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Crosby vs. Lecavalier

ALAN RYDER

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 4:11 PM EST 07/01/08

Alan Ryder takes a statistical look at the NHL superstars ...Read the full article

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  1. Janis Miller from Canada writes: Interesting, and a fascinating point, but what about that fact that last year Pittsburgh finished way up the standings and had a much better goals against. And then there is this year. Lecavalier may be the best player in the universe right now but his team is still one loss away from the basement.
  2. D W from France writes: A VERY GOOD ANALYSIS, although more details about the goals-produced criteria would be helpful ...
  3. Rtab 2 from Canada writes: Alan's analysis is interesting and he appears to be right that on a strictly empirical basis, Crosby somewhat falls off the mark. Ideally however, sports --watching, playing, thinking about-- are at least as much about imagination as statistics and in that regard, Crosby truly is outstanding. This imaginative aspect can't be measured statistically and the moment that sports is reduced to stats only, it becomes an actuarial activity, far less compelling than the thrill actually provided by great athletes. In terms of impact on hockey in the public imagination, Crosby had no peers in 2007. Was this strictly a media construct, as Alan suggests? ("The media first made him into a hero and then lauded his heroics. The story was fulfilled.") I think he credits the media with too much and insufficiently acknowledges that the hockey-minding public has an (imaginative) role in this construction as well.
  4. Cameron Reid from Toronto, Canada writes: Rtab 2- have you ever really watched Lecavalier play? He also brings an incredible imagination and creativity to his play- I remember one play that had me jumping out of my seat a few years back yelling 'OMG did you SEE the ridiculious sh*t' Lecavalier just pulled?' When he, while in the middle of a scrum behind the net in the Flames-Lightning cup series, passed the puck to himself off the side of the net, cleared the scrum and promptly hooked it in past Kipper almost before anyone had realized the puck was out from behind the net.

    Crosby brings the same kind of excitement to the game- the only real edge Lecavalier has on him is experience- but for now he's clearly the better player.
  5. Rtab 2 from Canada writes: Cameron,

    Yes, I've watched Lecavalier play and wished more than once that he played for the Leafs. I don't think that he's any less creative or imaginative a player than Crosby (nor did I say that). I suggested only that he, Crosby, is certainly outstanding and that he had a greater impact on the public imagination.

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