Crosby vs. Ovechkin

Following Canada's 7-3 embarrassment of Russia in the Olympic qualifiers, I think it may be time that the NHL hype machine moves on from this Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry that they're trying so hard to push down everybody's throats. They won't of course, but that won't stop me from articulating why I think they probably should.

For one thing, they really aren't terribly similar players. Crosby is a center, Ovechkin a left wing. Ovechkin plays the game with all the subtlety of a bull in a China shop; he skates hard, hits hard, and shoots hard. He's pretty much the definition of a "power forward", which suits him well in situations like entering the zone on an odd-man rush or playing the point on a power play. On the other hand, Crosby plays in pretty much any situation you can name, and usually excels at it. He's equally adept at drawing defenders away from teammates and hitting them with precision passes as he is at screening goaltenders and knocking in garbage goals. His assist numbers are almost double his goal totals, and have followed this pattern his entire career (except for this season, where he actually has 6 more goals than assists). Also, unlike Ovechkin, he plays defense. It's not empirically proven that you'll never see Ovechkin hassling a puck carrier anywhere between the net and the circles, but you're far more likely to see him floating around the blue line, waiting for one of his teammates to knock a puck in his direction for a breakaway.

When the two first entered the NHL in 2005, I wanted to hate the cerebral pretty-boy Crosby and like the entertaining loudmouth Ovechkin. Since then, and I don't know if this has to do with my own maturation as a human being or watching their maturation as players (or both, or neither), I've really grown to like Crosby more and more while my admiration for Ovechkin has diminished. I liked Ovechkin because he was more entertaining to watch, and while I still think that that's true, it doesn't make him better than Crosby. It's an age-old schism between the sports fan who wants to be entertained and the sports fan who wants to really admire the players he's watching. Greater than that in this case, it's a question of values. Who would I rather see succeed: a hardworking, team-first player who is respectful to fans, media and the game or a cocky, sports car-driving supermodel-banging puckhog who has a clothing line and disses reporters and fans after a loss?

Though I think Mike Milbury is kind of a douche, his little argument with Jeremy Roenick (one of the original entertaining loudmouths) pretty well sums up the whole thing:


But anyway, stylistic contrasts aside, Ovechkin has put up better personal stats during his tenure in Washington than Crosby has while in Pittsburgh. But when all is said and done, I think these will be the facts that people remember: When the Penguins met the Capitals in the playoffs last year, it was Crosby's team that advanced, and Ovechkin was sent home. When their teams met in the Olympics, it was Ovechkin dodging reporters and Crosby celebrating when the game was over. Barring some unfortunate career-ending injury to either player, their hockey days are far from over and there are chapters yet to be written. But so far, when it counts, it's Crosby 2, Ovechkin nothing.