Sid the Kid vs. Alexander the Great

Sid The Kid vs. Alexander The Great Marc Valeri Hockeyleaks.com February 7th, 2007

The future of the NHL is here.

In what is being labeled the “Gretzky vs. Lemieux”, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin are the two players that will succeed the NHL out of its lockout period, and ultimately be the poster children for the future of the game. Alex was drafted first overall in 2004, as was Sid in 2005. But had they been eligible together, who should the pick be used on?

That’s a no brainer. Sidney Crosby.

Let’s start with the basics;

Crosby: Age 19, 5’11”, 193 lbs. Ovechkin: Age 21, 6’2”, 212 lbs.

Other than the age, these numbers mean little; Martin St. Louis, a 5’9”, 185 pound winger can compete with a guy like Joe Thornton, a 6’4”, 223 pound beast – size and weight doesn’t mean much when comparing two forwards (a forward and a defenceman or two defencemen, however, is a different story).

Let’s take a look at their first season – both men are in the process of playing their second NHL season.

Crosby: 81 GP, 39 G, 63 A, 102 PTS, -1, 110 PIM, 278 S, 14.03 SH% (PIT finished 15th in the East, 29th in the NHL)

Ovechkin: 81 GP, 52 G, 54 A, 106 PTS, +2, 52 PIM, 425 S, 12.24 SH% (WAS finished 14th in the East, 27th in the NHL)

Ultimately, Ovechkin won the Calder, and although I did not think he deserved it, he got it, and I’m not going to worry about it.

For any franchise team, with the first overall pick in the draft, with both Sid and Alex waiting for their names to be called, it still does not matter – Crosby is the pick. Simply put, he is a more complete player than Ovechkin is. Crosby is much less selfish as a centre and as a team player, and understands that he is not the only player on his team, and that ultimately, puck distribution leads to team success. Although he has gained the reputation for being a whiner and complainer so early in his career, Crosby is still a phenomenal athlete. If you watch some of Crosby’s games, a lot of infractions and supposed penalties do not go his way when they do for other players – I can’t tell you the number of times I have seen Sid’s stick being tomahawked in half like a axe on a tree stump. That’s a penalty. I have also seen Crosby’s stick thrown up in the air after the defender lift’s it with his stick. That’s a penalty. I have also seen a number of butt-ends to the face, spears to the midsection, and whip-like trips. Those are penalties as well. Yes, he does sell quite a few of those calls, but if the NHL is telling the refs to crack down on stuff like this, it has to apply to every player on the ice – no special royalties for anyone, and no one being an exception to getting calls going their way.

Ovechkin, on the other hand, simply is not a great overall hockey player. He is ridiculously fast, has great hands, and is lethal on a breakaway or when coming down the wing. He doesn’t, however, possess the two-way game that Crosby does. Alex does not yet realize that he is not the only one on the ice, and needs to learn that hockey, like all sports, is a TEAM game, and that one player can only do so much without being stopped entirely (Don’t give me crap that Crosby has Malkin – Ovechkin has Semin). If Ovechkin doesn’t start working on his overall game better, he is not going to be able to make others around him better with him, and will not win anything other than individual awards that pale in comparison to the ultimate prize – the Stanley Cup. Ovechkin has been compared to Pavel Bure, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Marian Hossa, all of which are dead on, especially Bure, but all of which have (had in Bure’s case) great flaws in their game that stopped them from becoming the best in the league. Crosby, though, is compared often to Gretzky and Lemieux – neither of which he will be statistically, not that anyone will, but he will be a better player than Ovie when both careers are said and done.

Recently, the Washington Capitals took on the Buffalo Sabres. I am unsure of the beginning of the ordeal, as the camera cannot be everywhere at once. What I did see, however, was Ovechkin being picked on by some Sabre players. In response to that, Ovechkin was seen skating near the Buffalo bench, where Co-captain Daniel Briere was heading off for a line change. As the door opens for him, Ovechkin advances on him, and shoulders him from behind, head first into the boards (thankfully not into the corner of the door), resulting in Briere being down for several minutes. As this occurred, numerous Sabres players came to Briere’s rescue, as did many Caps’ players to Alex’s defence. A gathering ensued, where Briere was helped off the ice, and thankfully, left the game with no serious head or neck injuries. During the player-rustling, Ovechkin was nowhere to be seen.

This brings me to my next point…

European captains don’t win championships. No, I am not racist, and no, I am not a bigot; I am simply stating a fact. No European captain in the history of the NHL has ever won the Stanley Cup. As assistant captains, yes, but once the ‘C’ goes on the sweater, it hasn’t happened. Yes, one day I will be eating my words, but as of this year, that remains a fact. NHL great Don Cherry, who co-hosts Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) has it right; Europeans don’t win Cups. Why? I don’t know – my guess is because of the different style of game they play in comparison to North Americans – Europeans, generally speaking, like to play an open-ice, long passing, free-roaming style of play where speed dominates the tempo of the game, whereas North Americans tend to play a grittier, aggressive, physical style of hockey where the puck stays around the corners and boards.

The best example of this was the IIHF Juniors Tourney – Team Canada topped Team Russia for that sole reason – many, not all, but many Europeans play with a ‘if you don’t touch me I won’t touch you’ mentality, which does not get them anywhere in the NHL. I believe that this is why no European captain has won the Cup yet. And again, generally speaking, players with that mentality typically wear a visor. No, I am not against Europeans or visors or anything – I am just stating generalities I find in the NHL. Sorry, not myself only – there are many others – just ask Grapes. I am not saying that Europeans are useless, and I’m not saying that they are dirty players or cheapskates or anything like that. In fact, with the direction the NHL is going, where speed takes the cake over power and strength, Europeans are going to run the game in no time at all.

