The debate of whose better – Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid – may be important to some, but not to this writer. I personally can’t understand why everyone’s so concerned about which man is the greatest hockey player in the world. Those two names are irrelevant, and I’ll explain why.
First, here are some hard facts. As of the 2015-16 season, Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby has 938 points in 707 games and is considered to be second only to Mario Lemieux in terms of the team greatness. Many place him among the greatest in the world of all time. Edmonton’s Connor McDavid played in 45 games last year, tallying 48 points. As of this writing, he has 27 points in 21 games this game. In Crosby’s first couple seasons, he notched 222 points in 160 games. A sizable difference.
If you only look at the statistics, then Crosby’s clearly the better player at that early point in his career, but there are other things to consider.
The most important is injuries – the NHL is an extremely tough league to play in. Players are concussed frequently, launched into the boards on a daily basis, and puck-related injuries are often costly, such as taking a puck to the face. McDavid only played in about half the season because of an injury last season. Crosby, in particular, played in only 41 and 22 games in 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively, due to various injuries. Despite this, however, Crosby has 160 early career games on McDavid’s 66.
Now, there’s little doubt in my mind that McDavid will get to Crosby’s game count someday. The question that wracks me mind about this debate is how much will McDavid be absent along the way?
Both players have had injuries that sidelined for large chunks of time. Both players became captains of their teams at a young age. Both are making history as 1st overall picks in the Draft. Both are from Canada. We could debate their similarities and differences for days, if we wanted to.
The thing we’re all forgetting is that there is one man who’s the greatest hockey player in the world. That’s Wayne Gretzky. If you’re throwing goaltenders into the mix, then the greatest in that position is Patrick Roy. The correct phrasing shouldn’t be which player’s the best in the world. It should be, “which player’s the best in the world today.”
Again, there can be little debate that these two are better than Crosby and McDavid. If they tried comparing themselves to “The Great One” and “St. Patrick”, they would not only be fooling themselves, they’d be missing out on what those two did. Gretzky won four Stanley Cups and still holds 60 records, despite retiring almost 20 years ago. Roy also won four Stanley Cups and had a monopoly on records until Martin Brodeur became a connoisseur in his own right. Crosby’s won two and appeared in three.
I’m a Penguins fan, so I might be a little biased in this analysis. If you look at the numbers, McDavid’s career is too early to place in him in a plateau in the same galaxy as these players. What McDavid has done really well with in his career is lead the Oilers to a relatively stagnant position at the bottom of the standings to a serious contender this season. We can talk about others who were great in their own right – Gordie Howe, Maurice Richard, and even Jaromir Jagr. The names go on and on.
Will Crosby and McDavid be Hall of Famers? I think so. They both will continue to have careers that are fantastic. I grew up in the tail-end of Lemieux’s career, and I saw him play with Crosby. It’s beyond amazing watching this era of players with absolutely tremendous skill.
The point is simple: don’t focus on whose better. Just watch the game. That’s what hockey’s all about – watching the games, the hits, and celebrating the goals when they’re scored. There’s no denying that these two players are important but let them play the game. Isn’t there anything else for these sport writers and casters to talk about? How about the Penguins’ and Oilers’ playoff chances? How they’re playing? Like it or not, the playoffs are coming up again. Focus on the now and watch the game.
That’s all we should be worried about when it comes to hockey, and that’s the final score on the Crosby-McDavid debate.
