see, if you were talking about post 2011 Ovechkin I completely agree, but it seems like your description of him, his style of play, and his value Vis-a-vis Crosby is based entirely on that period and projecting it backwards, forgetting in the process how dominant he was prior to that.
I hear you. Tough to forget though. Dude was a monster, and he faced the team I like about half a million times...I've seen him live a ton too, hell, I was there when he did that "my stick is too hot" celebration haha...in the grand scheme of the game, he is more limited compared to Crosby...that's been the case since they both stepped foot in the NHL...Ovechkin plays in a fraction of the rink that Crosby does, he offers a fraction of the defense that Crosby does, he offers a fraction of the puck distribution that Crosby does, he offers less in terms of dynamic puck carrying across multiple lines, he offers a less dynamic skill set, he offers less adaptability, he offers less to roster management (Ovechkin needs both a star center and defensive support...Crosby offers both within himself [as he babysits kids like Guentzel and Sheary] and offers the star power when he's turned loose [letting Dupuis handle F1 defense responsibility to allow the Pens to carry their "island hockey" nonsense late-Bylsma])...
This year, he really ought to be getting some legit Selke consideration (which I really didn't think he deserved in years past, except for in the playoffs...where the Selke, of course, doesn't exist)...
It's a tough spot, because you walk on egg shells here because if you say the wrong word about one of these guys here or you don't fluff the other guy enough, you get lawyered by some pigeon...so I'm pretending those people don't exist because I can talk to you like a human...
Really watch those games. I mean, really watch them. Talking about those Caps playoff games, in his prime...watch that player. Count the successful NZ passes that lead to clean zone entries, count the passes in the attack zone that cross the net line successfully, count the successful backchecks, count the lanes he successfully crosses lanes after receipt of a pass outside of his own line...he played the game in a box that he made for himself. Of course, he's a ****** freak, and he could still make it work...that's why it's a discussion at all, he's one of the greatest players I've ever seen, don't get me wrong. But he put himself in a box too much to fight out of in a seven game series...and Nick Backstrom wasn't quite good enough to make the space for him because of skating, strength limitations when the game's got tight. So Ovechkin gets locked up in the box and because he can't be separated from a star or semi-star center, Backstrom is now locked up too...there's a lot of scoring punch that's locked up because both players don't have a dynamic enough skill set to override an advanced scout against them. And the "throw the puck to Ovy on LW and have him carry it" was easy* to sniff out and he wasn't good enough to beat it often enough...
To be clear, Crosby has a graphic instance of this as well...2013 ECF Penguins, Bruins. This is where headmanning the puck died. Penguins isolated players with stretch passes and put them at or behind the last layer of defense, force the defense to hustle back, then they control the tempo in the attack, make seam passes or make organic rush chances and whammy, they'd score a million goals a game...well, Boston snuffed that out by just sliding the layer back and make them stretch pass into the second layer...Bylsma was out-matched and did little to off-set this...Crosby died on the vine because he wasn't good enough to beat Bergeron AND Chara...he can do one, but he can't do both. The Penguins scored two goals in the series. The dynamic skill set, the ability to play with different players, in different lanes, in different layers, with different caveats and wrinkles...that makes you tough to stop...historically, Crosby offers that over Ovechkin, and it's not by that small of a degree either...
One team that seemed to always have a plan for Ovechkin and a guy with the positional integrity to do something about it was the New York Rangers and Dan Girardi of all players...they didn't mind that matchup so much because Girardi (and Tortorella) saw this same thing when they went to the tape...
2009 ECQF (peak Ovechkin - 56 goals, 36 EV goals to lead the league, MVP): Plays a completely ordinary Rangers team, 95 points, 33 ROW (Wsh: 46)...but they had a plan and a player to execute it...
Game 3 he gets his first ES point, it's a secondary assist (which probably count more for him than Sid, because, ya know...whatever...). He tacks on another primary ES assist later in the 1st in a 4-0 win.
Game 4, he picks up a third period goal in a 2-1 loss.
Game 5 - Scores a garbage time goal with 20 minutes left in 4-0 win.
Nothing at ES in games 1 or 2, nothing in games 6 or 7. And nothing of note in game 5 either. 2 goals, 2 assists at ES in the series.
7 games - 4 ES points
2011 ECQF
Game 1 - Game tying goal in the 3rd.
Game 3 - Ties it at one, late 2nd.
Game 5 - 2-0 goal in the 2nd.
5 games - 3 ES goals/points.
2012 ECSF
First ES point comes in game 4 of the series...the 1-0 goal.
Game 5 - Primary on the 1-1 goal in the 2nd.
7 games - 2 ES points.
2013 ECQF
No ES points in the series. His team is shutout completely in games 6 and 7.
7 games - 0 ES points.
2015 Patrick Division Final
Game 1 - Primary on last second GWG
Game 2 - 2-3 goal in the 3rd.
Game 7 - 1-0 goal in the 1st.
7 games - 3 ES points.
There are drips and drabs where any player gets pushed to the margin...Sid in the 2013 ECF vs. Boston (0 ES points), in 2009 SCF vs. Detroit (2 ES points). Notably, later rounds against tougher opponents, but still...it happens...
Sid's most common opponent is an archrival...Philadelphia.
2008 ECF
Game 1 - 2-2 goal in the 1st.
Game 2 - Primary on EN
Game 3 - Primary on 2-0 goal
Game 5 - Primary on 3-0 goal
5 games - 4 ES points
2009 ECQF
Game 1 - Assist on 4-0 goal in the 3rd
Game 2 - Assist on 1-1 goal in 2nd
Game 3 - Primary on 2-2 goal
Game 4 - 1-0 goal in the 2nd
Game 6 - GWG late 2nd, EN goal
6 games - 5 ES points, but you can lose one that didn't really have an impact.
2012 ECQF
Game 1 - 1-0 goal, assist on 3-0 goal in the 1st
Game 2 - 1-0 goal, primary on 3-1 goal in 1st
Game 4 - 3-3 goal
6 weird games - 5 ES points
2018 Patrick Division Semi-Final
Game 1 - 5-0, 6-0, 7-0 goals
Game 3 - 1-0 goal, Primary on 4-0 goal in 2nd
Game 4 - 4-0 goal in 2nd
Game 5 - Primary on 2-1 goal in the 2nd
Game 6 - 1-1 goal, assist on 3-4 goal in 2nd, primary on GWG late 3rd
6 games - 10 ES points, though you could easily lose 4 of them as they lacked impact.
Then after all that, you factor in how much more there is to the game outside the top of the circle in and all the things I mentioned before...I don't want to paint in broad brushstrokes, but man, it takes a really, ahem, interesting perspective on the game to take Ovechkin over Crosby for any noteworthy length of time...it's one of those takes where you make a Jim-from-The-Office face and look at the camera kinda things...
You don't control the matchup on the power play, nor do you control when you get them, so the team's that are gunning for you ought to have an answer for the best player on the other side. How are the New England Patriots so successful? They remove the biggest threat on the other side...how well does that really work though? Well, they've played in every single Conference Final game this decade, that's ridiculous...the guy's that can't be pinned down are the most special ones...notably, perhaps the best QB in history, Peyton Manning won three straight AFC Championship games vs. New England. Special moniker for a reason, tough to keep down. Sid's on that next level, Ovechkin not quite...but there's still story left to be written...