Sidney Crosby surpassing Alexander Ovechkin in career points watch (UPD: Ovechkin ahead by 6)

[Midnight Judges]

Backstrom better than Crosby in any aspect of hockey is laughable. There’s not a single thing in hockey he does better. Not one

Backstrom is far superior to Crosby in terms of defense.

He also gets far more secondary assists - for those of you who think that is a meaningful statistic (which all Crosby fans are huge proponents of).

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

It's laughable that you actually think Crosby deserves to even sniff the Selke, he isn't good defensively.

And Backstrom is significantly better than Crosby at defense.

Not according to their finishes. Crosby is good defensively and is only getting better in that department. Just another element to his game that keeps evolving. Further separating himself as the goat player of his generation

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Backstrom is far superior to Crosby in terms of defense.

He also gets far more secondary assists - for those of you who think that is a meaningful statistic (which all Crosby fans are huge proponents of).

Backstrom is softer than a piece of cake. Crosby>>

 

[Midnight Judges]

Not according to their finishes. Crosby is good defensively and is only getting better in that department. Just another element to his game that keeps evolving. Further separating himself as the goat player of his generation

No doubt ever since Crosby's offense fell off a cliff his homers in the Canadian media have decided he is good at defense.

The Canadian hype machine does Crosby the same way they did Carey Price.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Backstrom is softer than a piece of cake. Crosby>>

Bwahahahaha

 

[Empoleon8771]

I mean, there's a better argument for how good Crosby is defensively than saying "LOOK AT SELKE FINISHES!" or "CROSBY'S NOT GOOD DEFENSIVELY BECAUSE I SAY SO!". According to his SKATR chart, Crosby is in the 97th percentile in terms of RelTM CA and 93rd percentile in terms of RelTM xGA. His defensive metrics are right on par with Stone, who a lot of advanced stat people think should be the winner of the Selke this year (but probably won't because he's a winger). His Rel CA and Rel xGA stats are blowing guys like McDavid (who's horrendous defensively this year), Bergeron, Kopitar, Barkov and Matthews (who's horrendous defensively this year) out of the water.

The idea that Crosby "isn't good" defensively doesn't have much merit. Crosby is legitimately playing to a Selke caliber defensively this year, and seeing how a lot of the top Selke contenders are having bad years defensively, I could definitely see him snagging one this year. I've seen him pretty consistently ranked as the best defensive center in hockey this year, with only maybe 4 or 5 wingers having better defensive metrics than him. Here are 2 charts from HockeyViz showing the Penguins defensively with Crosby and without Crosby:

 

[jj cale]

No doubt ever since Crosby's offense fell off a cliff his homers in the Canadian media have decided he is good at defense.

The Canadian hype machine does Crosby the same way they did Carey Price.

I'm sure the Russian media doesn't build up it's players like Ovechkin to high heavens, nah, they wouldn't do that!!


The Canadian media doesn't even talk all that much about Crosby these days, McDavid has taken on that role.

And since his Stanley Cup win it was mostly all O.V in the off season here, it was actually getting sickening waking up to sportsdesk every morning and having to watch what Swimming pool he was jumping into with the cup or what club Ovechkin was at with it next, Crosby wasn't even mentioned all summer. Care to think how much media hype Crosby got over the years in the Russian media and how much O.V did and does?


At least try to be impartial when discussing these two players and the behaviour of their respective medias.

 

[Midnight Judges]

I'm sure the Russian media doesn't build up it's players like Ovechkin to high heavens, nah, they wouldn't do that!!

What Russian media?

The only one I even know is Russia Today, and they're straight political propaganda.

 

[TheAngryHank]

Crosby’s three top 10 selke finishes beg to differ

Crosby was 9th in votes last season.
For context Crosby had 26 votes.
The winner had 1100+.
Crosby had 26 more votes than me.

 

[kugelbahn]

yep
2017-18 NHL Awards Voting | Hockey-Reference.com
out of 164 voters he got 1 third, 5 fourth and 6 fifth votes last year, he is a Selke candidate

 

[jj cale]

What Russian media?

The only one I even know is Russia Today, and they're straight political propaganda.

Their sports media, surely they are going to brag up their own.

You make it sound like only Canadian sports media would do that, we know just by common sense that isn't very likely.

I remember at the end of the 80's and all the sports publications were doing their decades best issues and the American sports rag "sport" magazine actually was biased enough to pick Magic Johnson ahead of Wayne Gretzky as it athlete of the decade, we can only assume Magic's sole claim over Gretzky was the fact he was an American because what reasonable other claim would he have had? The magazine was flooded with letters of protests from American readers asking them if their choice was really serious, even yank fans knew it was a farce and joke . That is how far biased the media there was willing to go, I can't even dream how far Russian sports media would be willing to take things considering how, well, best not to go any further about that here, it would just result in an infraction, but I think you can fill in the blanks, in fact you essentially did with your comment about their purely political propaganda Russia today.

