What makes Crosby vs Ovechkin the greatest rivalry of all-time?

Bruce Boudreau joins Domino's That's Hockey to discuss what might be the best rivalry of all-time between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. The former NHL bench boss witnessed the battle first hand when he was with Washington for five seasons.

[terrancedavidreid]

Ah! I grew up with this rivalry as a Pens and Crosby fan and loved every moment of it.

In the twilight of their careers, I'll be so happy when Ovi takes the goals record away from Gretzsky. As for Sid, I'll be hoping he cracks the Top 5 in points all time.

[dw]

Crosby and Ovie have pretty much played an entire season worth of games against each other and an entire 4-round playoffs as well as each series coincidentally and literally determining the Cup champion that year. That's pretty remarkable when you think about it since there have always been 30+ teams in the league since they joined. I'm not going to look into the history of it, but I can't imagine this ever happening before in any major pro sport. They could have the biggest rivalry in pro sports based on the number of times they have faced each other, especially since it has always been the same two teams and the same two fan bases. That is something for fans to cherish forever because no one else has seen this go on for 20+ years like their contracts will carry on for in the coming years. Enjoy it while it still exists.

[bravepotatoe]

plethora of reasons, calder race with INSANE rookie seasons scoring 100+ still hasn't been done since by a rookie. Regularly playing vs one another with several playoffs 3/4 cups won between them had to go trough the other and also some internationals, iconic moments like the hat trick duel and also the differing playstyles that can make someone prefer one over the other.

[justinharden]

I’d say an interesting rivalry to watch is Connor Mcdavid Vs Matthew Tkachuk. I know the point won’t be even close, but both have versed each other in same intense games in past years and now a second playoff series in which Tkachuk won the cup and was fairly loud about his opinion on the oilers over his career

[JeremyCuddlesSnap]

I'd love to see a Michkov/Bedard rivalry. It feels like trying to recreate Crosby/Ovi, but it does work somewhat nicely, but I think that kinda got stomped on because if I recall Bedard's family approached Mickhov and said if he were ever in Vancouver he'd have a home to stay. And Michkov pretty much echoed the sentiments if Bedard were for some reason in Russia. Lol. We tried to make Eichel/McDavid a thing, but it never materialized. I just don't really see a Crosby/Ovi rivalry of the future. Which makes me really sad.

[aavastudd]

Its my favorite rivalry. But im too young to know of the ones in the 70s n 80s. Caps pens great teams.

[ajpdeschenes]

2:16 Or the two Connors. (Though they might too play both on the same Canada team.)

[Foggydidwhat]

Assuming they retire in the same year within the next few years and they maintain the respective stat average as they did the past few years, both players will finish with essentially the same total career points and likely both be in the top 10 for that category. Sid will have around 300 more career assists, and Ovi will have around 300 more career goals. However, that means Sid will be #5/#6 all time in assists and Ovi will be #1 in goals scored. As I prefaced, assuming they retired the same year and nothing crazy/absurd happens for either team or player before that, is the only genuine argument for Crosby being better than Ovechkin because he has more cups?

[surudog]

Let’s face it guys - Cindy is no comparison to Ovi. Ovi stands on a league of his own and the fact that Cindy and Ovi are spoken on the same sentence is an insult to the GOAT.

I bet even Gretzky deep down will acknowledge Ovi is the GOAT.