How Quickly They Forget

[egger66]

All this hype about Crosby being the next big think seems to have produced mass amnesia. There is this guy Ovechkin, who is 6-2, 210 and probably one of the 5 fastest skaters and hardest shooters in all of hockey. At 18/19, he was a star in best men's professional hockey league in the world after the NHL.

Yet all everone does is talk about Crosby being the greatest thing to come along since Mario. In fact, Crosby is merely the best thing to come along since Ovechkin. This is not to say that Crosby won't be a great player, but the fact is that the Canadian hype machine has screamed continually about him being the next big think, as if he were head and shoulders above Ovechkin.

I'm not putting down Crosby. I'm putting down the xenophobic Canadian press and gold old boy system that acts like there Crosby is in some kind of class by himself - just because he's Canadian. At this point, the bets are probably even that Ovechkin or Crosby will emerge at the league's dominant player. But there is little doubt that Ovechkin certainly has a big edge in physical tools.

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[littleD]

I think it's mostly a Canadian thing.

Plus the fact, the last time a lot of people saw Ovechkin, he was being completely dominated in the U20 final.

Plus Crosby is very good with the media, so that doesn't hurt.

 

[skerbud]

I agree . AT the WJ he was being shown up. And when the pressure got to him, he left the ice and didnt compete anymore. If anyone has the prima donna attitude it has to be the big russian. Crosby definitely has the right stuff and is extremely humble about the gifts god has given him. Great all around.

 

[baldrick]

Prospects with huge potential will always be eagerly hyped by the media
and fans, nationality notwithstanding. Personally if I had to chose between
them right now I'd select Crosby primarily for the difference in attitude
each displays. One thing for sure, the Ovechkin/Crosby debate will be fun.

 

[Chaos]

I agree . AT the WJ he was being shown up. And when the pressure got to him, he left the ice and didnt compete anymore. If anyone has the prima donna attitude it has to be the big russian. Crosby definitely has the right stuff and is extremely humble about the gifts god has given him. Great all around.

Of course there's this little detail of him injuring his shoulder and missing the next several weeks. But lets not let facts get in the way.

 

[Blane Youngblood]

I actually heard Bill Waters say yesterday that he thought that Ovechkin is a better player then Crosby and will have a better on ice career because he is a better physical specimen. So people saying the canadian press is completely xenophobic when one our two big networks feature a guy that has openly stated that he thinks Ovechkin is going to be the dominant player of our generation are kind of off base.

 

[RE-HABS]

Ovechkin is going to be more of a goal scorer in this league, but many scouts question and wonder if he is going to be willing to pay the price in the centre ice area of the offensive zone to score those goals. He tends to shy away and even disappears when the play is rough on him and centred to him directly.

Crosby on the other hand is a great playmaker and is a goal scorer too, not to mention we have all seen in the Worlds and CHL he is williing to pay the price to get points and to set them up too.

Not being biased, but Crosby seems to have the better character, skills and isn't easily intimadated and his maturity is way higher than any 18 - 20 year old out there.

Ovechkin is a franchise player and will be a top 10 scorer, but Crosby will be a NHL poster boy and a multi scoring champ and MVP in the future.

 

[BROADSTREETBULLY]

..didnt Mario like Malkin more than Ovechkin anyway?..so is Malkin better than Crosby?

 

[Vladiator]

Ovechkin got a shoulder injury and missed a month of play in RSL -- he is a coward and has attitude problems... Crosby got tired and decided to miss that junior's skill competition -- he is tough and mature. Talk about Candian bias...

 

[Kaizer]

Ovechkin vs Kovalchuk will be more interesting. They dislike each other, there's no hate but they realy dislike each other. At every tournament when Kovaclhuk and AO were in the same team Kovalchuk was shadow of himself cause he can't play when AO is near. AO pwned Kovalchuk at WC, they both already sent messages for each other and they will play 8 times in a year against each other. Now that will be realy something.

 

[RE-HABS]

..didnt Mario like Malkin more than Ovechkin anyway?..so is Malkin better than Crosby?

Good point. A lot of scouts have said that Malkin is the better player out of he and Ovechkin and with maturity and time will pass Ovechkin.

Lets not forget that Ovechkin was almost eligable for the 2003 draft because of a late birthday, so in reality he is almost 1 year older than Malkin and 2 years older than Crosby, so if some people think he is better it would be for the body maturity only because both Crosby and Malkin will be there soon.

 

[RE-HABS]

Ovechkin got a shoulder injury and missed a month of play in RSL -- he is a coward and has attitude problems... Crosby got tired and decided to miss that junior's skill competition -- he is tough and mature. Talk about Candian bias...

I can guarantee you that Ovechkin didn't face the same abuse Crosby did game in and game out. I can also guarantee you Ovechkin wasn't the main focal point and most valuable player on his team or in his league like Crosby is and was.

Your comparing apples to oranges, plus he was legitly injured for the prospects game and what did he have to prove? He had just won a Gold medal (we're their any other 2005 prospects in that game playing in the WJC's?) for his country and was leading the CHL in scoring already...what was left to prove that he was the 1st overall pick?

 

[Mothra]

I think it's mostly a Canadian thing.

