Ovechkin scored more goals, and has done it on a team that’s almost nobody but him. He’s not getting points from what others are doing, he’s getting points on his own.

Crosby has looked good. He plays hard and is going to be a huge star in the future, but the fact is, so far, Ovenchkin has been better. The rookie of the year award was decided when Crosby was drafted, which is unfair.

If they fall out of the race all together, they might try to move Guerin’s big contract, or possibly Barnes, but I don’t see them making any big changes. Barnes is the only person I could see being moved to make a trade to improve the team, but they’re not touching Guerin as long as they’re winning.

I think undoubtedly if people that are commenting on Ovechkin being better than Crosby had the luxury of watching him play every game, that they would change their mind in one second. Crosby has been far and away the best Penguin on the ice. I’ve been to 6 games thus far this year, and thats blatantly obvious to me. The only player I’ve seen this year that has compared in my opinion is Kovalchuk, who was so impressive to me with the puck.

J/J

Thats what I thought it said at first thats why.

Jonnson???

Yeah, maybe theyll trade LaFontaine too.

Cecil Turtle

Where AO is a perfect pure goal scorer with great wheels, crosby is a pure offensive force being able to do it all. He may not have the wheels that AO has, but he can skate better than 90% of the league, at 18.

He may not have the sniping skills AO has, but have you seen some of his goals? He turned Theodore and Kolzig inside out with breakaway moves whiel sending the waterbottle 8 feet in the air. I dont remember seeing a player who could use the backhand so well come along in 10 years.

AO may be seen as a stronger grittier player, but for his size Crosby has gone through more players to make plays, and fought through more checks ect than I ever thought possible. To question Crosby’s grit and physical play (clean physical play) is to say you havent watched many of his games. He’s knocked guys like Hal Gill on their asses to make plays, and Crosby is 5-10.

AO is a scorer, but ontop of being able to put the puck in the net Crosby has better vison and better passing skills. I’ve seen the kid throw blind passes from his knees that have gone through defenders feet only to land on palffy’s tape infront of an open net. The kid is one of the leagues best passers right now.

And the thing about linemates. Well first off, he has spent the last 10 games playing right wing with fellow rookie Erik Christensen and Palffy. Granted Palffy is a better talent than Zubrus, but both he and AO are on their teams top line getting top line minutes, at this point Crosby only having 45 seconds less ice time than AO on average, and now has 11 goals and 16 assists vs AO’s 15 goals and 8 assists.

If anyone has seen Mario play night in and night out vs crosby you would see that Crosby has been the teams best player by far. Leclair is playing 3rd line duty with Pirjeta and rookie Oulette and Mario has been taking up space and pulling down the game of Recchi while playing with anouther rookie center matt Hussey. The pens, like the Caps are a young team.

Yes they may have some good vets like Mario, Recchi Palffy Leclair and Gonchar on the team, but for the most part they havent been consistant contributors to this team night in and out. The pens right now have 10 players on their roster who are in their first or second year of NHL hockey, with the exception of Palffy and Jackman most nights it looks like its the kids who are keeping this team afloat, so to call out the teammates as a reason for crosby’s success is wrong. Its Crosby, Christensen, and Whitney along with Palffy and Jackman who are leading this team.

And finally there is the age/development isssue. Crosby turned 18 a couple weeks before the opening of his first NHL season. AO is a 20 year old player who got the chance to play in a russian super league during a time when it was heavily populated by legit NHL players. Crosby on the other hand was thrown directly into the fire form jrs to the NHL.

And while i think overall crosby is the better player, I also think that given the team, some teams would rather have AO and some would rather have Crosby. Teams such as Columbus and Atlanta who already have great young goals scorers would probably pick crosby to help guys like Nash and Kovalchuk set up plays. But teams such as Boston who have more all around or set up guys like zhamnov bergeron and thornton would love to have a guy like AO on their squad to help slam dunk some goals. And thats what brings me to my final point.

Comparing these two is kinda pointless outside of the calder because they are different players. It would be like trying to compare forsberg in his prime to kovalchuk. Both are great players, but they are different players completely.

Although he will be very good, I have to disagree that hes gonna be the next best dman… The next best dman will be Joni Pitkanen for sure, hes only 22 and has 21points in 21games and +17 I think. Thats pretty god damn amazing if you ask me.