Sidney Crosby has been one of the most dominant sport athletes of the past 20 years

[Reindl87]

Flyer fan here asking what the hell is wrong with you?

Excuse me, what exactly is wrong about my statement.
Again, no disrespect, he is a great player no doubt. But the premise of the OP simply holds no water.
To be considered as "one of the most dominant" atheletes you have to do a little more than winning awrds twice in 15 years.
Crosby was great, he wasn`t dominant, though.

 

[Reindl87]

Even some of those trophies have reputation bias written all over it. And Stanley cups? Malkin has the same amount. Crosby owes him one of those Conn Smythes, in my mind. Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to play for team Canada, either.

Indeed.
Crosby barley outshines Malkin in these 15 years. Which is no shame as Malkin is an all time great player, too. However, Malkin was hit quite hard and yet Crosby still couldn`t really seperate himself.
If we give the label "dominance" to a player with a resume as Crosby`s, heck than what words do we have for guys like Lemieux, Gretzky, Jagr, Bolt, Phelps, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Shiffrin, Hamilton, Hirscher, Ed Moses, Mo Farrah, Armstrong, Carl Lewis, Steffi Graf, Serena Williams, to mention just a few. Those athletes had or have shown dominance, but most certainly not Crosby.

 

[deepthoughtsleafs]

Sid has no worse of a GOAT argument relative to Gretzky than LeBron does relative to Bill Russell. LeBron has a whopping three titles in a league where he's able to play 95% of the minutes available in games. Sid has three in a sport where he's only going to be on the ice for 33% of a playoff game at most. LeBron needed superteams. So did Sid. LeBron had bad series against a player like Kawhi. Sid had a bad series against a player like Bergeron. Both are generational talents who don't quite have the team success of past generational talents (whether that's Gretzky or Orr or Howe or Lemieux or Jordan or Wilt or Russell or KAJ).

The difference is that basketball acknowledges the changes in the game(systems, talent pool etc), changes in the league(no losing record teams making deep playoff runs unlike Gretzky and Russell's eras), advances in pro sports (access to tape, advanced scouting, all players maximizing fitness and skill down to the most underwhelming scrubs) while hockey sweeps them under the rug and pretends the only thing that's changed is "level of dominance".

LOL. My god where do I even begin with disaster of a response.

Okay.
1. Most people consider Michael Jordan the GOAT in the NBA, only Celtic fans say Russell. You should at least have a basic understanding of the sport before making a counter point. The only player people legitimately argue is better than MJ is LeBron (there's always votes of Kareem, Wilt, or Russel but LeBron has more votes for GOAT than the rest of them). That's my point. Sure you might not think so and might even put Russell over MJ and LeBron. But across players, HoFers, analysts, media, it's really MJ and LeBron.
2. Given the point made in #1, no one ever considers Sid Crusty to be better than Gretsky or Orr or even Lemieux. Aka, Sidney is more like Kobe. Kobe is an all time great like Sid Crusty is, but he's nowhere near the GOAT. To summarize point 1 and 2, I'm saying LeBron gets put in GOAT conversations that Sid Crusty doesn't partake in.
3. The fact that Hockey is a game where each individual has less impact means you're proving my point. If Sid Crusty had the resume of a LeBron then I'd say he's more dominant in his sport than LeBron because Basketball is more individually driven. But Sid Crusty doesn't have his resume precisely because of injuries and because he plays in a game that diversifies impact. Thus, he's not more dominant unless you want to grade Sid Crusty on a curve which I'm not doing.

It's honestly 5th grade logic. You are capable of it, so try turning on your brain before responding please.

 

[GreatGonzo]

Indeed.
Crosby barley outshines Malkin in these 15 years. Which is no shame as Malkin is an all time great player, too. However, Malkin was hit quite hard and yet Crosby still couldn`t really seperate himself.
If we give the label "dominance" to a player with a resume as Crosby`s, heck than what words do we have for guys like Lemieux, Gretzky, Jagr, Bolt, Phelps, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Shiffrin, Hamilton, Hirscher, Ed Moses, Mo Farrah, Armstrong, Carl Lewis, Steffi Graf, Serena Williams, to mention just a few. Those athletes had or have shown dominance, but most certainly not Crosby.

This. Dominance is about separation from the pack, and Crosby was rarely head and shoulders above the rest, especially Malkin. Sure you can make a case for 2011-13, and those 100 or so games being “THE best Crosby” and “clearly the best player”, but those sample sizes were to small, to inconsistent, and quite frankly....you can’t be considered a dominant or the best player if you aren’t playing. Even if he would have played those years, sure there a guarantee that 2011 and 2013 would be his monster years for him, but 2012 was Malkins and that isn’t close.

What makes Crosby is the best is his consistency at a high level, constantly being near the top, something he has always had over Ovechkin and Malkin, all while Ovechkin and Malkin arguably had more dominant single seasons with Ovechkin having the more dominant peak. Many try to, but You can’t account the games he missed and the seasons he didn’t finish as anything but guessing and speculation overall.

 

[daver]

Indeed.
Crosby barley outshines Malkin in these 15 years. Which is no shame as Malkin is an all time great player, too. However, Malkin was hit quite hard and yet Crosby still couldn`t really seperate himself.
If we give the label "dominance" to a player with a resume as Crosby`s, heck than what words do we have for guys like Lemieux, Gretzky, Jagr, Bolt, Phelps, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Shiffrin, Hamilton, Hirscher, Ed Moses, Mo Farrah, Armstrong, Carl Lewis, Steffi Graf, Serena Williams, to mention just a few. Those athletes had or have shown dominance, but most certainly not Crosby.

He is pacing for #5 player all-time. Call it what you want.

As for barely outshining Malkin, how did you come to this conclusion?

 

[Vjbasile87]

Crosby a goat!!