Two Headed Monster Comparison

The two headed monster. 71, and 87. the Russian bear and Canada's golden boy. Malkin and Crosby. Is there a better pair of centers in the league. No there isn't Crosby and Malkin have been together since 2007 and have had unmistakable chemistry since. There is no arguing against the match these two make. But what if you where to look at their individual stats against one another? What would you discover, that's exactly what I hope to discover in the following article.

We will look at three main things for this comparison awards to name, points over their carriers and records currently held and or broken by them.

First things first awards since their drafts in 2005 and 2003 respectively the two centers have amassed a considerable amount of awards. Malkin has ten awards in the NHL including two Art Ross’s a Conn Smythe and a Ted Lindsay. This is not accounting for personal team awards or more importantly international awards where Malkin has appeared in world championships in 2007, 2010 and 2012 as well as having several international medals. As for Crosby, Sid has four gold medals two being from Olympics one from the world cup and one from world juniors a noted member of the exclusive triple gold club which only has 26 members. NHL awards won by Crosby thus far in his career the rocket Richard trophy once the Art Ross twice and the Hart twice. But what do all these various numbers mean? Well for one they show not only are Crosby and Malkin incredible hockey players but they are consistently good.

Now that we have covered awards both in the NHL and internationally let’s get to point totals over their career due to the length of this post already we are going to only cover the top five year's of points for both of them. Let’s start off with Evgeni Malkin; number five for points by the Russian center is in 2009 in which he had 28 goals and 49 assists. Number four is the 2006-2007 seasons in which he accumulated 85 points, 52 of those being assists the other 33 being goals. Number three is 2007-2008 in which he acquired 106 points. 59 assists and 47 goals. Last But not least number two and one are in 2011-2012 season and 2008-2009 season in which the point totals were 109 and 113 correspondingly. Overall that’s 760 points for 644 games played. An impressive spread to say the least.

As for Sidney Crosby things are a little bit more complex due to not only the lockout which was also factored in for Malkin but also due to a an injury that kept him out the majority of the Crosby’s top five point years are 2005-2006 followed by the years 2008-2009, 2013-2014, 2009-2010 and finally the 2006-2007 seasons. Points for the following in order are 102, 103, 104,109 and 120. Over Crosby’s entire career he has 938 points for 707 games played. If you're doing the math for Crosby and Malkin that's 1.33 points per game 1.18 points per game.

Both of these numbers display that yes like any other player the two centers have their ups and downs in scoring but when you look at the total number of points over the number of years they have played it's shocking and frankly hard to comprehend the production levels are super high. There is a reason the two are the most notable pair of center in the NHL.

Last but not least we have records held and or broken by the duo.

Crosby most notably holds the following two records which are favorites of mine. Youngest player to win the Stanley cup and youngest Art Ross winner . A few other rewards to his name are youngest player to be named to the NHL all-star game, youngest player to lead the playoffs in scoring and First rookie to earn 100 points and 100 penalty minutes. Now these are just a few of the numerous awards and records to Crosby’s name, but I could sit here and list off stats until I’m blue in the face point is the man is a superb hockey player and has the awards to prove it. What about Malkin’s awards you may ask well somewhat less notable and numerous we still have a few to cover namely the big three , 2nd fastest Russian to 500 points , longest point streak by a Russian player in 15 games which he has not only done once but twice. Lastly the first Russian born player to win the Conn Smythe trophy.

So who’s better? Honestly they are both stealer centers who have their own strength and weaknesses and thrive off each other's play. I can't argue against someone picking one or the other it's a style choice. For myself personally I’d only give Crosby a slight edge over Malkin. This is based solely on international play and liking his playing styles more. Overall Both Crosby and Malkin are worth their individual weight in gold, but together they are an unmovable force.