I think that Ovechkin is the proto-type for the future hockey player in the same way that Lebron James if for the basketball player. They both have a rare combination of brute stength, true speed, and grace/finesse. They can go through you or around you with equal ease – and make it look easy. No other player in either league can do what they do.

Please note that I did not say that Crosby is not physical but I do not think that he is a hitter or can muscle the puck away from people. He falls a bit to easily and he doesn't the balance tha Ovechkin does. When Ovechkin skates it looks like he's on rails and no one can knock him off of his path anymore than you can knock a freight train off of the rails.

Crosby mostly gets assists. He doesn't do much else. I admit assists are important. But passing the puck to another player can't really be compared to putting the puck into the net. Remember when you are passing the puck the focus of the opposing team is not to stop the puck from being passed but from trying to stop the puck from getting to the net. Whereas, when you score a goal you have to get first get the puck past a defender who is trying to stop you from scoring and then shoot it past a goalie who is paid millions to do nothing but stop the puck.

An easy way to see the difference is to compare how many passes are made in a game to how many shots are taken on goal. There are hundreds of pases but only on average about 25-30 shots on goal.

Furthermore, note that a pass doesn't mean anything until a goal is scored. A pass only becomes an assist after a goal is scored. But a goal doesn't need an assist to become a goal. That's why there are unassisted goals but no ungoalled assists. And, unless I'm mistaken, a while back assists counted for only 1/2 a point.

Ovechkin is a complete hockey player. Crosby just is a complete passer. And, in case someone says Crosby also scores goals, note that most of his goals are garbage goals from the side of the net. He never scores from more than 15ft away. So he just can't score goals in the true sense of the word. He can mostly only knock the puck in when it's on the doorstep.

This is also shown by the fact that he has an atrocious percentage rate for scoring in shootouts. But I'm sure that number would go up a lot if he could have someone else skate down the ice with him so he could pass the puck to them and they could then score for him!