While everyone is discussing Jeremy Swayman and his contract dispute with the Boson Bruins, the NHL Network and TSN are currently putting out their Top 50 Players List in the NHL. The big story is that Alex Ovechkin is not in the Top 50 for TSN, but Sidney Crosby is out of the Top 10.
Both players are getting older. Crosby is 37 going on 38, while Ovechkin is 39 heading into his 40s. Remarkably, both players are still near the top of their games. Crosby is more than Ovechkin, but Crosby is a different player from Ovechkin.
Sidney Crosby is Committed To Winning in Pittsburgh
Sidney Crosby is an offensively gifted center who knows how to be responsible. Each offseason, he looks to improve an area of his game. Many thought Crosby was going to leave Pittsburgh to chase a Stanley Cup, and that was not going to happen. He signed a two-year contract extension to stay with the only club he knows.
Last season with the Penguins, Crosby put up 94 points (42 goals and 52 assists) as his team missed the playoffs for the second straight season. That trend could continue into this season for the Penguins as well.
Pittsburgh Penguins Still a Work in Progress Even With Sidney Crosby Extension
However, many wonder if Sidney Crosby can still keep up this pace. Well, former NHL head coach and current analyst on TSN Bruce Boudreau thinks it would be a mistake to doubt him, as he said on SportsCenter with Jay Onrait.
Bruce Boudreau: “You know what? It’s hard to ever doubt him. Yeah, that’s what my worry is, I don’t think the Penguins are any better and, he doesn’t have Guentzel on his left side. But I mean, if he could duplicate 90 points with the team they’ve got, and the way he did it. Look at the first half of the year; their power play was about as abysmal as you can get a power play in the NHL.
If you look at all the top scorers, how many power play points they got. You look at Sid, how many even strength points he’s got, and so I mean, but if their power play can take off, he can still do what he’s doing. I’ve never seen a guy like him, that is, I don’t know if this the right word, conscientious about the game, like he trains and he’s got that routine down pat, and nothing varies from and I don’t know I’m going by what people tell me and what I see myself and when I coached against him, and how much I hated it because he could beat you single-handedly by his work ethic, let alone the plays that he can make.
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So I think he can stay there for another year. When you get to 37 and 38, it’s tough to stay there, the way the talent in the NHL is these days, and how many good young players are coming up every year and showing them they can do the job. So I hope he does because I think it’s great for hockey.”
Then there is Alex Ovechkin, who is closing in on Wayne Gretzky‘s goal record. Ovechkin is 42 goals away from the record. He did not have a great start last season but turned it on after the All-Star game. He finished the season after a horrific star.
As Boudreau notes, if someone doubts him, he usually will go out and prove them wrong.
“Alex, that if somebody says you can’t do something, he’s going to try to prove you wrong,” Boudreau said. “It’s very similar to like, if you can remember him, if other coaches, when he was younger, and said, hey, just hit him. Hit him and hit him to slow him down, he’d go, oh, yeah, you’re going to hit me. I’m going to hit you harder to make you not want to hit me. And I think that’s the attitude he’s going to bring into the season.”
Is it impossible to think 42 goals is not out of the question? With Ovechkin, you can never doubt him. But it might be tough. However, 35 goals could be in the cards for Ovechkin.
Will Alex Ovechkin Break Wayne Gretzky’s Goal Record This Season?
“I mean, I don’t know if 42 is in the cards, but I would, I would bet 35 plus is not, is not out of the realm of possibility,” Boudreau said. “And again, a lot depends on the power play. The caps Power Play wasn’t as good as they would like it, and they made a whole bunch of changes they got.”
But as we enter the 2024-25 NHL Season, do not put it past Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin going out and having top-notch seasons.