With September here, NHL training camps are opening – and the season not far behind. Here at BPITW, the question du jour in the Hockey department is whether Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin can continue this year basically unchallenged as either-or Best Players, or whether other stars (Jonathan Toews, Drew Doughty, Henrik Sedin, Duncan Keith, Steven Stamkos, Ryan Miller, etc.) can legitimately be considered as the best even though their individual skills aren’t as commonly lauded.
Toews: Olympic Gold, Stanley Cup champ, Conn Smythe winner - and the best this year?
Looking past reputation at actual performance is never easy – and neither is assessing whether highlight-reel goals versus things like leadership are more important. But when you look at what actually happened on the ice last year, the accomplishments of the Blackhawks’ young captain are pretty hard to ignore.
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I still like Crosby. I love Toews very, very much too. They are both great players and great leaders. But I really think the difference last year was that Toews played on a better team than Crosby.
Aha…but they both played on Canada’s Olympic team – and apart from Crosby’s Golden Goal, Toews was the bigger contributor. Less pressure on him, but a better performance regardless.