Last night, Alexander Ovechkin scored goal number 600. It's an incredible feet for someone in this era. But I would take Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin on my team over Alexander Ovechkin any day. Crosby and Malkin are three-time Stanley Cup champs.
Crosby has won the Conn Smythe twice and Evgeni Malkin has won it once. Sid's led the league in points twice and goals twice more. He was the leagues MVP in 2007 and 2014. Had Sidney Crosby not suffered a concussion in 2010-2011, he would have cleaned up at the NHL award ceremony. The same can be said for 2012-2013 when he was running away with the scoring title before taking a Brooks Orpik slap-shot to the face.
Malkin has been the leagues MVP once and led the league in scoring twice.
Ovechkin has led the league in goal scoring six times and has been the leagues MVP three times. He's led the league in scoring once.
Each player is decorated individually, while Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have clearly had more team success. Crosby has averaged 1.29 points per game over his career, while Malkin has put up 1.19. Both marks are better than Ovechkin's career number of 1.12.
Ovechkin has two things going for him that the Penguins stars don't. Goal scoring numbers and durability. Ovechkin's scored 600 goals in 990 career games. That's good for .60 goals per game. A staggering number.
Crosby's scored .47 goals per game while Malkin is hovering at .39.
As for durability, Ovechkin has missed just 30 games his entire career. He's played in 97 percent of his teams regular season games since his career began. Evgeni Malkin has missed 24 games in the last two seasons! Malkin has played in just 82 percent of his teams regular season games. Crosby has played in 83.5 percent.
As centers, Crosby and Malkin have more defensive responsibility on the ice. They've also both racked up points at a higher clip than Ovechkin. I'll take either of them over Ovie. But the "Great-8" can be counted on for two thing every night: showing up and scoring goals.