Is He Still the Best?
By
By Cassandra Surmacz
Almost ten years have passed since Sidney Crosby was drafted first overall in the 2005 NHL draft. From the moment he stepped on the ice for his first game, there have been debates on whether or not he is the best hockey player in the world. Does decline in production as he ages, only winning one Stanley Cup, and being omitted from the 2016 All-Star game demote him from this title? Most people focus on proving that he is not the best anymore. By comparing his individual stats and achievements to other competitors, other player’s opinions, and hockey writers and critics views, I will explain why he is still the best hockey player in the world.
How can you determine who is the best? What is it based off? Should it be based on the success of the team and leadership, just individual stats and achievements, or both? Logically it should be both team success and personal success that prompt someone to being titled as the best player. Sidney Crosby has a 1.33 point per game average throughout his career, which is career, which is
fifth all time. The next current NHLer is Crosby’s teammate Evgeni Malkin at 1.18. That is significant because all of the ones above Crosby are players that played during a time when it was normal to score 200 points a season. The game has changed, considering last season not a single player reached the 100 point mark. A player is awarded a plus each time he is on the ice and his team scores a goal, however if he is on and the other teams scores he is given a minus. In his career Crosby is a +124. This ranks fifteenth among current NHL players. As for Crosby’s apparent demise, he has scored 25 points in his last 20 games,including 11 goals. That is a 1.25 points per game average, which is still higher than any current NHLers career numbers. Plus, his season point per game average is 1.18, not that much lower than others. He has been awarded two Hart Memorial Trophies for the league MVP, two Art Ross Trophies for leading scorer, three Ted Lindsay awards for MVP voted by the players, one Rocket Richard for most goals in a season, one Mark Messier Leadership Award, six Best NHL Player ESPYs, and has been selected as an All-Star five times over his career. A lot of people criticize Crosby for only having one Stanley Cup to his name. Mario Lemieux only won two his entire career and Crosby still has half of his career left. Plus, he was the youngest captain to lead his team to a Stanley Cup and became the first person to join the triple gold club as a captain of all three teams. This means he won a stanley cup, a gold medal at the Olympics, and a gold medal at The World Championships as the captain. He also won another gold medal in the 2010 Olympics. In conclusion, Sidney crosby has earned atremendous amount of individual awards, been a part of multiple winning teams, and a successful leader.
The players Crosby is most commonly competing for the title with are Jonathan Toews and Alexander Ovechkin. Toews career point per game average is 0.88, and he has +185. He has won three Stanley Cups
think if you were to ask players, they would say Crosby is on top." A poll done in 2014 by
ESPN’s Craig Custance to find, according to current NHL players, who they would chose to
build their franchise around. Fourteen players were asked and Crosby won by a very large
margin. The appreciation towards Crosby’s talent from the players can also be shown through
his three Ted Lindsay Awards. Hockey fans around the globe, however, do not show the same
Crosby is consistently ranked among the most hated NHL players, but why? This hatred
also caused him to be omitted from the All-star game this season. What has he ever done to be
hated so much? Does it really mean anything to be out of the game? The answer to the first
question is no, unless you consider cutting in the DMV line a reason to hate him. People always
say he whines. He did as an eighteen year old, but who doesn’t then. The Hockey News
published an article on February 5, 2015, of the 5 Most Hated NHL Stars, not surprisingly
Crosby was listed as number one. The author, Andrew Bensch, reasons this by saying, “Let me
be clear that yours truly is not amongst those who hate the best player in the game. However,
like LeBron James in the NBA, there is simply a lot of animosity towards the NHL’s best player.
The majority of the Crosby hate comes from pure jealousy. It’s not as if Crosby aired “The
Decision” of where he was going to sign like LeBron did, but regardless, fans don’t like Crosby
because of how good he is at torching their favorite teams.” Crosby was omitted from the All-
star game because it is fan voted, and the majority of fans hate him. Does it mean anything that
he’s not playing in it? Not really, according to Pacioretty who says, “It doesn’t change my
opinion on him, and probably 95% of the league’s opinion on him.”
If you search who is the best hockey player in the world on google and click on the first
five articles that come up, they all have either a picture of Sidney Crosby on the top of the page
or his name in the title. Explaining why Sidney Crosby is the best hockey player in the world
becomes a lot easier once you look at his team and individual achievements and stats, and
what both the players and media think of him. From the age of fifteen Crosby has been labeled
as the next one. (The next Wayne Gretzky, considered the greatest hockey player of all time.) If
he’s not the best player, why has Connor McDavid (The first overall pick in 2015 draft and
labeled as the next next one.) been labeled as the next Sidney Crosby since the age of fifteen?
Cups proves that he plays on a better team, and doesn’t prove he is a better player individually. Alexander Ovechkin is the opposite of Toews. He has a tremendous amount of individual achievements but lacks in team and leadership success. Ovechkin has a 1.16 point per game average, which is much closer to Crosby’s than Toews. He has a much lower +/- than either Crosby or Toews at +76. Ovechkin has earned multiple scoring titles, MVPs voted by both the players and committee,
as captain, a Com Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP, A Selke Trophy for best defensive forward, one Mark Messier Leadership award, one Best NHL Player ESPYs award, and is a member of the triple gold club. However, he has only had over 70 points in a season once in his NHL career. Toews strives in eam success, but his individual achievements are far less impressive than that of Crosby. Also, winning multiple Stanley