Who will leave the bigger legacy: Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin?

[HavlatMach9]

Crosby, but Ovechkin will still be remembered as one of the greatest goal scorers in history.

 

[Fledgemyhedge]

I feel like I’ll be more excited to tell my kids about ovechkin

 

[illpucks]

Crosby isn't unique. Ovi is. Crosby is just a lesser version of McDavid. Ovi is beating the best goal scorers that are 10 years younger in their peaks still.

 

[golffuul]

Equally remembered. They entered the NHL in the same year and have been inseparable as the face of the League since.

 

[GreatGonzo]

No one is going to remember Ovechkin without Crosby and Crosby without Ovechkin. It will always be remembered as one of the most unique and rare times that we got to see two generational talents playing at the same time.

Ovechkin has a more distinguished legacy with his goal scoring, becoming arguably the best pure and dominant goal scorer of all time while having a dominant peak while leading the league in goals record breaking times. While Crosby will always be remembered for the most part as the best player and playoff performer of his generation while having international success and fame. Rarely not within the conversation and mix as one of the best players in the world every year. Both have cemented their legacies in different ways, both will always have their legacy’s tied within each other, both all time greats.

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Crosby for more Cups, and Ovie for more Richard trophies.

 

[Squantosawuss]

Ovechkin has gotten so much better over the years. He used to be simply a flashy scoring machine, but now he plays defense, back-checks, etc. His size, skill and tenacity makes him a lethal player. His scoring records, added to that picture, make him legendary. On top of all that, he is far more electric than #87. When he accepted the Stanley Cup, it was as if you were watching the exciting and sentimental end of a great sports movie. The NHL and it's fans couldn't have hoped for more than what we saw in that final game. Regardless of your team loyalty, it could not have been better. And of course Crosby is legendary as well, a fantastic all-around player---but I give the edge to the Great 8.

 

[Squantosawuss]

Ovechkin never had an Evgeni Malkin (no insult to Backstrom)

Not sure how many players could thread the needle the way Backstom did/does to get the puck to the one guy everybody knows will be waiting in that left circle.

Hard to forget how many times in that championship run you'd see all the opposing players lined up waiting for NB19 to try and pass to Ovi who was waiting in his favorite spot, only to watch Backstrom get it through and Ovi bang it home. Unreal.

 

[Refuse]

Crosby easily

Top 5 player all time
3 Cups / 2 Conn Smythes
he's already 10th all time in playoff points, will likely finish top 4
he's currently 6th all time in points per game (OV is 23rd)
2 gold medals
Golden Goal is the most famous goal scored of all time

- The first is highly debatable.
- 3 cups / 2 Conn Smythes is nothing unique. There are hundreds of players with more than 3 cups. Bernie Parent has two Conn Smythes too, but is never really in any discussions about the best goalies ever.
- Points per game is where this turns into legacy discussion. Whenever it's brought up it's because the player wasn't actually playing games and producing the actual points. In actual Points, Crosby is behind Ovechkin. In PPG he is up there, but with the likes of Mike Bossy, Peter Forsberg, Peter Stastny, Kent Nilsson players. A lot of discussion about these players is about "what could've been", and this is likely what a discussion about Crosby will be targeting. I think this will be his legacy.
- Olympic medals are nice, and his legacy in Canada will of course be different because of that. Outside of Canada I think most people appreciate just how much of a power house Canada is in international hockey enough to put an asterisk next to team achievements, especially playing on that team.
- See above. It's not the most famous of all time where I live for sure.

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

- The first is highly debatable.
- 3 cups / 2 conns mythes is nothing unique. There are hundreds of players with more than 3 cups. Bernie Parent has two Conn Smythes too, but is never really in any discussions about the best goalies ever.
- Points per game is where this turns into legacy discussion. Whenever it's brought up it's because the player wasn't actually playing games and producing the actual points. In actual Points, Crosby is behind Ovechkin. In PPG he is up there, but with the likes of Mike Bossy, Peter Forsberg, Peter Stastny, Kent Nilsson players. A lot of discussion about these players is about "what could've been", and this is likely what a discussion about Crosby will be targeting. I think this will be his legacy.
- Olympic medals are nice, and his legacy in Canada will of course be different because of that. Outside of Canada I think most people appreciate just how much of a power house Canada is in international hockey enough to put an asterisk next to team achievements, especially playing on that team.
- See above. It's not the most famous of all time where I live for sure.

Hey, he scored the "Golden Goal"! He's better than Ovechkin!

 

[SecretOilersFan]

In terms of media legacy Sid because Canadian media bias but in terms of the actual legacy definitely Ovechkin for me especially if he challenges Gretzky's goal record.

 

[JKG33]

Assuming Ovi gets 900 goals, he'll have the greater legacy and it won't be particularly close. That all time goal record is likely better than anything Crosby has/can accomplish. Ovi finally got that elusive Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe. He also has the calder over Crosby. Then he has an Art Ross, Hart, Pearson/Lindsay, and a shitload of Rockets. They'd be close on personal hardware if you take away Ovi's rockets, but with all those and if he gets the goal scoring record I don't know how Crosby can even be argued as having a better legacy.

Worst case for Crosby is he's remembered as a Sakic/Yzerman type, an over PPG "Captain Canada" thats won it all. Best case maybe he pushes himself up into Howe/Jagr/Messier borderline top 5 all time status. Personally I think as time goes on and Crosby is gone while we see guys like McDavid, Draisaitl, MacKinnon, etc dominating the league, Crosby's status will be closer to that of Sakic and Yzerman. But Ovi (again assuming he gets it) will always be the GOAT goal scorer until someone eventually dethrones him. The longer his hypothetical record stands, the stronger his legacy will be over Crosby.

