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.
Tagged as:
Alex Ovechkin,
Jonathan Toews,
Sidney Crosby
Ovechkin slides into the corner & onto the golf course
Washington Capitals’ star Alexander Ovechkin has had a sub-par spring.
First, there was the disaster that was Russia’s performance in the 2010 Winter Olympics: an Ovechkin-led team of Russia’s best & brightest potted easy goals against crap opposition but vanished, big-time, when the going got tough. Ovechkin himself appeared frustrated and impotent in Vancouver…much as he looked in Washington, as his heavily favoured Caps lost their final 3 playoff games against Montreal Canadiens to flame out spectacularly and take an early seat in the golf-course bar, from where they’ll watch the remainder of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Sean Gordon, writing in the Globe & Mail, says this: “And for all the plaudits the Washington Capitals winger has won for his alluring mix of power, skill and personality…he will now face serious questions as to his ability to marshal his team to victory. He’s also lost some ground to Pittsburgh Penguins centre Sidney Crosby
in the best-player-of-his-generation discussion.”
Well said, Sean. The “best player” should not allow his team to collapse against a much weaker opponent.
Tagged as:
Alex Ovechkin
