If we are to assume Crosby misses the rest of the regular season he will have missed 148 games in his last 6 seasons; meanwhile Ovechkin has only missed 16 games in the same amount of time. Two of those games were when his Grandfather died, and five of those games were due to suspensions.
So in the last 6 seasons Crosby has been out 139 more games than Ovechkin due to injuries.
That there is the reason why I'd expect many GM's would take Ovechkin over Crosby for the rest of their careers. Crosby is the better player no doubt about it, but you just can't overlook his injury problems, then compare them to Ovie's durability. Crosby has almost been out almost 1/3 of his last six seasons!
Now obviously his most recent injury might not be recurring, but he's one bad hit to the head from ending his career. Meanwhile there is no reason to believe that Ovechkin won't play for 15 more years, score 700+ goals, and 1500+ points when he's all said and done.
Just based off that you'd honestly have to truly consider which of the two you'd want to sign to a long term contract going forward.
Oh and whoever says they wouldn't want Ovechkin on their team is an absolute fool. He'd instantly become the most dominant player to ever play for the Flames. And it's not like Ovechkin is any less of a defensive liability than Iginla was the last few years in Calgary. Some people still have something against Russians I guess...
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