ShadowFax said:
Just say you would still take Ovechkin because your a Caps fan. I think Caps fans would be the only ones taking Ovechkin if Crosby was outproducing him by wide margins. Why is hitting so valued by Caps fans? Gretzky wasn't a big hitter, neither was Lemieux, neither was Jagr etc.
And the WC does prove something. They are both playing in the same tournament. Ovechkin should be putting up bigger points against "a telent level much below that of the NHL" should he not? Crosby is outscoring him no need to make excuses.
OK. I prefer Ovechkin because I am a Caps fan. He is on the team I follow, which I love dearly, so yes, I´m not going to lie, the fact that I´m a caps fan obviously factors in.
But that´s not the only reason (see my post above/reasons below).
Also, the other people who are outscoring Ovechkin, in order of points, in this OH SO IMPORTANT COMPETITION:
Bergeron, Kopitar, Grabovsky, Boyes, Nummelin and of course, Malkin (don´t bring him into this). Point made.
I´m not saying the WC is without worth. It is an semi-important international competition. What I am saying, however, is the fact that Crosby is outscoring Ovechkin means very little in the grand scheme of things because it´s one (1) competition and very far behind the NHL and the Olympics in importance.
And here´s why I value hitting: It pumps your team up and demoralizes the other team, not to mention the indimidation factor. The caps are a young, cohesive team, and a bone crushing hit brings up the collective level of play to a very noticeable extent. A great assist brings up the play of one or two other players, but a hit really gets an entire team going. Thus, I´d rather have a player who lays one out once in a while and finishes with 50-50-100 than have a player who will rack up 50-70-120. The importance of a hit, of course, also increases greatly in the playoffs. Most of the time, the fact that an opposing player gets taken out of the play for a few seconds is inconsequential--what´s consequential, however, is the injections of adrenaline the hit provides.
To conclude, Crosby is money, and yes, I do think he will outproduce Ovechkin. However, this has been repeated over and over and over again, but I think Ovechkin has a more complete game and has more charisma--a key reason, why on a young team like the caps, I value Ovechkin over Crosby. Alex, I think, scares defensemen and goalies alike more than Crosby, and is more of an intimidator. I would love to have Crosby on the caps (minus the *****ing at the refs), and I think he is only behind Ovechkin in terms of overall quality by the smallest of margins, so please, nobody pretend like I´m devaluing Crosby or overrated Ovechkin--I´m simply giving some reasoning behind the small disparity that I perceive between the two.