Crosby vs Ovechkin

[2legit2quit]

If you look at there Careers, can one really say that Crosby has outperformed Ovechkin thus far? IMO, Ovechkin's 07-08' season was better than any of Crosby's seasons.

Oh, and, injuries play a big factor, the player who is less injured (IMO) and more durable should make that player advantageous to have.

Now, both their individual performances are on par together.
Can you really say that Crosby has had the better career than Ovechkin?
Hockey is a 20-man-game, Ovechkin finally won this year, but, the previous years he had no help from his team-mates.

This year, when OV's teammates finally decided to show up ---- the caps looked just as dangerous as the Pens ever did.

Remember, Crosby had superstars on his teams when he won the cup. It's not Ovechkin's fault that his teammates didn't show up.

Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Neal, Hornquvist, Kunitz, Letang, Gonchar, Guentzel, etc.

Crosby's team was always loaded in the Playoffs. Meanwhile, OV's team never showed up.

So, can you make a justified argument, without using cups as a factor (since Hockey is a 20 man sport), about who is better?

Click to read more...

 

[lanceuppercut75]

Ovechkin was the captain of multiple Presidents Trophy teams, and he couldn't lead those teams that were PROVEN (by wins-losses records) to be great teams past the second round until now.

 

[FreeBobbyFarnham]

Nah Sid is just better.

Edit : President trophy teams like said above and he's not well surrounded? What?

 

[illpucks]

Ovechkin was the captain of multiple Presidents Trophy teams, and he couldn't lead those teams that were PROVEN (by wins-losses records) to be great teams past the second round until now.

Presidents is a regular season award. Nashville won it in a very very competitive field this year and didn't pass round 2.

 

[FreeBobbyFarnham]

Presidents is a regular season award. Nashville won it in a very very competitive field this year and didn't pass round 2.

Doesn't mean they don't have a good team.

 

[Varan]

save this for another day

 

[eviohh26]

Calling Daver right now.

 

[illpucks]

Doesn't mean they don't have a good team.

Ya but Nashville this year faced the same problem with the format. Preds Jets were top 2 teams in the league.
Just like Caps Pens were top 2 teams in the league.
Result is 2nd round KO. Says more about the format than anything.

 

[Laveuglette]

OV had a higher peak, Sid a better career, more consistency. Both will make the HHOF.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Calling Daver right now.

Ovechkin is just lucky that crosby is still in his grace period, was coasting so hes well rested for next years playoffs.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

As mentioned, Ovi's peak was better, Crosby's been more consistent.

Both are going to go down as all-time greats, both will go into the HOF, and now both will have their names on the Cup.

 

[FreeBobbyFarnham]

Ya but Nashville this year faced the same problem with the format. Preds Jets were top 2 teams in the league.
Just like Caps Pens were top 2 teams in the league.
Result is 2nd round KO. Says more about the format than anything.

I'm just saying Ovechkin has been well surrounded for a long time now. It's not his rookie year anymore.

 

[Gnome17]

I think they are quite even now, but its such a difficult thing to compare. This will probably be discussed long after they both retire.

The biggest talking points imo are;
Crosby has more top-level team Trophies while Ovechkin has more individual trophies.

Crosby missed out on a lot of his prime, and also most likely quite a few personal trophies, because of injuries. Its possible he would hold a clear edge if he did not have those injuries.

International trophies on the highest level are a little hard to judge, since Crosby obviously plays for Canada and Ovechkin for an overall worse team in Russia. Canada is on a tier of their own and is kind of expected to win these tournaments.

Ovechkin has 8 world championship medals, of which 3 are gold medals, where as Crosby has only 1 medal, which is gold. This is however also a hard tournament to judge the value of, since it is in many way a losers tournament, where the players who couldnt make it to the later stages of the Stanley cup playoffs gets a second chance to win something. Crosby has missed a lot of oppurtunities because of going deep in the playoffs and injuries.

Crosby has quite clearly a better point-per-game average, both in the regular season and the playoffs. Ovechkin obviously has a better goal-per-game average. Goals vs Points, whats more important.

Then you come to things that are even harder to compare, such as their defensive play and leadership skills...

 

[Snippit]

Crosby better player for sure, but career...Ovechkin has a real argument.

 

[lanceuppercut75]

Presidents is a regular season award. Nashville won it in a very very competitive field this year and didn't pass round 2.

At the end of the day, a good team is a good team and a bad team is a bad team. The gap between reg season and playoff hockey is not some huge vast chasm that can excuse anything.

Take this fake team of, for example..

Hall McDavid Boeser
Landeskog MacKinnon Skinner
Keller Eichel Nylander
Tkachuk Horvat Draisaitl

Werenski Jones
Rielly Ekblad
Hanifin Ristolainen

Dubnyk
Bobrovsky

...and you can throw em into the playoffs next year against, say, Minnesota for example. Then the Wild sweep this STACKED team easily.

Based on your logic, this team should not necessarily have been the favourite. None of these guys have ever proven very much except the reg season and therefore this team is not necessarily a "good" playoff team, apparently.

Maybe there should be a small amount of consideration for "reg vs playoffs", but IMO hockey is hockey and good teams are good teams.

 

[Turin]

Re: the first sentence.

Yea, you definitely could say that.

 

[Habsrule]

One thing to keep in mind is that Ovechkin missed the entire 2004-05 season because of the strike. He is a year older than Crosby and would have had one more season worth of stats.

As a 19 year old rookie Ovechkin had 52 goals. I will pick a very safe and conservative number and say that he would score 30 as an 18 year old rookie. He currently has 607 career goals and is in 19th all time. Add another 30 and he would be in 15th.


I am not trying to say that Ovechkin has had a better career but he has missed a full season. People tend to forget this.

 

[Mathew Barzal]

Crosby is and was the better overall player in my opinion. It would have been nice to see his career stats had he been able to stay healthy throughout.

 

[Kasperi kapanen]

I really don’t get it. What would be the reason justifying Ovi having a better career than Sid? Crosby has 2 more cups and 2 smythes, they are basically even in career scoring (Ovi up by 6 points in over 100 more games, not to mention, those games Sid missed were his prime years), Sid has been more consistent, and he’s the better all around player in general. The only thing Ovi beats Sid in is goal scoring. Just because he won a cup and symthe doesn’t mean he even comes close to Sid.

 

[VainGretzky]

Ovechkin more goals more points more individual awards more likeable , sorry Sid you don't get credit for games not played . Ovechkin has had the better career as a player . Facts matter.

 

[Senor Catface]

I vote for Ovechkin, only because of how well Pens fans take other players being mentioned with Crosby.

 

[Kasperi kapanen]

Ovechkin more goals more points more individual awards more likeable , sorry Sid you don't get credit for games not played . Ovechkin has had the better career as a player . Facts matter.

Yea real impressive Ovi. Scored 6 more points than Sid in over a hundred more games while also playing with better linemates throughout his career. Has less cups, less smythes. What’s next, Backstrom had a better career than Malkin?

 

[Semantics]

Crosby.

 

[VainGretzky]

Yea real impressive Ovi. Scored 6 more points than Sid in over a hundred more games while also playing with better linemates throughout his career. Has less cups, less smythes. What’s next, Backstrom had a better career than Malkin?

To bad Sid never played those 100 games maybe he would have more points than Ovie , but he didn't so 0 credit added , and he still would not have more goals or individual awards . Facts over would've could've should've

 

[GrkFlyersFan]

It's probably too late for OV to catch Crosby, but maybe another Cup can make things interesting. Actually won a Conn Smythe he deserves, too. Olympic gold would help, too.