I just think both players should be talked about on their relative merits as a player and not what the media says about them, the media hasn't been playing their games.

 

[Nadal On Clay]

Crosby was 9th in votes last season.
For context Crosby had 26 votes.
The winner had 1100+.
Crosby had 26 more votes than me.

You probably had the same number of votes as Evgeni Malkin. Are you better defensively than Evgeni Malkin? Yeah, sometimes it'd just be better to not say anything.

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

Their sports media, surely they are going to brag up their own.

You make it sound like only Canadian sports media would do that, we know just by common sense that isn't very likely.

I remember at the end of the 80's and all the sports publications were doing their decades best issues and the American sports rag "sport" magazine actually was biased enough to pick Magic Johnson ahead of Wayne Gretzky as it athlete of the decade, we can only assume Magic's sole claim over Gretzky was the fact he was an American because what reasonable other claim would he have had? The magazine was flooded with letters of protests from American readers asking them if their choice was really serious, even yank fans knew it was a farce and joke . That is how far biased the media there was willing to go, I can't even dream how far Russian sports media would be willing to take things considering how, well, best not to go any further about that here, it would just result in an infraction, but I think you can fill in the blanks.

I just think both players should be talked about on their relative merits as a player and not what the media says about them, the media hasn't been playing their games.

You are fighting a losing battle with these Ovechkin homers. Especially Midnight Midget.

Your sound reasoning will not be tolerated here sir.

 

[TheAngryHank]

You probably had the same number of votes as Evgeni Malkin. Are you better defensively than Evgeni Malkin? Yeah, sometimes it'd just be better to not say anything.

At a minimum I'd be equal.

 

[jj cale]

You are fighting a losing battle with these Ovechkin homers. Especially Midnight Midget.

Your sound reasoning will not be tolerated here sir.

It's a losing battle yet I punish myself.

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

At a minimum I'd be equal.

Do you understand how dumb you sound? How many did Ovechkin get? Are you equally as good at defense on an NHL level as Ovechkin, also?

 

[Sam Spade]

Backstrom better than Crosby in any aspect of hockey is laughable. There’s not a single thing in hockey he does better. Not one

Since Backstrom entered the league:

So that's "one" thing.

Backstrom has also received Selke votes 9 seasons in his career as opposed to 7 by Crosby. So that's "two" things.

Crosby and Backstrom have both led the league in assists the exact same number of times, one.

 

[TheAngryHank]

Do you understand how dumb you sound? How many did Ovechkin get? Are you equally as good at defense on an NHL level as Ovechkin, also?

I remember Ovy going down blocking shots in the playoffs..Shot blocking is D, So if I block 1 shot that makes me better than Malkin.He is probably a better forward though.

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

I remember Ovy going down blocking shots in the playoffs..Shot blocking is D, So if I block 1 shot that makes me better than Malkin.He is probably a better forward though.

Too bad you will never be in the position to block a shot so you can’t compare yourself to either of them because you will never be in that position in your life.

 

[Nadal On Clay]

Since Backstrom entered the league:

View attachment 184519
So that's "one" thing.

Backstrom has also received Selke votes 9 seasons in his career as opposed to 7 by Crosby. So that's "two" things.

Crosby and Backstrom have both led the league in assists the exact same number of times, one.

So basically, Backstrom is better at staying healthy?

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

So basically, Backstrom is better at staying healthy?

All Capital fans probably think that Frank Gore is/was a better NFL running back than Jim Brown, also.

 

[Sam Spade]

So basically, Backstrom is better at staying healthy?

Everyone is better than Crosby at staying healthy.

 

[Orfieus]

Crosby clearly the better player

Ovechkin started a year earlier
Ovechkin consistently played over 75+ games a year

The fact it is even closer just shows how much better Crosby is

edit: yes I was wrong. Ovechkin was drafted in 04 but didn't start in the league till 05. mb. Doesn't change the fact Ovechkin has played 141 more games then Crosby but only has a 6pt lead

 

[TheAngryHank]

Too bad you will never be in the position to block a shot so you can’t compare yourself to either of them because you will never be in that position in your life.

I accepted that some time ago friend, feels good.

 

[mitchdisaster]

Crosby clearly the better player

Ovechkin started a year earlier
Ovechkin consistently played over 75+ games a year

The fact it is even closer just shows how much better Crosby is

Odd that they would let Ovechkin (apparently in his 2nd season) even in the Calder voting.

CALDER MEMORIAL TROPHY (outstanding rookie): Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins; Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals; Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames.

NHL ANNOUNCES 2005-06 TROPHY FINALISTS

even worse that he won.
Calder Memorial Trophy award winners at hockeydb.com

If you're going to join the conversation at least brush up on the basics.