What if......

[pittengineer]

Kovalchuk/Malkin/Ovechkin

Kovalchuk, Malkin, and Ovechkin had all been in the same draft. Ignore the fact the Kovalchuk has blossomed into a superstar in the NHL and just think of him prior to being drafted. If these three were in the same year, how would you rank them?

I would prob go w/ Ovechkin first, just because he has been the next "prodigy" since he was a young teen. Kovalchuk and Malkin would be hard. Kovalchuk was always the pure scorer. Malkin seems to be more of a playmaker, but does not shy away from shooting. Kovalchuk played in the Russian Elite League, but Malkin played in the Russian Super League. I really dont know who I would pick. If I knew the outcome of how Kovalchuk came out and dominated his first few years, I would prob have him ranked at #1 of the 3. But this is purely based on pre-draft hype, stats, etc. So I'm going with the homer pick and going:

1)Ovechkin
2)Malkin
3)Kovalchuk

Def. was hard to choose between 2 and 3.

Click to read more...

 

[leafaholix*]

1. Alexander Ovechkin
2. Ilja Kovalchuk
3. Evgeny Malkin

 

[Jacob]

I guess if you're going by pre-draft hype, Ovechkin gets the nod over Kovalchuk. Malkin is a pretty distant 3rd.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

ovechkin
kovalchuk



malkin

 

[pittengineer]

ovechkin
kovalchuk



malkin

I didnt think Kovalchuk was the def. #1 pick his year. I thought it was a throw up with Spezza. Maybe I'm wrong. Malkin def isn't as hyped as either of the other two, but thats because AO is in this draft.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

I didnt think Kovalchuk was the def. #1 pick his year. I thought it was a throw up with Spezza. Maybe I'm wrong. Malkin def isn't as hyped as either of the other two, but thats because AO is in this draft.

some people wanted to deny that kovalchuk was the clear cut #1 in 2001 due to their love affair with spezza, but anyone could see come draft day that kovalchuk was easily the consensus #1. montreal(i forget the actual package) tried trading them i think komisarek, markov, garon, perezhogin, etc. for the #1 and was still turned down. i don't see anyone giving pittsburgh a package like that for malkin.(wouldn't make sense for pittsburgh anyway, they need a franchise forward)

 

[kobe]

Kovalchuk, Malkin, and Ovechkin had all been in the same draft. Ignore the fact the Kovalchuk has blossomed into a superstar in the NHL and just think of him prior to being drafted. If these three were in the same year, how would you rank them?

I would prob go w/ Ovechkin first, just because he has been the next "prodigy" since he was a young teen. Kovalchuk and Malkin would be hard. Kovalchuk was always the pure scorer. Malkin seems to be more of a playmaker, but does not shy away from shooting. Kovalchuk played in the Russian Elite League, but Malkin played in the Russian Super League. I really dont know who I would pick. If I knew the outcome of how Kovalchuk came out and dominated his first few years, I would prob have him ranked at #1 of the 3. But this is purely based on pre-draft hype, stats, etc. So I'm going with the homer pick and going:

1)Ovechkin
2)Malkin
3)Kovalchuk

Def. was hard to choose between 2 and 3.

Kovalchuk is a better offensive player than Ovechkin.

1) Kovalchuk
2)Ovechkin
3) Malkin

 

[Jacob]

I thought we were just going by hype.

 

[Jeffrey]

by hype:
Ovechkin
...
...
...
Kovalchuk
...
Malkin

 

[Kugel]

whats the difference in russian leagues? super and elite?

 

[SwOOsh*]

1. Alexander Ovechkin
2. Ilja Kovalchuk
3. Evgeny Malkin

I feel the same.

BTW, that is a deadly avatar.

 

[EroCaps]

Kovalchuk is a better offensive player than Ovechkin.

1) Kovalchuk
2)Ovechkin
3) Malkin

Ovechkin is better at everything else.

 

[leafaholix*]

I feel the same.

BTW, that is a deadly avatar.

It is, isn't it?

I never noticed how sick Calgary's logo was until now.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

whats the difference in russian leagues? super and elite?

There's no such thing as an "elite league" in Russia. This is some incoherent mumblings from Pittengineer.

There's the Super league, which is the highest level of competition in Russia. Below it is the high league, often called "upper league", or "higher league".

Russian information and translations are not standardized and are done in half-ass fashion which does lead to a lot of confusion. There is a huge need for some people to wake up and do a better job at that (compare with the excellent information we get from Swedish source where there is almost never any confusion).

After a season, certain Super teams get relegated to the high league while certain High team get promoted to the Super league. (This is a format I find interesting).

Similar (but not identical) to the NHL with the AHL, the Russian teams have farm teams where they send players down.

Ilya indeed did not play in the Super league. But to say that means Malkin is better than him because of this (such as Pittengineer suggests), you need to have some screw loose and a complete lack of understanding of hockey talent evaluation and development.

Svitov, Chistov are two examples of players who did play in the Super league and enjoyed some success there while Ilya was playing against lesser competition. They were neither drafted before Kovalchuk nor are they in any position to lace his skates despite having done well over there. Only people who are strongly delusional (such as Kyle Woodlief) would even hint at the contrary.

A lot of people purport that by looking at the level of hockey a player is competing, you can assess his worth. This is a fallacy repeated by people who don't know any better. Your hockey environment is A factor. It is not THE factor.