You people seriously should try taking your heads out of your *****.
Did sidney whine to the refs alot during his rookie season. Yes. Has he since? Nope not really. Stop following all the brainless hockey fans, and bandwagon haters and actually watch him play. He drives the net, finishes his checks, takes more bumps than the average player and still kicks more ass than most people in the league. Do I like AO not really but I don't go around saying he looks a spokesman for the geico caveman commercials either. There's things people can easily rag on AO for too. I think he's an awesome player... he's just on the wrong team.
Oh and don't talk ^^^^ on mario. He has more talent in his left pinky toe than you will ever have.
Oi... placing Mario Le Magnifique in the same breathe of those players.... *lowers his head with face in palm*
Lets see... at the not-so-tender age of 35, Mario Lemieux misses 4 years of NHL action, and with no camp or preseason to get him adjusted properly to the game on a physical and mental level, how does the guy respond? He scores 35 goals in 43 games in an offensive inept era. One that was slower, and saw fewer goals come by even more-so than the post 2004/05 lockout era. Not many guys can do that. Yet No. 66 did.
Mario Lemieux is the MAJOR reason the Pittsburgh Penguins won back-to-back Stanley Cups in '91 and '92. Even the Edmonton Oilers won a Cup without Wayne Gretzky. Where as No. 99 had never found that same playoff success with another NHL club. Now, this is not comparing the two. Just pointing the fact, had Mario was taken from out of the equation the Pens would not have won those Cups. Granted, the 1990 Oilers may not have not won that Cup either if it weren't for Greztky and how players grew and developed along side him, like your Kurri's and your Messier's. Okay, now getting off topic a bit.
Really though, Gretzky and Lemieux were in a totally different league from everyone else, and played in a different era. Granted Lemieux's era ended just as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Alexander Ovechkin's began.
And I think it's unfair to say that Alexander Ovechkin, and Sidney Crosby are the best. They are among the best. Evgeni Malkin deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as those two.
He has led the league in not only scoring, but also in takeaways. He's quite possibly the NHL's most quiet top two-way player in the game today. He dishes out hits better than most give him credit for. Yeah he has his lapses. No different from anyone else. Ovechkin had a slow start. Crosby had a slow middle. Malkin had a slow end, and picked up some steam in his last few games of the regular season, into the playoffs. What I love about Malkin's dynamic is how little attention he gets despite leading the league in scoring as a 1b centerman for stretches of the season on this Penguins squad, with Ruslan Fedotenko (a career third liner) and a fading star in Petr Sykora on his wings. Then he went huge portions without any top-flight defenseman backing him up. Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney both out with injuries. Granted Whitney came back at the half-way point, but was rusty and it showed. Thus making him expendable. That, and Crosby ultimately needed adequate scoring wingers. Enter Chris Kunitz, and shortly after, Billy Guerin.
Malkin dominated in his first 33 games with 58 points despite playing most nights with Feds and Sykora on his wings, and Gogs or Letang from the back end. His lack of English speaking skills definitely has hindered his play to a small degree. You can laugh all you want at that logic, but how you communicate to your fellow teammates plays a huge factor on how well the on-ice product turns out. With more talented and/or established top-six wingers, and a big offensive presence in say a healthy Gonchar from the start of a season... not to mention improved English speaking skills, it would be scary to see how well No. 71 would flourish. I think many still underestimate his talent. I think he has it in him to separate himself from Sid and AO. Time will tell if that happens and if he works hard to improve his English speaking skills. Much like Mario Lemieux did when he first arrived on the scene in Pittsburgh some 25 years ago.
But not to take away from those two either. They are both amazing, and they all bring something special to the table. To say one is clearly the best player out of the three is premature and ignorant at this point of time. I think right now it's so close between those three, no one will be a clear cut winner of any of the big awards. Maybe AO with the Rocket Richard Trophy. Even then, Malkin has a wicked shot and has some slick hands. He scored 30 goals in a span of 40 games as a 21-year-old sophomore. I think he has a Richard in his future.
Anyway, lets move on kids. This shouldn't be an argument of who's better anyway between a handful of players. We should be thrilled and privileged to have those three and many other bright and talented players in today's NHL to watch and enjoy.
This is about the 2009 NHL playoffs!
GO PITTSBURGH PENGUINS GO!!!
