Let’s take a look at Crosby vs Ovechkin after 2 years of play. The following stats are their averages over the past 2 seasons.
After the Crosby vs Ovechkin stats, you can find 2006-2007 season stats comparing Crosby/Malkin/Ovechkin/Semin.
With this comparison, my intention is not to solve the great debate as to which one is the better hockey player. There is enough room in the NHL for both of them and the success of one does nothing to take away from the accomplishments or perceived status or ability of the other. This is not Peyton Manning vs Ryan Leaf, nobody was forced to choose one or the other, they weren’t even drafted in the same draft class. (On another note, Malkin and Ovechkin were drafted in 2004 and Crosby was drafted in 2005. There were a FEW scouts that had Malkin rated higher on their board than Ovechkin and said that 5-10 years down the road, Malkin will turn out to be a better overall player than Ovechkin. Why are we not debating Malkin vs Ovechkin?).
OK, back to the task at hand. In my mind, the age issue (Crosby is 20, Ovie is 22) and the Pro Experience issue (Crosby has 2 yrs and Ovechkin has 6 years) are often overlooked when people compare the two. So, just for fun, after two years of play, look at the stats below. A Capitals fan will NEVER, EVER convince me that AO is better than Crosby and I’m willing to bet that no Caps fan will ever think that Crosby is better than AO. So instead of reading the following charts and screaming at your monitor, “Yeah! I knew Ovechkin was a cherry-picker!!” or “Crosby….look at all those PIMs….all unsportsmanlike for crying on the ice I bet!” just appreciate the magnitude of these stats from two guys that aren’t even close to being as good as they are going to be in a few years time.
Crosby vs Ovechkin
Head to Head Matchup (8 games)
While both players deny that anything “extra” is on the line when they play each other, we all know that’s not true. Crosby has dominated the head-to-head matchup both individually and on the scoreboard. Would I be going WAY too far if I were to suggest that as a Caps fan, one would be a bit concerned that in “big games” or pressure situations, Ovechkin can’t rise to the occasion? Ovechkin posted 5 points in 8 Olympic games in 2006. Malkin put up 6 points in 7 games. Crosby was left off the Team Canada squad. (don’t get me started on that). In the playoffs this past year, Malkin had 4 points in 5 games while Crosby had 5 points in 5 games. Ovechkin has not yet made it to the playoffs. That could change this season.
Click “Read More” to see the 4-way stats.
*These stats are all rounded to the nearest whole number
And remember, this is their per season average, after 2 seasons…
Ovechkin played Pro Hockey in the Russian Superleague for 4 seasons before his first NHL season in 2005-2006.
Crosby played in the Quebec Major Junior League for 2 seasons before entering the NHL in the same season as Ovechkin.
I bring this up because not only is Ovechkin 2 years older than Sidney Crosby, but he was playing professionally with 30 year old men for a full 4 years while Crosby was playing against 15 and 16 year old high school kids. In my opinion, Ovechkin came into the league more experienced and ready to step right into the pro game. The transition wasn’t seamless, obviously, but his jump to the NHL was far easier than Sid’s. Also, does this mean that Ovechkin is closer to “maxing-out” than Crosby is….. due to their age and experience?
No real surprises here. Crosby is a Center and Ovechkin is a Wing. In their first NHL seasons, their “quality of teammates” were about the same. This past season, Crosby’s supporting cast was a tad better, but Crosby still doesn’t have a real good scoring winger on his line. If I wanted to explain Ovechkin’s high goal totals, I could point to the fact that he has an amazing shot, has breakaway speed, and shoots the puck more than anybody in the history of the sport (that’s not necessarily a bad thing). In order to explain Crosby’s high assist totals, well, he’s the best passer in the game and sometimes passes up shooting opportunities to set-up a teammate.
Crosby has the lead in points here. Frankly, I think Crosby is the better overall player. Ovie is the better goal-scorer, Crosby the better passer, and Crosby is the better defensive player by a mile.
