Refusing to acknowledge that the race for the Calder Trophy is over, and has been for a couple of months, Shelly Anderson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gives it the old college try, weak as it is...
The problem this season is deciding on the criteria to measure the top rookies.
Ovechkin has reached the lofty plateaus of 50 goals and 100 points, but there are other ways to compare the two.
Ovechkin is third overall in scoring, Crosby eighth. Each has five game-winning goals. Ovechkin logs slightly more ice time and takes more shots. Crosby takes faceoffs regularly and wins 45.4 percent of them. Crosby has three overtime goals to Ovechkin's two. Ovechkin has three game-deciding shootout goals to Crosby's one.
For somebody who's supposed to be putting together a brief for Crosby, it certainly sounds like Anderson is making a case for Ovechkin. Sure, Sid is a center, but since when did winning less than half of your faceoffs win anybody an award?
I should let her finish...
There also are some intangibles to compare. Crosby has developed a reputation for sniping at the referees, which partly accounts for him having 104 penalty minutes, double Ovechkin's number.
So, here's what we've learned so far: Ovehkin has scored more goals, and has more ice time, yet Crosby has racked up twice as many penalty minutes, partly as a result of his whining, which would seem to suggest that a lot of those penalty minutes were needless and could have been avoided.
Let's hope Crosby isn't thinking of hiring Anderson as his lawyer.
Ovechkin, a winger, has developed a reputation for being a showman who score highlight-reel goals but does not play both ends as well as Crosby, a center.
What Anderson fails to mention as well, is that while Crosby has indeed developed a reputation for whining, Ovechkin has developed a reputation for physical play -- and, let's not forget that Anderson has mentioned that he's managed to do that while totaling only half of the penalty minutes that Crosby has.
That would seem to suggest that Ovechkin plays tough, but clean. Why don't we look at some of those hits right now...
You might want to go back and watch Ovechkin's absolute wipeout of Chris Chelios at the Olympics.
Oh, and despite Anderson's assertion that Crosby has a reputation for more responsible play in both ends of the ice, she neglects to mention that for the season Ovechkin -- while logging more ice time -- is +2, while Crosby is -3.
One more time: Crosby is an incredible player enjoying an exceptional season. He's endured an unfair backlash because of the all the hype surrounding him, and he may yet prove to be a better all around player than Ovechkin in the long run. But he isn't the better player right now, and that's all that matters when it comes to voting for the Calder in 2006.
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Comments
What Ovechkin has going for him: Those hundred and five points.
What Crosby has going for him: Youngest player to a hundred points.
If I had a vote, I would maybe vote for a guy who helped his team to the play-offs. Don't know if the goaltender from Buffalo, Miller, qualifies or not, but if he did, and I had a vote, it would be for Miller.
Nicanor
Posted by:
at April 18, 2006 12:20 AM
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