meant Crosby).