In the epic battle for who is the best player in the NHL, I'm on the side of Alex the Great and don't plan on changing sides for quite some time. Alexander Ovechkin's uncanny ability to make moves with the puck that nobody else could even dream of is far and away better than that of Sidney Crosby or Crosby's teammate, Evgeni Malkin, but Crosby and Malkin have two things Ovechkin doesn't have: each other and a much more engrained sense of team play.
Ovechkin has good players on his team, there is no doubt about that — Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin being among the best — but every time I watch Ovechkin play, I can see him trying to do everything by himself. It's almost as though he doesn't realize half the time that there are other players on his team.
It would be an interesting statistic to see how many of Ovechkin's 54 assists this year were on missed shots and how many were actually on passes. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with firing it at the goalie and hoping for a rebound, but I often question Ovechkin's intentionality on the ice. He is trying to make Alexander Ovechkin score no matter what instead of trying to make the Washington Capitals score no matter what. And obviously, if anybody can get away with it, it is him.
Malkin and Crosby led the NHL in 2008-09 in assists with 78 and 70, respectively. But the Penguins have improved upon their regular season steps as they've continued into the playoffs. Crosby has found the net far more frequently and Marc-Andre Fleury has been improving and looks ready for some solid clutch performances.
I think we'll see a remain of last year's Stanley Cup Finals, Pittsburgh vs. Detroit. Only this year, there will be a new victor. While the Red Wings play hockey the way it should be played and they have unparalleled playoff experience, they lack the fire I've seen from Sid the Kid in this year's playoff run.
The Wings are so business-like in their approach that I think it makes them vulnerable. Their success has become such a foregone conclusion in the minds of their players, coaches, and fans that it's not even a big deal that the Wings are in the semifinals right now. The déjà vu of playing the Penguins again, I believe, will put them to sleep for the first two games, giving the Penguins the opportunity to take an early lead and end up with a Stanley Cup Finals win in six games.
The one thing that could prevent that is Chris Osgood. It's like he fell asleep for the regular season and decided to wake up and be nothing short of amazing for the playoff run. Only time will tell how far up Osgood will climb on the list of top NHL goalies of all-time.
If Crosby and Malkin can frustrate Osgood early in the series or catch him napping, the city of Pittsburgh will have another championship to celebrate in 2009.
May 21, 2009
Stu:
I don’t see the Pens beating Detroit. The Pengions defence isn’t good enough to stop Detroit and their offence isn’t deep enough to break through their defence. Detroit can shut down any single line, probably any 2 lines. Pittsburgh has about one and a half lines of offence. I think Washington would actually have a better shot against Detroit because they have more firepower and can sometimes be upredictably good at defence. Not that I’d bet on them being able to beat the Wings, would just give them a better shot. I don’t see any team left that could take Detroit, or who could take Anaheim had they won the last series.