Remember, this is PER SEASON. In his first 2 NHL seasons Ovechkin has 817 shots. Crosby has 528.
Crosby plays tenacious defense on each and every shift, which helps explain some of his PIMs. He gets called for the occasional hook or trip in the process.
Ovechkin has the ability to play good defense when he puts forth the effort, but he doesn’t always backcheck the way you would like to see.
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*Side Note:
Since 2004, the average draft position for the Pittsburgh Penguins has been 6.4
Since 2004, the average draft position for the Washington Capitals has been 6.0
So nobody post any comments about how the Penguins have tanked to get Staal, Crosby, Malkin, etc….if you look at the past 4 years, the Capitals have actually drafted higher than the Penguins (higher meaning closer to the #1 overall spot). I only bring this up because, as a Pens fan, you have no idea of how many people accuse our team of finishing seasons poorly just to get a better draft pick. That might fly in the NFL, but in the NBA and NHL where you have a lottery system, finishing last doesn’t guarantee the best draft slot.
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Crosby/Malkin vs Ovechkin/Semin
Stats: 2006-2007 Season
Goals
Crosby 36
Malkin 33
Semin 38
Ovechkin 46
*Again, both Caps players are Wingers while the Pens players are Centers. When talking about Malkin/Crosby’s skill sets, most scouts (pre-draft and now) comment on their playmaking ability and not their scoring ability.
Assists
Crosby 84
Malkin 52
Semin 35
Ovechkin 46
*Yeah, the whole positional thing again….
Points
Crosby 120
Malkin 85
Semin 73
Ovechkin 92
*Malkin, in his rookie season, put up more points than Semin, who had 1/2 of an NHL season under his belt coming into last season. Also, Malkin is surprisingly close to Ovechkin in point totals, I didn’t even realize this until I started crunching the numbers. Hmmm… And as you can see, Crosby had an unbelievable season and won the NHL scoring title.
Shots
Crosby 250
Malkin 242
Semin 243
Ovechkin 392
*For very good/superstar players, the 220-260 range seems about right. Ovechkin’s 392 SOG is FAR and away the highest total in the NHL.
In some sports, a guy who shoots too much is a bad thing. In hockey, it’s not so clear-cut. Pucks on goal lead to rebounds, tip-ins, and obviously, goals. I’m not going to pull the “Ovechkin only piles up Goals because he shoots so much” card. There are times when I see him shoot and I’m like “what???? are you thinking?” and other times I find myself saying “I wish somebody on our team would shoot that much to generate more loose pucks in the crease.” Ilya Kovalchuk is another guy that shoots a ton, but man, he has a cannon. Watching ATL on the powerplay is scary with him firing pucks from the high slot.
Plus/Minus
Crosby 10
Malkin 2
Ovechkin -19
Semin -7
*Pittsburgh had a better team last year, but their defense was pretty lackluster. Crosby plays great defense when on the ice, and Ovechkin doesn’t. Don’t even try to argue that point. Malkin is a bit lazy at times, but a lot of young Europeans come into the league and have to learn how to play good D.
Penalty Mins
Crosby 120
Malkin 80
Ovechkin 52
Semin 90
*Malkin takes some lazy penalties. Unlike Crosby, his penalties aren’t for hustle and tenacious D gone too far. His are lazy hooks and obstructions. If I were Don Cherry, this is where I would make a remark about Russians cherry-picking and not playing a solid all around game. I would then show a video of some junior team from Saskatoon and I’d ramble for 5 minutes about playing the game the “right way”.
Games
Crosby 79
Malkin 78
Ovechkin 82
Semin 77
*Crosby had a groin issue and Malkin missed the start of the season and the preseason due to a shoulder injury.
With a better supporting cast surrounding all of these players for the upcoming season it will be very interesting to see how things unfold for these 4 talented players. I’ll see you right here on this blog on September 27, 2008, and we’ll do this all over again. Next time, the picture at the top of the page will feature Crosby holding the cup. Ha!
