Previews, previews, and more previews

JP and the Hockey News both have the Caps finishing first in the Southeast, while Suck Burnside hedges with a kinda-sorta playoff pick, and EJ Hradek flushes the Caps all the way down to the bottom of the Southeast standings.

What does all this say about the Caps chances this season in the Southeast? That nobody has a clue about this team (or most of the teams in the Southeast, for that matter).

This just in... E.J. Hradek is an idiot

Yet again, another ESPN hockey "reporter" has written a glowing piece about how Secondary Sid is "the very best player in the NHL." To which I reply, "bull$#!#."

The only reasons I can see that these "experts" continuously stroke the Secondary One in print are 1) there is only ever 1 TV on that shows hockey in all of Bristol, and they only get good reception from the Pittsburgh feed and 2) nothing beats the Pittsburgh sob story (an up and coming team that may be forced to relocate because they have a crappy arena).

Let's face it folks, Alexander Ovechkin has more charisma in his right pinkie than Crosby has in his whole body. He also has more scoring ability than Crosby will ever dream of. Disagree? Compare The Goal to The Imitation. One is a goal for all-time, something I'll be telling my brother's kids I saw years from now. The other? Someone laying out to make a deflection. And yet every hack with a keyboard in Bristol seems to think that they belong in the same conversation. They don't, and time will show that they won't.

You want to talk about being a complete player? How about putting a shoulder into someone. I've never, EVER seen Sid put a solid lick on any player, much less a physically imposing one. Alexander Ovechkin plays a monster physical game against every team he plays. He doesn't just beat up on the small guys, the grind guys, the lesser players of the NHL. Don't believe me? Ask Forsberg how his head feels. Or search youtube for Crosby and hits. Find anything? Thought not. Now do the same for Ovechkin. I'll see you in half an hour when you're done with the first few pages of highlights.

But yeah, E.J., you're right. Crosby is a complete player. Completely soft. The guy has more diving minors than hits.

Oh, there's also that little thing called the Calder trophy, given to the best rookie in the NHL. Last year, Ovechkin "edged" Crosby in the voting, winning by a margin of only 119 first place votes (there were 129 cast). That after "experts" like Hradek and Suck Burnside predicted one of the closest votes of all time.

Now I'm not saying Crosby is not a good player. He most certainly is. In time he may become one of the all-time greats. What I am saying is this: Putting the Secondary One on a pedestal above the Russian Machine (see, he's even got better nicknames) is more than just lazy journalism. It's downright offensive, and it makes a mockery of what a "complete" player, and hockey in general, should be all about. And Caps fans should be LIVID about it. I know I am.