Facts

This is a blog, and as such I am under no obligation to hide my opinion. But in this particular piece, a reality check is getting deposited into your brain banks. If you'd prefer to think of it as the cold hard cash of truth, that's your prerogative. Let's look at four NHL players, shall we?

Alex Ovechkin, LW Washington Capitals

GP	G	AST	PTS	SOG	+/-
28	23	18	41	150	17

Sidney Crosby, C Pittsburgh Penguins

GP	G	AST	PTS	SOG	+/-
35	22	21	43	132	14

Evgeni Malkin, C Pittsburgh Penguins

GP	G	AST	PTS	SOG	+/-
29	10	24	34	120	13

Eric Staal, C Carolina Hurricanes

GP	G	AST	PTS	SOG	+/-
25	6	13	19	108	-6

Just from looking at these stats, the casual observer could tell you that one of these things is not like the others. What the casual observer may not be able to tell you is that these four men have, as of the '09-'10 NHL season, the highest salary cap hits in the league. That number is not exactly indicative of actual salary for a particular year, but it is the average salary that the player will earn over the course of their contract. Respectively, Ovechkin's hit is $9.5 million, Crosby and Malkin both are at $8.7 mil, and Staal brings up the rear at $8.25 million. For comparison, the next highest cap hit is Brad Richards of the Stars at $7.8 million.

What the hell is wrong with this picture? Not only is Staal the only player of the 4 highest paid NHL'ers with a negative +/- rating, he has significantly less points than all three of his cash-earning peers. This may stem from the fact that he has played less games than the others, but again, who is paying him an average of $8.25 million to not play hockey games?

Points per game as of today, '09-'10:
Ovechkin: 41 pts in 28 games = 1.464 (holy toledo)
Crosby: 43 in 35 = 1.229
Malkin: 34 in 29 = 1.172
Staal: 19 in 25 = 0.76

Again: THESE ARE FACTS.






































Another fact: He loves Nintendo. Okay, I don't know if that's a fact or not.