Another thing you may have heard me say in the HockeyLeaks forums is a motto I have learned from a wise man: “Offense Wins Games, Defence Wins Championships”. That’s another reason why Crosby is better than Ovechkin. A.O. has no sense of defence whatsoever, and is a 100% offensive-minded forward – but he is getting better…slowly. Crosby, on the other hand, realizes that a two-way game is important if you want to win in the NHL, and makes a better effort to improve both aspects of his game. Like the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, they have an all-out offensive style of game, and almost always give up 100+ PPG, and when teams that face them in the playoffs have a complete two-way game, like the Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, or San Antonio Spurs, the Suns can’t do anything.

Crosby is also much better in terms of shot efficiency. Ovechkin shoots the puck because he has it – his options are shoot, deke and shoot, or fake and shoot – passing is a foreign concept. When Crosby shoots, it’s because he thinks the puck has a decent shot at going in. Proof? He’s atop the NHL in dimes per game. He doesn’t shoot unless he thinks there is a realistic shot of it going in. Crosby can either score at will, or dish the puck and become the Joe Thornton or Steve Nash of his team.

Both forwards are going to tear up the league for years to come, no doubt, but Crosby will always have the edge over Ovie. When building a team from scratch, and even looking for a potential dynasty, Crosby’s complete game gets the nod over Ovechkin’s selfish, ‘I in team’ game. Nevermind that Crosby is leading the NHL in points, assists, and is being heralded as the #1 NHL fantasy player (that means nothing, I know) but the major fact is that Pittsburgh is in the thick of the playoff race, with nowhere to go but up, and a realistic shot at winning Lord Stanley’s Cup, while Washington remains in the same spot they were last year, even with Gordon and Semin – on the outside looking in.

I don’t know how many times Ovechkin can get away with bumping people from behind, head first into the boards before someone comes and stuffs him. Whether it was accidental or on purpose, no one knows except Alex, but from what I saw with replays and all, it looked like it had some force into it, and having no respect for players in the NHL is not what he needs. I personally think that like Bure, Ovechkin is going to simply burn out in years to come. Both men have shown flashes of sheer brilliance so far, and I look forward to the two playing toe-to-toe for years to come.

This article has been solely about Crosby and Ovechkin, but I just want to remind all hockey fans reading this (as well as owners of fantasy teams) that there are numerous rookies other than those two that are going to be the talk at the water cooler.

Ilya Kovalchuk (ATL), Evgeni Malkin (PIT), Dion Phaneuf (CAL), Jason Spezza (OTT), Anze Kopitar (LA), Dustin Penner (ANA), Matthew Lombardi (CAL), Milan Michalek (SJ) Marek Svatos (COL), Wojtek Wolski (COL), Travis Zajac (NJD), Jeff Carter (PHI), Mike Richards (PHI), Corey Perry (ANA), Johnny Pohl (TOR), Kyle Wellwood (TOR), Kari Lehtonen (ATL), Ryan Getzlaf (ANA), Brad Boyes (BOS), Matt Cooke (VAN), Pavel Datsyuk (DET), Patrice Bergeron (BOS), Hannu Toivonen (BOS), Henrik Zetterberg (DET), Nicklas Kronwall (DET), Phil Kessel (BOS), Maxim Afinogenov (BUF), Ryan Miller (BUF), Eric Staal (CAR), Marc Staal (NYR), Jordan Staal (PIT), Andrew Ladd (CAR), Chad LaRose (CAR), Tomas Vanek (BUF), Cam Ward (CAR), Alex Tanguay (CAL), Michael Ryder (MON), Kyle Calder (PHI), Cam Barker (CHI), Rene Bourque (CHI), Rick Nash (CBJ), Gilbert Brule (CBJ), Dan Fritsche (CBJ), John-Michael Liles (COL), Peter Budaj (COL), Brad Richardson (COL), Jussi Jokinen (DAL), Steve Ott (DAL), Marc-Andre Bergeron (EDM), Raffi Torres (EDM), Jarret Stoll (EDM), Ales Hemsky (EDM), Shawn Horcoff (EDM), Joffrey Lupul (EDM), Jay Bouwmeester (FLA), Nathan Horton (FLA), Dustin Brown (LA), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (MIN), Marian Gaborik (MIN), Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT), Mikko Koivu (MIN), Guillaume Latendresse (MTL), Maxim Lapierre (MTL), Alex Perezhogin (MTL), Alex Radulov (NSH), Scottie Upshall (NSH), Jordin Tootoo (NSH), Brian Gionta (NJD), Sean Avery (NYR), Henrik Lundqvist (NYR), Patrick Eaves (OTT), Antoine Vermette (OTT), Anton Volchenkov (OTT), Ben Eager (PHI), Antero Niittymaki (PHI), Mike Zigomanis (PHX), Colby Armstrong (PIT), Maxime Talbot (PIT), Ryan Whitney (PIT), Matt Carle (SJ), Josh Gorges (SJ), Nolan Schaefer (SJ), Paul Ranger (TB), Alex Semin (WAS), Brendan Bell (TOR), Carlo Colaiacovo (TOR), Matt Stajan (TOR), Alex Steen (TOR), Ryan Kesler (VAN), Boyd Gordon (WAS) (excuse the long list)

Enable Comment Auto-Refresher