Crosby Hat Trick on Hat Night

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

Considering that Ovechkin posted a superior +/- in 40% fewer games I'd say your defense argument is bulls***.

Ovechkin plays left wing, so you win there-- he doesn't take face-offs.

Crosby's hardly the best face-off man in the league either. He's above average now, but was horrible in the past. Woppie- he's doing something better that Ovechkin doesn't do due to his position.

That's like saying Ovechkin's better at playing on the Capitals than Crosby is-- meaningless because the two players cannont be compared on the basis of a statistic that's exclusive to one player's position. It's as stupid as saying that Ovechkin's a better Russian than Crosby.

I'm not going to wade into the who is better argument here. But for somebody as bright as you Drake, you're missing the boat on the faceoff issue altogether.

The FACT that Crosby takes faceoffs at all and can do it with a degree of effectiveness adds an element to his game that AO doesn't possess. Your defense that AO doesn't take faceoffs b/c of his position is hardly a defense at all. You're implying he could take faceoffs and he could do well on faceoffs be it not for the position he plays. Yeah, and he could block shots more regularly if he were a defender and he could make more saves if he were a goalie.

Being able to take faceoffs is a skill. It's a skill Crosby possesses and AO does not. Falling back on the 'which position he plays' argument is lame.

[Doc Holiday 0]

I'm not going to wade into the who is better argument here. But for somebody as bright as you Drake, you're missing the boat on the faceoff issue altogether.

The FACT that Crosby takes faceoffs at all and can do it with a degree of effectiveness adds an element to his game that AO doesn't possess. Your defense that AO doesn't take faceoffs b/c of his position is hardly a defense at all. You're implying he could take faceoffs and he could do well on faceoffs be it not for the position he plays. Yeah, and he could block shots more regularly if he were a defender and he could make more saves if he were a goalie.

Being able to take faceoffs is a skill. It's a skill Crosby possesses and AO does not. Falling back on the 'which position he plays' argument is lame.

No, Drake is spot on.

Ovechkin may or may not have the skill, but he doesn't utilize it because WINGERS DON'T TAKE FACEOFFS.

Shot blocking can be done by all players. Goaltending is irrelevant because they are even more different in skillset and statistics. Faceoffs are primarily a center's job. Why should Ovechkin be knocked for a job that he isn't even supposed to do? You can give him crap for backchecking wish I wish he did more, but not faceoffs.

[beepbeep 3]

pwned.

He can play hockey, but man, he is f***in ugly..She obviously is one of those women that can see beyond an ugly face or will do anything for a nice dinner. Bet she carries a bag around in her purse.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

I'm not going to wade into the who is better argument here. But for somebody as bright as you Drake, you're missing the boat on the faceoff issue altogether.

The FACT that Crosby takes faceoffs at all and can do it with a degree of effectiveness adds an element to his game that AO doesn't possess. Your defense that AO doesn't take faceoffs b/c of his position is hardly a defense at all. You're implying he could take faceoffs and he could do well on faceoffs be it not for the position he plays. Yeah, and he could block shots more regularly if he were a defender and he could make more saves if he were a goalie.

Being able to take faceoffs is a skill. It's a skill Crosby possesses and AO does not. Falling back on the 'which position he plays' argument is lame.

Fine-- have your face-off argument as a point of comparison between a centre and a left winger. I'll take hitting. Ovechkin's one of the top 10 hitters in the league each year (based on his number of hits). Crosby's physical play is average at best.

So there you go-- Ovechkin's superior in that facet of the game where Crosby is a non-factor. Even now? Or is physical play only worth 50% of face-off skill in your rating system? Ovechkin still wins in the main category-- offense. Both players are about equal defensively (sorry if people disagree but the numbers say otherwise-- talk to me when Crosby is shutting anyone down). Crosby is great on face-offs now. Ovechkin doesn't take face-offs because he's a left wing.

As for the bolded portion-- wtf? First of all-- yeah it's a great f***in' defense. Ovechkin doesn't play goal either. Are you going to argue that Kipper is a better player because his Wins stat is superior to Ovechkin? I mean I guess I can't point out that Ovechkin doesn't play goal and thus couldn't have a Wins/Loss stat, but then you'd say I'm implying Ovechkin would be great goalie? Yeah, when I say one person can't be compared to another in a category because only one of them actually does the action in question due to their position and position alone, I'm implying the other guy would be great at it. How you inferred that from my argument is beyond me.

