His name is Alex Ovechkin. Sidney Crosby, eat your heart out. Vech is on a less-talented team with no leadership, and he's lighting it up on a nightly basis. The Caps are 3-5, when they really ought to be more like 0-8; Vech and Olie Kolzig can split credit for those three wins. This is not a good team at all. I didn't see the Tampa game the other night (OT shootout win over the champs) when they apparently clicked on all cylinders, but last night they were back to normal. Olie the Goalie stopped 47 (!) last night but lost 3-2 to the mighty Roberto Luongo and his Panthers. Both goals were from Vech, who had a staggering 10 of his team's 31 shots. He's got 6 goals in his first 8 games, and has scored them in a couple different ways (one-timers from the high slot, cleaning up short rebounds in front, gunning straight towards the net) so as long as he stays aggressive and doesn't tire out, he's gonna have an excellent year.
Whither Crosby? He's doing really well (2 G, 7 A) also, and he might close the gap once Vech gets his opponents' full attention, which ought to be pretty soon. I mean, who's worth defending on the Caps? Dainius Zubrus, the Joey Harrington of hockey??? No thanks. But even still, Vech is quite obviously the only player on the Caps who finishes, and thus will get the lion's share of scoring chances. Crosby, meanwhile, is playing under the estimable wings of Mario Lemieux, Mark Recchi and Ziggy Palffy. You can argue that their presence creates more scoring opportunities for Crosby, but I'm thinking Crosby's learning-while-doing thing under Mario's wing will end up hurting his numbers (short-term) even though his education will pay off later. Short-term, the smart money for Calder is on Ovechkin, who will get fed puck after puck after puck by his mediocre teammates.
Through 8 games, the first round in the Calder race goes to Alex Ovechkin. Nine rounds to go.
Whither Crosby? He's doing really well (2 G, 7 A) also, and he might close the gap once Vech gets his opponents' full attention, which ought to be pretty soon. I mean, who's worth defending on the Caps? Dainius Zubrus, the Joey Harrington of hockey??? No thanks. But even still, Vech is quite obviously the only player on the Caps who finishes, and thus will get the lion's share of scoring chances. Crosby, meanwhile, is playing under the estimable wings of Mario Lemieux, Mark Recchi and Ziggy Palffy. You can argue that their presence creates more scoring opportunities for Crosby, but I'm thinking Crosby's learning-while-doing thing under Mario's wing will end up hurting his numbers (short-term) even though his education will pay off later. Short-term, the smart money for Calder is on Ovechkin, who will get fed puck after puck after puck by his mediocre teammates.
Through 8 games, the first round in the Calder race goes to Alex Ovechkin. Nine rounds to go.
posted by Jeff at
2:32 PM
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