Around the NHL — Episode XLXVI

[Xspyrit]

Crosby and Ovechkin are right there in the tier below the NHL Mt. Rushmore (Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe and Connor McDavid)

 

[Big Muddy]

Phenomenal achievement. But the other thing that strikes me is that he entered the league 19 years ago. Time flies by.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Phenomenal achievement. But the other thing that strikes me is that he entered the league 19 years ago. Time flies by.

I'm pulling for him to do it one more time

 

[JD1]

Crosby. Such a weird case. Every where you look there were guys that were bigger, or faster, or flashier, or better shooters or something. And then there's Syd. 19 years at ppg. He was just better for longer than anyone else other than Gretz and I'd like to see him do it one more time too.

 

[Senscore]

Crosby. Such a weird case. Every where you look there were guys that were bigger, or faster, or flashier, or better shooters or something. And then there's Syd. 19 years at ppg. He was just better for longer than anyone else other than Gretz and I'd like to see him do it one more time too.

He has incredible vision and tree trunk thighs which help give him insane balance.

So he can protect the puck like nobody else and knows exactly where it needs to go. And more than enough talent to make it happen.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Crosby. Such a weird case. Every where you look there were guys that were bigger, or faster, or flashier, or better shooters or something. And then there's Syd. 19 years at ppg. He was just better for longer than anyone else other than Gretz and I'd like to see him do it one more time too.

His career has a lot of parallels to LeBron James. Both incredible and drowning in hardware, but being consistently elite for so long is what really sets them apart.

 

[DrEasy]

Crosby. Such a weird case. Every where you look there were guys that were bigger, or faster, or flashier, or better shooters or something. And then there's Syd. 19 years at ppg. He was just better for longer than anyone else other than Gretz and I'd like to see him do it one more time too.

Not to mention he missed plenty of games due to concussion/neck issues early on in his career.

 

[JungleBeat]

Where do you rank him since 1967.

Below McDavid

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

 

[Ouroboros]

Hockey, baby!

 

[Micklebot]

Hockey, baby!

Lol, they gave game misconducts to everyone on the ice except Lazar and Vessey who dropped the gloves first.

 

[Emerica]

Hockey, baby!

Poor Tierney caught in the crossfire. You know the last thing on this poor guy’s mind is fighting

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

20 for the Big Guy

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

The most under appreciated generational talent the league has seen.

Now he is.

But Crosby was the league until McDavid arrived on the scene. Hell, his talent was one of the driving forces behind the big move to eliminate the dead puck era and open up the game twenty years ago.

It's funny, if you were to choose between McDavid and Crosby to pick a cornerstone to your franchise, most folks would pick McJesus, even though Crosby is easily the better player. Recency bias, I guess. In another two years, most fans will put Bedard above both of them.

 

[Dionysus]

20 for the Big Guy

Great to see for Paul. He has earned it.

Joseph has been decent this year. Not coming to a contract agreement with Paul was ludicrous though. Should have been a slam dunk contract to negotiate. The guy put in the work, went through waivers, did it all.

Now the Sens are basically looking to add a Nick Paul this off-season. Dorion outsmarted himself constantly, moving pieces around blindly hoping something would work. All the while bleeding value.

 

[Rodzilla]

Man that Boucher pick is so damn bad when you look at it.

Johnston scored his 30th last night, taken 13 spots later. Its like they didnt even work on scouting/tape that year. You also have Wallstedt, damn.

10th overall man…..

 

[JungleBeat]

Now he is.

But Crosby was the league until McDavid arrived on the scene. Hell, his talent was one of the driving forces behind the big move to eliminate the dead puck era and open up the game twenty years ago.

It's funny, if you were to choose between McDavid and Crosby to pick a cornerstone to your franchise, most folks would pick McJesus, even though Crosby is easily the better player. Recency bias, I guess. In another two years, most fans will put Bedard above both of them.

You’re talking nonsense now. Crosby “easily” over McDavid? Obviously not.

 

[GCK]

Now he is.

But Crosby was the league until McDavid arrived on the scene. Hell, his talent was one of the driving forces behind the big move to eliminate the dead puck era and open up the game twenty years ago.

It's funny, if you were to choose between McDavid and Crosby to pick a cornerstone to your franchise, most folks would pick McJesus, even though Crosby is easily the better player. Recency bias, I guess. In another two years, most fans will put Bedard above both of them.

Crosby is right behind Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr and McDavid for me.

 

[Xspyrit]

Now he is.

But Crosby was the league until McDavid arrived on the scene. Hell, his talent was one of the driving forces behind the big move to eliminate the dead puck era and open up the game twenty years ago.

It's funny, if you were to choose between McDavid and Crosby to pick a cornerstone to your franchise, most folks would pick McJesus, even though Crosby is easily the better player. Recency bias, I guess. In another two years, most fans will put Bedard above both of them.