Sombrero-
Crosby doesn’t play with Malkin or Staal. In terms of W-L yes, it matters, but statistically not so much.
It would be unfair to throw out the talent received for both teams in the Crosby draft because, well, the Pens got Crosby.
When did this become about the teams anyway? Draft position shouldn’t matter. Talent can be bought and traded for. Why aren’t those a factor then? Why can’t we all just agree to disagree? I hate the Capitals, but this argument is getting pointless.
By the way, this is to ***WHAT?***
Pens Stanley Cups from 1990-present: 2
Caps Stanley Cups from…ever: 0
And in those draft stats you mentioned, the Caps weren’t exactly tearing up the league when the Pens were drafting in the top five.
There, I had my petty moment.
Like I mentioned above, I’m a Habs fan, not a Caps fan. I will be happy to compare Cup wins with you. Or hardware in general. My beloved Canadiens have had an award created specifically to be given to one of their players for his contributions (and thus the Selke was born) – care to discuss?
If you want my reasons for taking this so seriously, it’s because I haven’t seen a player like Ovechkin take the ice since I was able to watch the Rocket rip through the league when I was but a pup. I’ve seen players like Crosby come and go – all legends, no doubt, but none so complete nor as tenacious as Richard.
I see a lot in Ovechkin that I did in Richard – right down to the hate from the competition. As a Canadiens fan in New England, nobody ever praised Richard – there was always some negative aspect played in order to play up others. When Richard meted out his own personal justice on Hal Laycoe, a positive word was rarely spoken of him again where I am from. Every accomplishment carried an asterisk and was downplayed, while anyone appearing better than Richard in any facet (true or not) was painted in a glorious light.
Then there are the comparisons that can be drawn between the French Canadians at the time and the Europeans today – each looked at as an outcast, an invader, “different” than the native anglophones. There are many ways that the sour grapes and downplaying of Ovechkin remind me of that suffered upon the Rocket.
And while the degree of bile that is spewed toward Ovechkin, no matter how many disclaimers are attached to it or how it’s masked as a “statistical comparison”, has not yet reached the level of that shown to Richard (although Buffalo fans tried), it all reaks of the same bias and the same sequestered reasoning that has to pigeonhole certain areas to try to prove “superiority.” My tolerance of it wore thin half a century ago.
Crosby does skate with Malkin on the power play, at least he did last season
And What? Speaks the truth. Not that anybody will even see these comments. Blog posts die after a week, at best.
LOL at rigged graphics
Your Penguins/Crosby bias comes through crystal clear to people such as myself who are not fans of either team. Your childish bar graphs are ridiculously not to scale; you show Ovechkin playing 82 games to Crosby’s 80, yet ovechkins bar suggests he played at least 4 times as many. Same with total points; Crosby has 111 and Ovechkin has 99 yet the graph shows a 2:1 scale in Crosby’s favor.
Give it a break, they are completely different players and your stat tweaking and 1 on 1 comparisons show nothing except that you are biased fan trying to “prove a point” whether you claim to be doing so or not
I have to say the Crosby Ovechkin debate is a tuff one but really you cant press these facts to hard. Crosby is a playmaker, of coarse he is going to have more assists, he has even said that he looks more to distribute the puck then to score (not exact words). On the other side Ovi is a goal scorer, he is always being fed the puck. If he has the shot from a good feed why would he not take it, obviously he would have an enormous amount of shots. so really it is hard to contrast a playmaker to a goal scorer, two very different types of play.
whoever thinks that a goal is harder to get than an assist is an absolute retard
at least 85% of the goals require some kind of assist. Goals require powerful arms, and good acuracy, so What? If i work out I can do that. Assists require a great vision of the ice and great hockey sense. Thats why everyone says that MR.99 had the best of all time.