Plenty of room for both
Put aside the ‘who’s the best player in the world’ debate and enjoy Crosby-McDavid crossover
PITTSBURGH — Crosby or McDavid?
If you are a fan of hockey, then you’ve been asking the question wrong this whole time.
It’s not whether Connor McDavid has already overtaken Sidney Crosby as the best player in the world.
It’s not about whether the other 20-somethings, such as Nikita Kucherov and Auston Matthews, are kicking the veterans to the curb. It’s not one or the other. No torch has been passed — yet. For now, it is being shared. The only question is for how long?
Crosby, who won his first Hart Trophy in 2006-07, led the league in goals last season and then won his second straight playoff MVP. In each of the past five years, he has finished in the topthree in scoring. With five goals and 10 points in his first nine games this season, he is still one of the best players in the world — if not The Best.
McDavid, who at the age of 19 and 20 (his birthday is in January) won his first Hart Trophy and scoring title last year, is right there with him. And he doesn’t expect that to change anytime time soon.
“Who knows how long he can play,” the Oilers captain, who began this season with eight points in his first seven games, said of Crosby. “He skates so well and takes such good care of himself. I think a guy like that can play forever … He’s an exciting guy in the league and an important guy in the league. He’s the face of the NHL. You want a guy like that to stay around as long as possible.”
We all hope so, too. In Crosby and McDavid, the NHL has its version of Kobe and LeBron — two players separated by 10 years but both at a stage in their careers where they are extremely relevant.
Said Oilers head coach Todd McLellan: “The fact that Sid’s still playing at an exceptionally high level and leading his team to championships and Connor is eight or 10 years behind him and leading his team as well, it’s nice to see both of them at the top of their game and competing. It’s a real reward for fans of the NHL. You don’t have to be a fan of just the Oilers or the Penguins to appreciate what those two players do.” And it’s not just them. This is a unique time in the NHL. You could say we’ve entered a golden age, the first time where two generations of star players are coexisting on the same planet.
On one hand, you have veterans such as Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane and Steven Stamkos, who are between 27 and 31 years old. On the other hand, there are younger players like McDavid, Matthews, Kucherov and Patrik Laine, who are under the age of 25.
Draw up a list of the league’s top-50 players and you’d be surprised at how evenly it’s split between the two age groups. In fact, of the top-20 scorers heading into Tuesday’s slate of games, only 12 are over the age of 25.
“I think it’s great for the league,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “We have so many good players and great athletes at different points of their respective careers. A player like Connor McDavid is a bright young player in this league. He’s a world-class athlete, he’s exciting to watch and he’s a good person on top of it.
“We have a guy in Sid that’s here that has the same characteristics. So, I think it’s so great for our league and for our game that we have so many quality people and so many great players that are participating at this point.”
At the same time, this isn’t exactly new. In Crosby’s first season in the league, a 26-year-old Joe Thornton won the Art Ross Trophy with 125 points. The difference is that as great of a player as Thornton is, he was never the same player that Crosby is today. The closest back then would have been Mario Lemieux, who in 2005-06 was playing in his final season.
“They were still around, but they weren’t as dominant,” McLellan said of Lemieux. “Mario wasn’t as dominant at that time, but those players existed.”
That’s the point. Crosby is not just existing these days. He’s dominating, by winning Stanley Cups and goalscoring titles and challenging for the Hart Trophy.
How long can he keep it up? Well, based on what we’ve seen so far this season, don’t hold your breath waiting for him to pass the torch.
“He’s a terrific player already. All these young guys are,” Penguins GM Jim Rutherford said of McDavid. “We could probably list seven, eight, nine, 10 of them. It’s great. It’s great for the league, it’s great for our game, but Sidney Crosby will be a top player for a long, long time.”