1st tier : Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr, McDavid, Howe

2nd tier : Crosby, Ovechkin, Messier, Lidstrom, Jagr, Yzerman, Bourque

3rd tier : Plenty (Sakic, Francis, Forsberg, Lafleur, Esposito, Bossy, Bure, etc)

* Not ranking goalies with skaters

McDavid is currently 3rd in PPG of all-time and he didn't play in the 80's. He's ahead of Dionne, Stastny, Bossy, etc... This is just crazy

Another crazy thing is we are currently witnessing some incredible talents but maybe don't fully realize it. Ranking in terms of PPG, all-time :

#3- McDavid
#8- Crosby
#13- Kucherov
#16- Draisaitl
#19- Panarin
#20- Matthews
#22- Malkin
#24- McKinnon
#31- Marner
#34- Ovechkin
#36- Rantanen
#38- Pastrnak

Some Senators :

#106- Alfredsson
#109- Yashin
#115- Heatley
#136- Stone
#151- Hossa
#190- Karlsson
#206- Spezza
#208- Zibanejad

Stutzle is not ranked (minimum 500 career points) but his current PPG would be 150th

 

[Icelevel]

20 for the Big Guy

Hurts inside

 

[Micklebot]

1st tier : Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr, McDavid, Howe

2nd tier : Crosby, Ovechkin, Messier, Lidstrom, Jagr, Yzerman, Bourque

3rd tier : Plenty (Sakic, Francis, Forsberg, Lafleur, Esposito, Bossy, Bure, etc)

* Not ranking goalies with skaters

McDavid is currently 3rd in PPG of all-time and he didn't play in the 80's. He's ahead of Dionne, Stastny, Bossy, etc... This is just crazy

Another crazy thing is we are currently witnessing some incredible talents but maybe don't fully realize it. Ranking in terms of PPG, all-time :

#3- McDavid
#8- Crosby
#13- Kucherov
#16- Draisaitl
#19- Panarin
#20- Matthews
#22- Malkin
#24- McKinnon
#31- Marner
#34- Ovechkin
#36- Rantanen
#38- Pastrnak

To be fair, Crosby played much of his career through what could be likened to a second dead puck era,

The dead puck era, saw goals per game of 2.76 from 94-2004, while Crosby played a decade of his prime from 2007-2017 with an average goals per game of 2.77.

Meanwhile, McDavid's career has seen goals per game around 2.98

Now, is that because players are better? Is it because rule changes were made to drive more offence? Is it because of changes to the equipment, training, ect?

it's always tough to compare guys across generations. I do find that McDavid seems to tilt the ice offensively more than Crosby did, but Crosby's game imo was more well rounded.

 

[Xspyrit]

To be fair, Crosby played much of his career through what could be likened to a second dead puck era,

The dead puck era, saw goals per game of 2.76 from 94-2004, while Crosby played a decade of his prime from 2007-2017 with an average goals per game of 2.77.

Meanwhile, McDavid's career has seen goals per game around 2.98

Now, is that because players are better? Is it because rule changes were made to drive more offence? Is it because of changes to the equipment, training, ect?

I'd say all of this and probably more factors.

it's always tough to compare guys across generations. I do find that McDavid seems to tilt the ice offensively more than Crosby did, but Crosby's game imo was more well rounded.

Yeah it's hard, McDavid is the most skilled hockey player of all-time (IMO), he is not even done progressing, his game is becoming elite both ways. It took years before Crosby rounded his game defensively. But hey, I am ranking Crosby Top-10 of all-time.

 

[BondraTime]

I'd say all of this and probably more factors.



Yeah it's hard, McDavid is the most skilled hockey player of all-time (IMO), he is not even done progressing, his game is becoming elite both ways. It took years before Crosby rounded his game defensively. But hey, I am ranking Crosby Top-10 of all-time.

Crosby was getting Selke votes at 21-22

Injuries early in his career changed what he will be seen as, he likely missed 4 Art Ross's and 4 Harts from missing so much time in his 20 (had 72 in 52 for highest ppg in league), and 23-25 year old seasons (again had best ppg's in those seasons, along with finishing 18 goals behind the Rocket winner with 42 less games played).

Without missing that time, he's viewed in an entirely different way.

He missed his entire real prime of 23-25, McDavid in those same 3 years had 2 Harts with another 2nd place finish, 3 Art Ross's, and a Richard.

 

[Xspyrit]

Crosby was getting Selke votes at 21-22

Him missing most of his 3 prime seasons at 23, 24 and 25 likely took away 3 Harts, 3 Art Ross's, at the bare minimum 1 Richard, and ~200 points from his career.

Without missing that time, he's viewed in an entirely different view.

McDavid in those same 3 years had 2 Harts with another 2nd place finish, 3 Art Ross's, and a Richard.

He got 11 votes at 22 y/o and was ranked 30th. Didn't get another single vote until he was 25 y/o

This is something I have read a lot in the past, there's been plenty of talk about this for a long time.

 

[BondraTime]

He got 11 votes at 22 y/o and was ranked 30th. Didn't get another single vote until he was 25 y/o

This is something I have read a lot in the past, there's been plenty of talk about this for a long time.

Well, yeah, he never got to play his 23 or 24 year old seasons. .

Just last year there were 11 100 point scorers in the NHL.

From 2008-2018 there were 11.

Points, and scoring, is not remotely similar between both of their primes, and Crosby missed nearly 200 games of his.

Prime McDavid is likely putting up similar numbers to prime Crosby back in 2005-2018, likely better.

Crosby is undoubtedly the more complete player, not even close in my opinion.