Player Discussion Alexander Ovechkin (Vol. 2)

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AlexBrovechkin8

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If the Crosby and OV conversation was close before it’s not anymore. And you can make a case it never should have been.

Ovie's peak is certainly on par with, if not better than, Crosby's peak. Ovie was the most dominant force in the league for a few years. People tend to forget that he was a near-unstoppable force of nature. That said, Crosby has the rare ability to dictate the pace of the game. He makes almost everyone on his line appreciably better. I also don't remember Crosby's valleys being as low/bad as Ovie's valleys. And I don't think you could ever say that Crosby was a liability in any zone as you could certainly say about Ovechkin.
 

FloridaCap

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Ovie's peak is certainly on par with, if not better than, Crosby's peak. Ovie was the most dominant force in the league for a few years. People tend to forget that he was a near-unstoppable force of nature. That said, Crosby has the rare ability to dictate the pace of the game. He makes almost everyone on his line appreciably better. I also don't remember Crosby's valleys being as low/bad as Ovie's valleys. And I don't think you could ever say that Crosby was a liability in any zone as you could certainly say about Ovechkin.

As a die-hard Caps fan and Caps homer, Crosby is a better player all-time than Ovechkin.

With that said, Ovechkin's peak was better than Crosby's. Nobody could take over a game like Ovechkin. I think you'd have to go all the way back to 99.

and I'd rather watch Ovi any day of the week. and that's coming from someone who actually doesn't hate Crosby.
 

BobRouse

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Ovechkin's durability and physicality get overlooked far too often when comparisons to Crosby are brought up. He really blows Sid away in these categories like Sid blows him away in defensive responsibility and cycling.

His peak was definitely better IMO as Ovie was basically a more offensively dominant prime Lindros.

Crosby has been the better player since 2011 (those 2 puzzling years for Ovie really were contributing to this)
 

Midnight Judges

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Crosby gets a free pass somehow for missing games. NHL fans are the only sports fans in the world that treat half seasons and quarter seasons as if they were successful.

Crosby has all of 1 dominant season since 2010.

Ovechkin's peak is absolutely better than Crosby's. Do you guys realize Ovie once played 81 consecutive games where he scored 135 points and 62 goals - and this includes 14 playoff games? There is no such stretch for Crosby, not even close. Not to mention Ovechkin was crushing people all over the ice during that time. You can string together a 22 game season, a 41 game season, and a 36 game season for Crosby and the stats are very impressive, but really it's like hitting 25 home runs in 75 MLB games and sitting in the press box for the other 89 games. Nobody would ever claim that makes a player the best baseball player but for some reason hockey is different.

I think there is a case for Ovechkin. Best players of a generation - if they are centers - aren't supposed to get outscored by a goal scoring winger through 12 years of their prime, while the winger has 46% more goals.
 

Alexander the Gr8

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Guys, stop comparing Ovi to Sid. As much as I hate how things turned out to be, Sid left Ovi behind. Missing games doesn't compensate for all the things Crosby does better than Ovi. He's still among the top contenders for scoring titles, he's now very good defensively and he's molded Sheary and Guentzel into solid NHL wingers. Add to that the fact that he's won two Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe last year. He achieved everything we wanted to see Ovi achieve.

Ovechkin was better for a while, but those days are long gone. At least Ovi doesn't spear or hack off fingers like 87.
 

g00n

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Guys, stop comparing Ovi to Sid. As much as I hate how things turned out to be, Sid left Ovi behind. Missing games doesn't compensate for all the things Crosby does better than Ovi. He's still among the top contenders for scoring titles, he's now very good defensively and he's molded Sheary and Guentzel into solid NHL wingers. Add to that the fact that he's won two Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe last year. He achieved everything we wanted to see Ovi achieve.

Ovechkin was better for a while, but those days are long gone. At least Ovi doesn't spear or hack off fingers like 87.

They're different players and they've both had ebb and flow seasons. I think Ovechkin is still clinging to some of his previous habits, but eventually he may reinvent his game and become a dominant force again. I've always anticipated his late career as being focused around the net as an elite power forward who creates chaos out front.
 

Haj

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Last night Ovechkin made an impact on almost every shift.

When he is engaged, he is the most dangerous player in the series.

Sometimes it looks like he has lost a step because of his age.
 

RandyHolt

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Remember folks, EfK lives in Canada. :sarcasm:

Joking aside, I didn't know about that monster 81 game stretch by Ovi.
 

