Is McDavid as popular as Crosby was at the same age?

[Riddum]

Pittsburgh fans and their condescending attitude towards the city of Edmonton is cute. The best part about Pittsburgh is when you drive away from Pittsburgh. That city makes Philly look amazing. Everyone whos ever stepped foot in Pittsburgh has called it awful including high profile celebrities. Its not called ****sburgh for nothing. Its the kind of place you run away from and think you know what? Cleveland is not so bad. Edmonton may be boring but its a beautiful green city with amazing summers with lots of entertainment options. I will never understand the big city attitude of thinking a polluted trash heap that smells like garbage when the air warms up is this flattering place(New York). I will take my nature green clean city and escape to the mountains that are just a few hours away. While Pittsburgh citizens can escape to lovely Philadelphia.

Why do these thread always turn into a better city pissing contest? I've been to Philly, there was nothing Lovely about it. New York does stink but New York is New York and it will always be the most important city in the U.S (safe from Washington DC). Culturally, it's New York AINEC

 

[Paperbagofglory]

Why do these thread always turn into a better city pissing contest? I've been to Philly, there was nothing Lovely about it. New York does stink but New York is New York and it will always be the most important city in the U.S (safe from Washington DC). Culturally, it's New York AINEC

Cheese steaks hello?

 

[daver]

Mcdavid the next crosby? he wasnt being talked the most at being the next crosby at all.

He should have been. He wasn't doing anything up until age 18 that warranted being compared Wayne.

 

[Future GOAT]

FWIW, the hype around Crosby was that he was the next Wayne, the hype around McDavid was that he was the next Crosby. It wasn't until McDavid's draft year that he showed that he could be close to Crosby's level as a prospect.

Is Connor McDavid better than Sidney Crosby?
“It’s obviously a tremendous honour to be named in the same breath with someone like that,” McDavid said. “But by no means do I think I’m deserving.”
Scouts disagree. In revealing the International Scouting Service pre-season rankings, director Dennis MacInnins said: “Having the chance to scout Sidney Crosby at the same age, McDavid is even more impressive, true superstar potential.”

He has certainly lived up to the hype as "better than Crosby".

 

[Riddum]

Cheese steaks hello?

Good but overrated. Montreal steak subs are vastly superior in the stratosphere of steak sandwich

 

[Eisen]

To be fair, I used to like guys riding their sticks after goals.

I also liked brawls. The odd spear here and there. Maybe a cheap shot or two.

Basically any Pitt/Philly, Bos/MTL game until about 5 years ago.

The league has clamped down on some things that made it entertaining. Teams have clamped down on players saying much of anything. It all leads to a less marketable product.

There is sooo much sideshow today in every setting. It's not too much if one of them isn't almost free of it.

 

[Tofveve]

I'm about as much of a believer in McDavid as I was of Crosby which I wasn't much of. I now think that Crosby is borderline a top 5 of all time and still better than McDavid. I don't think McDavid will accomplish or be as good as Crosby was/is. But I could be wrong just like I was with Sid.

 

[snipes]

I think he’s more liked than Crosby was. McDavid doesn’t whine and dive like Crosby did early on.

He’s universally regarded as the best player in the world by almost the entire hockey world. I’m not sure Crosby had that title that quickly (granted he had Ovechkin to compete with).

Hopefully we make the playoffs and he plays the way Oiler fans see day in and day out, his game makes even casual sports fans take notice when he takes over a game.

 

[PensFanSince1989]

Pittsburgh fans and their condescending attitude towards the city of Edmonton is cute. The best part about Pittsburgh is when you drive away from Pittsburgh. That city makes Philly look amazing. Everyone whos ever stepped foot in Pittsburgh has called it awful including high profile celebrities. Its not called ****sburgh for nothing. Its the kind of place you run away from and think you know what? Cleveland is not so bad. Edmonton may be boring but its a beautiful green city with amazing summers with lots of entertainment options. I will never understand the big city attitude of thinking a polluted trash heap that smells like garbage when the air warms up is this flattering place(New York). I will take my nature green clean city and escape to the mountains that are just a few hours away. While Pittsburgh citizens can escape to lovely Philadelphia.

Ugh, Other than New York stinking of sewage and garbage in the summer, basically nothing you said is true except for Edmonton being boring. Pittsburgh is a great city, and I don't live there and have no connection there other than some friends and the fact that the Penguins got me interested in the sport of hockey (thanks to Lemieux). It's basically a blueprint for a rejuvenated city, with a ton of cool sections. And ftr, regardless of the stench of New York in July or August, it's still one of the best cities in the world in spite of that. I've been to Edmonton multiple times. It's a horrible urban sprawl. With horrible horrible winters, and those summers you speak of last like 2 months while winter lasts like 6.

 

[Andrei79]

Maybe not amongst casual fans.

But for fans who follow the league intently, I don't think I've seen a player "wow" as much, as often since Lemieux. It's just insane watching the speed he does things at.

 

[glovesave_35]

No he's not.

 

[GodPucker]

No. It's a shame because is he more dominating.

 

[Jeffhabs20]

I'm about as much of a believer in McDavid as I was of Crosby which I wasn't much of. I now think that Crosby is borderline a top 5 of all time and still better than McDavid. I don't think McDavid will accomplish or be as good as Crosby was/is. But I could be wrong just like I was with Sid.

I disagree with you completely.

