With the curtains closing on the NHL regular season, Sidney Crosby & Co. will have to watch the playoffs from the sidelines for the third straight year. Meanwhile, Alex Ovechkin, one of Crosby’s greatest contemporaries, will now have a shot at winning his second Stanley Cup after breaking Wayne Gretzky’s goals record. So, the NHL thought, why not ask the fans who they think is better?

It worked. NHL fans started debating whose career they would pick across social media platforms. Things got particularly intense when X-page Penguins Jesus picked Crosby over Ovechkin. “I think Ovi is the greatest scorer of all-time, but let’s be clear here: Sidney Crosby is hands down the better career,” claimed the page. Not everyone agreed with that take, but the Penguins’ captain found some strong support.

“People also forget Crosby would have 2-4 more MVPs and scoring titles if he never got hurt. Again, can’t make that an excuse, but the years he got hurt, he was tearing up the league. The shorter season in the 2012-13 season, he had 56 points in 36 games,” one fan argued. Had it not been for the concussion scares keeping Alex Ovechkin’s rival away, his numbers would be even better, argued the fan.

The fan didn’t just state his opinion but had the stats to back it up. He pointed out that Martin St. Louis, who finished with the most points that season, scored 60. That’s only four more points than the Pittsburgh Penguins captain. What more? St. Louis played 12 extra games to surpass Crosby by 4 points. How many more points would the Penguins’ icon have racked up if he played 48 games?

While we don’t know that answer, the fan believed it would be a lot more than 60. Meanwhile, the Penguins’ Jesus doubled down on their take regarding Alex Ovechkin’s versatility. “Sid excels at absolutely every single aspect of the game. He has won everything that can be won. Ovi, while incredible, is a lot more one-dimensional,” they added. However, hockey enthusiasts countered this argument.

Many spoke in Alex Ovechkin’s defense

While Penguins Jesus didn’t have any qualms calling Ovechkin a dimensional player, others immediately came to the Washington Capitals captain’s defense. “One-dimensional players don’t have 726 career assists,” explained one fan. Crosby is far ahead on the assist stat, with 1062 assists in 1,352 games, compared to Ovi’s 726 in 1,491 games.

Then again, Alex Ovechkin is a far more offensive-minded player than Crosby. And that can be seen in the massive disparity in goals, with the Russian star scoring 272 more than the Canadian. What’s more? This disparity will only grow as the Washington Capitals have made it to the NHL playoffs, while the Penguins have not. Meanwhile, others countered another claim by the X-page.

While Penguins Jesus confidently claimed that Crosby has won every NHL accolade, the reality is a little different. One fan pointed out how Ovechkin actually has one accolade Crosby is yet to lay his hands on. “I mean, just to clarify, if you’re speaking of accolades, Ovechkin is the only player in NHL history to ever win a Calder, a Hart, a Richard, the Art Ross, the Ted Lindsay, and the Conn Smythe,” commented the fan, forgetting to mention the Stanley Cup which he won in 2018.

While Sidney Crosby became the youngest player in history to win the Hart Memorial Trophy and Art Ross Trophy at 19, he couldn’t clinch the Calder Memorial Trophy. In fact, Alex Ovechkin was the one who beat the 37-year-old to that honor during the 2005-06 season. The Washington Capitals icon debuted that same season, where Crosby scored 102 points with 39 goals.

However, the 39-year-old trumped those impressive numbers, posting 106 points and 52 goals. So Sidney Crosby had to settle for the runner-up position. That being said, another fan pointed out that the Team Canada captain’s goal-scoring record isn’t anything to scoff at either. “I mean, Crosby isn’t as good of a goalscorer as Ovi is, but he also has over 600 goals in his career,” commented the fan.

“He ain’t no slouch in that department either,” the ice hockey enthusiast added. Yet, it’s difficult to match Alex Ovechkin’s goal-scoring prowess. Capitals announcer Joe Beninati gave fans a list of other goal-scoring records that went under the radar when Ovechkin clinched the all-time scoring record. So what are these records?

Besides the all-time record, the NHL icon has the most power-play goals, most game-winning goals, 40-goal seasons, goals on the road, and goals with the same team in NHL history. To say that’s an impressive list would be an understatement. Ovechkin has also proved his longevity, reaching such accolades after dishing out and taking numerous hits. In fact, he is third on the all-time hits list.

Alex Ovechkin’s 3,743 hits put him behind Matt Martin’s 3,936 hits. With the forward still playing in the NHL, there’s a good chance he’ll beat Martin to climb into second place. On the flip side, Sidney Crosby doesn’t really like taking or dishing out too many hits. And who can blame him? After all, the recurring concussion-related problems robbed Crosby of some of his most prolific years.

However, despite Ovechkin’s goal-scoring capabilities, one fan pointed out a key factor in those numbers. “Ovi is the all-time leader in SHOTS, with 6,864. He has taken almost 650 more than 2nd Ray Bourque…” argued the fan. The exact difference, however, is a little more than 650, considering Borque has 6209 SOGs compared to Ovechkin’s 6864. You must be wondering how many shots Crosby took to reach that same milestone. “Sid has 625G on 4,299 shots for 20th on the SHOTS list,” the fan highlighted.

Yet that’s not all. The fan argues that despite holding so many goal-scoring records, including the all-time record, Alex Ovechkin isn’t the greatest goalscorer in the sport. Instead, the fan bestowed another Penguins icon with that title. “Mario had 690G on 3,633 shots for 52nd. Ovi is great, but he isn’t the greatest goalscorer,” added the fan, saying that Mario ‘Le Magnifique’ Lemieux is the greatest goalscorer the NHL has ever seen.

Yet, with all this in mind, one must forget that neither Alex Ovechkin nor Sidney Crosby has retired. While they’ve contemplated retirement, neither seems to be keen to hang up their gloves just yet. So who knows how many more accolades they’re yet to add to their trophy cabinets? It’s safe to say this argument is going to last for years to come.