Dr John Carlson

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If Crosby plays decently the rest of his career, he's a top-10 player of all time. If Ovechkin plays decently the rest of his career, he's a top-20 player of all time. Can't really complain about that.
 

Raikkonen

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Canadian feed yesterday showed Ovi sending the puck into the net at 103 MPH (his last goal). The similar goal in G3 was only 89 MPH though.

If it's not a mistake this is more than Ovi showed at ASG super skills competition.
 

Alexander the Gr8

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Canadian feed yesterday showed Ovi sending the puck into the net at 103 MPH (his last goal). The similar goal in G3 was only 89 MPH though.

If it's not a mistake this is more than Ovi showed at ASG super skills competition.

Yeah, 103 mph would be his hardest shot ever recorded. Makes me laugh when some Leafs fans say "Andersen should've had that one". How do you catch a 103 mph blast headed straight for the top corner?
 

IafrateOvie34

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Yeah, 103 mph would be his hardest shot ever recorded. Makes me laugh when some Leafs fans say "Andersen should've had that one". How do you catch a 103 mph blast headed straight for the top corner?

It was certainly wicked. I laughed because Ovy was like try to stop this one, lol.
 

g00n

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Yeah, 103 mph would be his hardest shot ever recorded. Makes me laugh when some Leafs fans say "Andersen should've had that one". How do you catch a 103 mph blast headed straight for the top corner?

Because they circle the wagons like no one else, except maybe Pens fans. And they have fans who hate their starting goalie no matter what he does, just like every other fanbase.
 

BobRouse

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Because they circle the wagons like no one else, except maybe Pens fans. And they have fans who hate their starting goalie no matter what he does, just like every other fanbase.

Ranger fans are the most notorious. Over the past few years you should see what they have had to say about the King.

Its the whole "backup QB being the most popular player on the team" syndrome.

Like I've always said...there are 3 easy targets for hockey fans when it comes to their team:

1. Coach
2. Goalie
3. Best offensive dman
 

KevinM

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Watching him now it's hard to believe this is the same guy who was dominating games for us in 2010. Back then every time he had the puck he was a legitimate threat to score. He busted his ass and tried to hit everything that moved. I can hardly stand to watch him at 5v5 nowadays because he's such an enormous liability and turnover [russian] machine. You don't see any of the energy he used to have, he just floats about trying to get in position for a quick wrister or slapper and it's sad to watch.
 

Alexander the Gr8

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He has to go. We can't build the team around him anymore, he's no longer a dominant player. The Ovechkin era ended yesterday as far as I'm concerned.

Hopefully GMBM decides it's time for this team to have a rebirth as a young team again.
 

ModryJazyk

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Ovechkin will never be traded. You guys need to realize it.

I think he should be traded for a elite forward/leader who has achieved success already (like Kopitar w/ 2 rings) .... This is like beating head against the wall for 12 years in a row.Caps are elite team and Oveckin is great sniper but scoring ~10 more goals than anyone else in the regular season doesn't matter for SC chances.A trade could help Oveckin as well, he could pull Hossa who has won 3 SC only after his prime, not as best forward in the team so w/ less pressure putting on him.
 

RandyHolt

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Ovi's goal in game 6 was one of the rare sightings of old Ovi. He had jump, explosion and that release. Was he in tears from pain after scoring? I don't understand how he can be injured yet do that.... the injury doesn't go away for a shift. Pain killers don't last 10 seconds. Maybe it was the only time the pens didnt clutch and grab.
 

Cush

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...34b6d506b37_story.html?utm_term=.36807baa670f

Now, it’s completely unfair to both Orpik and Ovechkin to say that, by highlighting Crosby’s work ethic, Orpik was referencing Ovechkin as a superstar who coasts through practice. But it’s also ignorant to not notice the discrepancies here. It’s also instructive that on the very day Orpik said that about Crosby, Ovechkin left practice, the first in preparation for the Penguins’ series, because of a broken skate. Minor issue. No big deal. But he never returned to the ice.

“I said, ‘You didn’t have another pair?’†Coach Barry Trotz said then, making light of the incident. “He goes, ‘I couldn’t find them.’â€

.....

“He should never have been named the captain,†said one person with first-hand knowledge of the situation. “You’re asking him to do something he’s not capable of.â€

....

In Washington, there’s no getting around that the way is Ovechkin’s. He is the room’s largest personality, the employee with the longest tenure. If he drifts through a crucial playoff game — as he did in Game 4 against Pittsburgh, whether because of injury or disinterest — it’s hard for the players who will come and go to get the one who knows he’ll be here to change his work habits, his DNA.
 
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