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Crosby and Ovechkin have far exceeded their draft hype, which is pretty incredible

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Ryan Smitheram
April 7, 2022 (10:58)

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Thanks to the 2004 NHL lockout, fans have been treated to the Sidney Crosby vs Alex Ovechkin rivalry right from the very beginning. At 34 and 36 years old, Crosby and Ovechkin have been going head to head since their rookie seasons where Ovechkin narrowly edged out Crosby for the Calder Trophy. All these guys have done is put up points and win - granted it took Ovechkin a few extra tries hoist Lord Stanley.

Ovie came into the league touted as a pure scorer and has become the greatest European goal scorer to ever play in the NHL and still has a chance to pass Gretzky as the greatest goal scorer of all time. Crosby, on the other hand, has always been more of a playmaker and a premier two-way player that had the prime of his career dampened by leg and head injuries.

Coming into the league, both faced a tremendous amount of pressure to save their franchises and have easily done that and then some. 2 games shy of 1100, Crosby has amassed 1397 points while Ovechkin has played 1265 games and just crossed the 1400 point mark (1401).

What is astounding is that only Joe Thornton has more points (1538) than either of them or any player to enter the NHL since 92/93 while having played 612 games more than Sid and 445 more games than Ovechkin.

With all of the pressure put on these two since they entered the league, both have significantly surpassed any expectations and will undoubtedly be first ballot Hall of Famers.

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Michael Bunting may finish first in rookie scoring, but will he finish first in Calder voting?

The conversation about the Leafs' blueline that nobody wants to have needs to be had

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AVRIL 7 \| 263 ANSWERS Crosby and Ovechkin have far exceeded their draft hype, which is pretty incredible If you had to start a franchise with prime Ovechkin or prime Crosby, who would you choose?
Ovechkin	71	27 %
Crosby	192	73 %
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Crosby and Ovechkin have far exceeded their draft hype, which is pretty incredible

If you had to start a franchise with prime Ovechkin or prime Crosby, who would you choose?