 

[Blackhawk93]

I think people forget that for awhile, Crosby was a huge teenage heart throb. Every girl seemed like they were in love with him. Hell he’s still a good looking guy.

McDavid, well not so much, he’s kinda goofy looking, and definitely doesn’t have that same kind of effect on women. So definitely not as popular amongst the general population.

 

[Rebels57]

No because hes in Edmonton.

 

[Rebels57]

I think people forget that for awhile, Crosby was a huge teenage heart throb. Every girl seemed like they were in love with him. Hell he’s still a good looking guy.

McDavid, well not so much, he’s kinda goofy looking, and definitely doesn’t have that same kind of effect on women. So definitely not as popular amongst the general population.

 

[end]

I see Mikita and Orr comparisons. Mikita was an undersized playmaking center who excelled at every aspect of the game and was considered the elite center of his era. Bobby Orr enters the league and his skating, his strength, his puck skills are so far beyond what anyone is accustomed to.

 

[Hanji]

I think people forget that for awhile, Crosby was a huge teenage heart throb. Every girl seemed like they were in love with him. Hell he’s still a good looking guy.

McDavid, well not so much, he’s kinda goofy looking, and definitely doesn’t have that same kind of effect on women. So definitely not as popular amongst the general population.

Heart throb? What planet are you on? Crosby (as is every NHLer) is completely ignored by the main stream media.

Crosby = excellent hockey player with no personalty, who is unfortunately, rightly or wrongly, exceedingly stereotypical Canadian and white. Popularity wise he's on the D team compared to his equivalents in other sports like Labron, Brady, Rodgers, etc.

 

[Sam Spade]

Maybe not amongst casual fans.

But for fans who follow the league intently, I don't think I've seen a player "wow" as much, as often since Lemieux. It's just insane watching the speed he does things at.

Not saying this because I am a fan but Ovechkin's first four/five seasons were as exciting as any player in the league has ever had.

Every shift you didn't know if he was gonna crush someone or score a highlight reel goal by using his blazing speed. Lemieux for sure, but McDavid's highlight package doesn't touch Ovechkin's (yet).

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

I think people forget that for awhile, Crosby was a huge teenage heart throb. Every girl seemed like they were in love with him. Hell he’s still a good looking guy.

McDavid, well not so much, he’s kinda goofy looking, and definitely doesn’t have that same kind of effect on women. So definitely not as popular amongst the general population.

Why do I feel like I’m reading some teenage fan fiction about Crosby

 

[Ms Maggie]

I think people forget that for awhile, Crosby was a huge teenage heart throb. Every girl seemed like they were in love with him. Hell he’s still a good looking guy.

McDavid, well not so much, he’s kinda goofy looking, and definitely doesn’t have that same kind of effect on women. So definitely not as popular amongst the general population.

Well to be fair, Crosby was kinda goofy looking at that age too--most young guys are, haven't yet grown into their features, baby face, motley skin.

 

[Maestro84]

Crosby had more fame back then cuz similar to LeBron James, he was viewed by the media as the "chosen one" or the "next one." Fans of the team they (Crosby/LBJ) played for loved them, while fans of opposing teams absolutely despised them. As a result, that was the perfect combo for the media to continuously bring up their names to the public just to cause a lot of stir.

Similar to the NBA, the NHL NEEDED a superstar at that time that can single handily put the league back to top relevance. Duncan was the best player of that era, but let's be real, the dude was way too boring to carry a league, and MJ had already been retired for a few years as well. In the NHL, Mario and Wayne had both retired, so they also needed a star badly as well. And the NHL actually got the double the prize with Crosby and Ovie which helped them build a "rivalry". Adding another star of their calibre into the picture (Malkin) to team up with Crosby on Pittsburgh only helped that cause. This also turned Pittsburgh into one of the most followed teams in the whole league, I mean here in Southern Ontario, I feel like they show Pens games more than they show other Canadian teams not named the Leafs LOL

Also, the pens have garnered the second most followers across Twitter and FB behind only the Blackhawks (who have also done a lot of winning in the past decade), and since Pittsburgh is a popular sports town in the States, and the market in the States is significantly larger, that also helped the cause drastically as well.

 

[DJJones]

Imagine if McDavid was in Toronto. And Laine/Matthews/Eichel was in Montreal. But having comparable years

Imagine how unbearable that would be haha. That was Crosby/Ovi back then. McDavid's hype isn't even close.

 

[Lebowski]

Crosby's draft was just a perfect storm of coming back from a lockout, being the most hyped prospect in years, immediately delivering results, and having a rival to go head-to-head with which led to herds of fanboys/haters going in either direction. You may as well rename the post-lockout era the "Crosby era". He has been the NHL's posterboy since 2005. He also headlined a change of culture in the NHL as far as the game slowly transitioning towards speed and skills as opposed to the drab dead-puck era. If you look at the couple of seasons that preceded the lock-out, the league didn't really have consistent big name point producers. MSL won the Art Ross and the Hart in 2003-2004 and he wasn't exactly the most marketable player out there, after seemingly coming out of nowhere.

McDavid didn't get to the NHL under the same circumstances at all, and so it's a bit unfair to compare. Popularity wise, I doubt he'll get to where Crosby was, and still is for the most part. Being in a small Canadian market doesn't really play in McDavid's favor either. Doesn't mean much in terms of comparing them as players, though.

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

Not even close. The average fairweather fan (majority) in the US does not care about McDavid. Crosby still fills arenas.