Plus the fact, the last time a lot of people saw Ovechkin, he was being completely dominated in the U20 final.

Plus Crosby is very good with the media, so that doesn't hurt.

Considering he was named best forward of that tourny I cant agree that he was "completely dominated".....I'm pretty sure a lot of people saw him at the recent Worlds where he lead Russia in scoring too

 

[littleD]

Considering he was named best forward of that tourny I cant agree that he was "completely dominated".....I'm pretty sure a lot of people saw him at the recent Worlds where he lead Russia in scoring too

I said only in the final he was dominated in the part of the game he played, pre-injury.

 

[Mothra]

I agree . AT the WJ he was being shown up. And when the pressure got to him, he left the ice and didnt compete anymore. If anyone has the prima donna attitude it has to be the big russian. Crosby definitely has the right stuff and is extremely humble about the gifts god has given him. Great all around.

Thats a funny way to say he got injured and missed 20 some games afterward in the RSL.....

 

[Mothra]

Ovechkin is going to be more of a goal scorer in this league, but many scouts question and wonder if he is going to be willing to pay the price in the centre ice area of the offensive zone to score those goals. He tends to shy away and even disappears when the play is rough on him and centred to him directly.

Many scouts say that eh? Ok....lets see some of that. Should be easy for you to provide seeing how its "many"

 

[Vladiator]

I can guarantee you that Ovechkin didn't face the same abuse Crosby did game in and game out. I can also guarantee you Ovechkin wasn't the main focal point and most valuable player on his team or in his league like Crosby is and was.

Your comparing apples to oranges, plus he was legitly injured for the prospects game and what did he have to prove? He had just won a Gold medal (we're their any other 2005 prospects in that game playing in the WJC's?) for his country and was leading the CHL in scoring already...what was left to prove that he was the 1st overall pick?

I can guarantee that Ovechkin played against adults, not kids. I can also guarantee that Ovechkin was one of the best players in his team of adults during the season and the playoff.

Anyways, my point was not to compare the two or to promote Ovechkin. I was refering to those people who still believe that Ovechkin pulled out of the final game because of his attitude and not the injury. If you call that bad attitude, then Crosby will soon be playing alongside the master of 'bad attitude' - Mario.

 

[Mothra]

I can guarantee you that Ovechkin didn't face the same abuse Crosby did game in and game out. I can also guarantee you Ovechkin wasn't the main focal point and most valuable player on his team or in his league like Crosby is and was.

and I can guarantee you that Ovechkin played against men that last couple years....and still was voted best left wing as an 18 year old

 

[Vladiator]

and I can guarantee you that Ovechkin played against men that last couple years....and still was voted best left wing as an 18 year old

Get out of my head!

 

[Kronblom]

Hmmm...

Just a thought, but what did they say about Alexandre Daigle 1993 after his 137 points in 53 games? Now we have another 18-year old kid who gets a ton of expectations on his shoulders, let´s hope he can handle this situation better. Judging by that interview I saw yesterday Sidney seems to keep his head straight - for now anyway.

 

[littleD]

Hmmm...

Just a thought, but what did they say about Alexandre Daigle 1993 after his 137 points in 53 games? Now we have another 18-year old kid who gets a ton of expectations on his shoulders, let´s hope he can handle this situation better. Judging by that interview I saw yesterday Sidney seems to keep his head straight - for now anyway.

What, we actually have to remember these are 18 and 19 year olds kids? Where's the fun in that?

 

[Jaded-Fan]

It is crazy to even try to predict at this point. Let us just say that most scouts think the world of the two of them . . . hell, throw Malkin in and say the three of them. Any one of them could turn out to be the better pro at this point, I would put them all about even, say congrats to the Caps on looking forward to having a great player and and leave it at that.

 

[PEli*]

I'm putting down the xenophobic Canadian press and gold old boy system that acts like there Crosby is in some kind of class by himself - just because he's Canadian.

I don't know about xenophobic. But they sure are pro-Canadian. Which is weird considering the fact that they're Canadian.

Don't be stupid. Crosby is in a class by himself. However, so is Ovechkin. Which one is better? Who cares? They're both great prospects with insanely high upside. It'll be Kessel, Esposito and Tavares in the years to come. They'll be hyped as the best prospects ever on these boards...I guarantee it.

And if I remember correctly, TSN was all over Ovechkin last year as well. Doing little specials on him during talks about the draft, hyping him as a supremely talented youngster with nothing but NHL dreams in his head. They talked to him about his favorite NHL team growing up (the Sharks, I think...) and how he liked Owen Nolan's style. So what are you talking about? TSN is just showing people what they want to see. The current big news player.

 

[Mothra]

It is crazy to even try to predict at this point. Let us just say that most scouts think the world of the two of them . . . hell, throw Malkin in and say the three of them. Any one of them could turn out to be the better pro at this point, I would put them all about even, say congrats to the Caps on looking forward to having a great player and and leave it at that.

exactly

 

[Crosbyfan]

What, we actually have to remember these are 18 and 19 year olds kids? Where's the fun in that?

And if you remember that they are in fact 17 and 19 year old kid's you may start to realize why Sid is so hyped!