March 31, 2006
Looking Backwards At The Calder Race
Over at ESPN.com, Damien Cox has a few interesting thoughts about the Calder race between Sid Crosby and Alex Ovechkin:
If not for the lockout, of course, this intriguing battle might never have materialized.
Ovechkin, the first pick of the 2004 entry draft, might well have been a Washington Capital that fall, thus avoiding a Calder comparison with Crosby, the first selection of the '05 draft, by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Since September, the debate over which player is better, or more deserving of the Calder, has become superheated, all but freezing out other more-than-worthy candidates, such as New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist and Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf.
But Ovechkin and Crosby came into this season with such a hurricane of hype behind them, it would have taken a truly sensational individual performance to have nudged one or both out of contention.
Hurricane hype, huh? Well, Crosby, who was treated more or less like Canadian royalty for better than two years before Draft Day 2005 certainly arrived on the NHL scene with Katrina-like force. Ovechkin, while highly touted, came in more like a tropical depression compared to the multimedia assault that accompanied Crosby, one that the Canadian press gleefully assisted.
One factor that kicked the Calder race into high gear was the league's decision to hand the Rookie of the Month award for October to Crosby instead of Ovechkin. Whether the NHL did that as a means to tout the player who had been hailed as the savior of the league, or deliberately to generate some talk about the two players, the effect was the same.
Then again, the hype machine would have meant nothing had Ovechkin not emerged as a major force in the league, and on a team with few other options in the offensive zone. Don't believe me, just watch the video again.
My only regret is we won't see either player in the playoffs. Be sure to tune in again next season, as Ovechkin and Crosby battle for the Hart, the Art Ross and maybe one day, the big enchilada.
UPDATE: JP checks Cox's math, and it doesn't add up.
And JP: Thanks for demonstrating why it's probably not a good idea to write about a game you haven't watched.
POSTSCRIPT: One last note -- don't believe Cox when he intimates that the Caps are in danger of leaving town. Not. Gonna. Happen.
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