Who is better right now: Malkin or Crosby?

[bobholly39]

Crosby was more responsible for turning around the Pens season last year than Malkin

they were struggling for a while and Crosby absolutely lit it up and they started to win. I think Malkin may even have missed a few games at that point. Malkin did come back roaring, and stayed hot and dominant for much longer, but by then the Pens were already rolling.

Crosby had a ton left in-store for playoffs, Malkin didn't do as good.

There's no one in the league i'd take on my team above Crosby for right now, and that includes Malkin.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Crosby was more responsible for turning around the Pens season last year than Malkin

they were struggling for a while and Crosby absolutely lit it up and they started to win. I think Malkin may even have missed a few games at that point. Malkin did come back roaring, and stayed hot and dominant for much longer, but by then the Pens were already rolling.

Crosby had a ton left in-store for playoffs, Malkin didn't do as good.

There's no one in the league i'd take on my team above Crosby for right now, and that includes Malkin.

To be fair Malkin was excellent against Philly until he got injured. He was a ghost in the caps series because of this:

 

[Peat]

Crosby was more responsible for turning around the Pens season last year than Malkin

they were struggling for a while and Crosby absolutely lit it up and they started to win. I think Malkin may even have missed a few games at that point. Malkin did come back roaring, and stayed hot and dominant for much longer, but by then the Pens were already rolling.

Crosby had a ton left in-store for playoffs, Malkin didn't do as good.

There's no one in the league i'd take on my team above Crosby for right now, and that includes Malkin.

This isn't true. The Pens turned it around in Jan. They had the same number of points from the opening five games - 10. Sid had only two more over the entire month. They were both lighting it up, with Geno scoring a lot more goals. And Geno staying dominant was a huge part of why the Pens kept rolling.

 

[bobholly39]

This isn't true. The Pens turned it around in Jan. They had the same number of points from the opening five games - 10. Sid had only two more over the entire month. They were both lighting it up, with Geno scoring a lot more goals. And Geno staying dominant was a huge part of why the Pens kept rolling.

i just double checked to see if i remembered correctly or not

looking at logs i think so.

On Jan 5th Pens were 1 game above 500, at the start of January. Crosby scored 4 points. He went on an 11 game point streak, scoring 22 games. At the end of it they were 8 games above 500, and never looked back.

Malkin was injured the first 2 games (Crosby had 7 points).
He did get 17 points in the following 9 games (though he went pointless in 3 of those 9 games).

I think Crosby is the one who got them rolling at the start of January, and Malkin came back joined in and the 2 of them continued together. And then Crosby let up a bit, and of course Malkin stayed hot longer and had a fantastic season.

The point is - when the Pens season was in danger, Crosby stepped up big time and was the catalyst (if you want to argue Malkin was too, thats fine, I just remembered Crosby starting it first, and it looks like he did).
Then in playoffs - again Crosby stepped up big time (Malkin not so much).

I think Crosby is better today. He's playing smarter and maybe pacing himself a bit more and being somewhat conservative - but when it matters he's always at the top of his game the past few seasons.