Goal scoring: Argument- Crosby adjusts, Ovechkin doesn’t. Except that’s exactly what Ovechkin is working on right now, so you can argue that he hasn’t adjusted as fast as Crosby (which, given that Crosby has also not PLAYED for most of the last two seasons, means players have seen less of Crosby.) Please also remember to take into account: the fact Crosby is a center and Ovechkin is a winger, which means they are not going to score in the same ways/positions. And their age difference is also a factor in the goal increase argument: Crosby is hitting the “peak age” and Ovechkin has just passed it. (And it’s very easy, again, to increase your goal numbers when you didn’t play for most of two seasons.) That he was on pace for 66 goals is not a strong argument. He didn’t play. Those goals didn’t happen. Ovechkin’s goals in his past peak seaosns did.

Leadership: I couldn’t even find a good argument here in this section, except that the author thinks Crosby is a good leader and Ovechkin is not. The comparisons don’t even make sense. Crosby didn’t want to take the captaincy right away– author somehow fails to mention Ovechkin refused to take his captaincy unless the team themselves voted and approved it. Leaders are different. In one breath, the author says Ovechkin fails to motivate his team, and then cites examples of him cheering or trying to fight to spark his team and saying that he failed. What the hell? Just because Crosby talks to his team on the bench he’s the better leader? No other examples? They are exttremely different people and extremely different leaders (and hey, let’s not even bother to give credit to Ovechkin having a language or cultural carrier or anything because that would be SILLY) and I couldn’t find one good argument in this section to make me think that there’s a reason Crosby should win out.

Face of the NHL: Again, I can’t even figure out what the argument is for, here, so let me say this. You may see Ovechkin as a “unpredictable, showy, large ego person.” I see him as a passionate, talented, and exciting player whose unpredictability and showiness are the very things that make me love hockey, and whose personality rejuvenated a city, resonated through the sport, and inspired a lot of kids to want to be like him and get into hockey. A lot of other people see him that way too– look to player interviews among his peers, his awards, and his thousands of fans.

Sidney Crosby is an excellent hockey player. I also find him boring as dirt. (Well, except when he’s punching a dude in the balls or pulling off another dirty move. But why mention those little aspects of him, eh?) Why should Sidney Crosby even be the sole face of the NHL? Last I checked, there were 29 other teams out there, all of whom boast players worthy of attention. Why does it have to be restricted to one person? Why isn’t there room for all kinds of personalities? Why is there such a marked xenophobia in the NHL– you can’t tell me Crosby hasn’t benefited form that, and Ovechkin treated more harshly by it. The idea of Sidney Crosby being the only face of the NHL honestly makes me want to vomit because that’s not what it should be about at all.

In general, I found this article very poorly reasoned, with no actual argument, and with little actual observation of Ovechkin.