from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,
- This is Year 18 for Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin as National Hockey League players and neither seems to be slowing down.
- Crosby is tied for sixth in NHL scoring and Ovechkin is tied for sixth in goals scored this season. Crosby is once again a Hart Trophy candidate, with his coach Mike Sullivan recently calling him the most complete player in the game.
- Ovechkin’s magical chase of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring record is ongoing and it’s basically three seasons away from fruition — and he just continues to chug on....
- And considering that, and the win for young players, I wonder when the last time was that the NHLPA negotiated anything of quality for its current crop of players, who are still trapped in escrow prison? This doesn’t just hurt players, it hurts fans who want better teams and can’t get them because of stalled numbers with the salary cap.
- Didn’t you expect Alexis Lafreniere to be better than this through three NHL seasons? … For about the next decade, the Leafs will regret passing on Kaiden Guhle in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft. He’s going to be a sound defenceman for the next decade or more.
Im not really a fan of Ovechkin and dont really find his quest for the most goals magical, so perhaps Im biased, or maybe a curmudgeon. But do so many of his goals have to be of the open-net variety? Its ridiculous to celebrate Ovechkin just scoring more goals when there have been games when two of them have come with the opposing goalie pulled. Should everyone just leave the ice so Ovy can shoot in some more goals? Worse is the argument that Ovechkin has been cheated due to lockouts. All kinds of things can happen in life and sport during a players long career. Maybe if a lockout season had been played hed have suffered a major injury or slowed down faster due to more wear and tear. The universe doesnt have to be as aligned as possible to enable someones sports statistic record. Hockey is a team game and the playoffs matter most. Ovechkin helping to get his team over the hump and changing his own game a little to enable more team success is what he should get the most credit for.
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