The only way Crosby comes close is if he can crack 2000, maybe just 1800 points. But that seems unlikely given his inability to stay healthy and I just can't see him having the longevity to hit a milestone like that given his health.

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Assuming Ovi gets 900 goals, he'll have the greater legacy and it won't be particularly close. That all time goal record is likely better than anything Crosby has/can accomplish. Ovi finally got that elusive Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe. He also has the calder over Crosby. Then he has an Art Ross, Hart, Pearson/Lindsay, and a shitload of Rockets. They'd be close on personal hardware if you take away Ovi's rockets, but with all those and if he gets the goal scoring record I don't know how Crosby can even be argued as having a better legacy.

Worst case for Crosby is he's remembered as a Sakic/Yzerman type, an over PPG "Captain Canada" thats won it all. Best case maybe he pushes himself up into Howe/Jagr/Messier borderline top 5 all time status. Personally I think as time goes on and Crosby is gone while we see guys like McDavid, Draisaitl, MacKinnon, etc dominating the league, Crosby's status will be closer to that of Sakic and Yzerman. But Ovi (again assuming he gets it) will always be the GOAT goal scorer until someone eventually dethrones him. The longer his hypothetical record stands, the stronger his legacy will be over Crosby.

The only way Crosby comes close is if he can crack 2000, maybe just 1800 points. But that seems unlikely given his inability to stay healthy and I just can't see him having the longevity to hit a milestone like that given his health.

I consider Crosby more like an inferior version of Lemieux: Injury-prone but less points than Lemieux's.

 

[Nadal On Clay]

Some scorching hot takes in this thread. “Crosby isn’t a unique player, doesn’t have anything special in his resume”, “Will be remembered as a Yzerman or a Sakic at best”, it keeps getting better..

 

[JKG33]

I consider Crosby more like an inferior version of Lemieux: Injury-prone but less points than Lemieux's.

While I like the Lemieux comparison given they were both great players with questionable health, Crosby never dominated his peers like Lemieux did. For the sake of argument lets say Ovi is to Crosby what Gretzky was to Lemieux. You remove Gretzky and Lemieux instantly becomes the best player. You take Ovi away, and does Sid really become the hands down best player? At any given time he had Malkin, Stamkos, Kane, Thornton, the Sedins, and now more recently McDavid, Draisaitl, Kucherov and MacKinnon just behind/ahead of him. Now if you factor out injuries Crosby is one of the few on that list who was consistently great every season, but he was never that much better than the next guy that I'd put him on Lemieux's level.

 

[JKG33]

Some scorching hot takes in this thread. “Crosby isn’t a unique player, doesn’t have anything special in his resume”, “Will be remembered as a Yzerman or a Sakic at best”, it keeps getting better..

If you're referring to my post, you really should work on your reading comprehension. I clearly said Yzerman/Sakic at worst.

But good effort, thanks for coming out.

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

While I like the Lemieux comparison given they were both great players with questionable health, Crosby never dominated his peers like Lemieux did. For the sake of argument lets say Ovi is to Crosby what Gretzky was to Lemieux. You remove Gretzky and Lemieux instantly becomes the best player. You take Ovi away, and does Sid really become the hands down best player? At any given time he had Malkin, Stamkos, Kane, Thornton, the Sedins, and now more recently McDavid, Draisaitl, Kucherov and MacKinnon just behind/ahead of him. Now if you factor out injuries Crosby is one of the few on that list who was consistently great every season, but he was never that much better than the next guy that I'd put him on Lemieux's level.

Yeah, I agree with that. That's why I said Crosby is an inferior version of Lemieux. Also, as much as I'd hate to admit this, the Sedins don't deserve to be on the list aforementioned. They're good, but not elite.

 

[JKG33]

Yeah, I agree with that. That's why I said Crosby is an inferior version of Lemieux. Also, as much as I'd hate to admit this, the Sedins don't deserve to be on the list aforementioned. They're good, but not elite.

Yea I'd agree with that on all points. I simply listed the Sedins as I was looking at guys who flirted with the point totals Crosby got, even if only for a year or two.

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Yea I'd agree with that on all points. I simply listed the Sedins as I was looking at guys who flirted with the point totals Crosby got, even if only for a year or two.

Oh, yeah. One season, I think, in 2011, when the we went to SCF and miserably lost. My school window broke from the riot, unfortunately.

 

[Lomez]

For hockey fans, both will be remembered for defining a generation. We're thankful we've been able to watch them both.

For fanboys, it depends on the color of the sweater, who is depicted on all the posters in the basement and who causes their little hearts to flutter the most.

 

[Sempiternal]

OV

 

[MightySelanne8]

I dont see how this isnt Ovechkin, IF he manages to beat Great Ones goal scoring record. I think then its as clear as who were the better player between the two, and thats Crosby by a mile. But being the all-time leading goal scorer in NHL is something that will take very very long time to be broken again, if ever.

 

[DrDangles]

If you're defining legacy by how they'll be portrayed by the media/NHL, you're out to lunch if you think it's Ovi.

Outside of that, when it actually comes to the fans it's all subjective, really. Ovechkin is already the greatest goal scorer the league has seen, in my opinion. I still view Sid as the better all around player, and at the end of the day if I could draft either of them at 18 to build a team around for 20 years it's gonna be Crosby. I guarantee that will be the view held by most.

 

[shtorm2005]

I still view Sid as the better all around player, and at the end of the day if I could draft either of them at 18 to build a team around for 20 years it's gonna be Crosby.

If you don't have Malkin to add, then it's doesn't really matter who you will choose.

 

[AsparaGus]

Ovechkin forever