Crosby was horrible at face-offs when he entered the league. He learned to get better on them through experience. Good for him-- he's honed that skill. Now you expect ever other non-centre in the league to have to make up for their apparent inability to take face-offs? Assuming the idea that 'everyone is compared in every skill set regardless of whether their position on the ice even allows them to do it' isn't a retarded one, I have to question how you know Ovechkin's bad at face-offs. Is there a stat there for him? Perhaps he's amazing on face-offs. You assume that Ovechkin doesn't possess that skill based on his position alone. It's interesting that you think it's fair to compare players in statistical categories where only one of the two players has data.

Crosby doesn't have SV% data on NHL.com. He doesn't have GAA data either. Thus I could make the argument that he's inferior at saving pucks and thus he's at an immediate disadvantage in any comparison between him and any goalie in the league.

After all-- it's certainly not logical to base one's comparison between two players on only the areas relevant to each player's position. One, apparently, must assume players without a FO% listed are terrible on the draw. And of course, based on this assumption we can compare them to players who play a different position on the basis of the areas specific to only one of those players' position.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

No, Drake is spot on.

Ovechkin may or may not have the skill, but he doesn't utilize it because WINGERS DON'T TAKE FACEOFFS.

Shot blocking can be done by all players. Goaltending is irrelevant because they are even more different in skillset and statistics. Faceoffs are primarily a center's job. Why should Ovechkin be knocked for a job that he isn't even supposed to do? You can give him crap for backchecking wish I wish he did more, but not faceoffs.

It's true. But on the other hand, I heard oranges are better than apples because apples make inferior orange juice!

[Carman 387]

On my iPhone going to keep this short and sweet. I brought up faceoffs as a stat which shows how crosby improves, and that he is center and I value centers higher than wingers that's all. I feel a center has more responsibilities on the ice and that covers the differences in goals and hits between Ovie and Crosby in my mind. Btw there are plenty of wingers that take faceoffs it's not exclusive for centers but that wasn't my point.

[Evans_18 4]

Agreed with Drake. Plus its safe to say that no matter what CROSBY IS A *****! I mean come on have you see his so called fights. Its quite sad how Crosby has be hyped up to be the face of hockey, I dont see why when you look around the league there are plenty of players better than him. Hell Crosby wouldnt even be as good as he is right now without someone like Malkin to make him look good.

And have any of you seen some of the bulls*** he gets away with? I mean I watched an OT game winner by him batted out of the air over the crossbar and it wasnt even reviewed. All I can say is he is over rated serverly for someone who is supposed to be "The next Wayne Gretzky" but you know thats not hard to sit around and wait for the puck is it.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Crosby smells.

Sorry, I'm not that good with trash talking.

[Carman 387]

Agreed with Drake. Plus its safe to say that no matter what CROSBY IS A *****! I mean come on have you see his so called fights. Its quite sad how Crosby has be hyped up to be the face of hockey, I dont see why when you look around the league there are plenty of players better than him. Hell Crosby wouldnt even be as good as he is right now without someone like Malkin to make him look good.

And have any of you seen some of the bulls*** he gets away with? I mean I watched an OT game winner by him batted out of the air over the crossbar and it wasnt even reviewed. All I can say is he is over rated serverly for someone who is supposed to be "The next Wayne Gretzky" but you know thats not hard to sit around and wait for the puck is it.

And posts like this is why I enjoy seeing Crosby succeed.

[Holmstrom96 347]

pwned.

If he also drilled her from behind too would he get another boarding penalty?

[Guest ZetterbergFourty]

I wouldnt give my hat up for a Crosby hattrick, even if it was free. Waste of money!

[Guest Shoreline]

Wow. That was quite a sight, and the ice was friggen covered in hats. Think the announcer was right and they should have more hat nights if this is the result.

Oh, but only took a few posts for people to get their little panties in a wad about Crosby and all the insecure Wings fans came out of the woodwork. I've never seen a more jealous bunch over a single player in my life. Keep up the obsession fellas, shows the class of fans we have.