Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby's generation-defining rivalry

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Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby's generation-defining rivalry

Wed, Oct 7, 2026 ·

11 min read

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🚨 Headlines

🏀 EuroLeague rebuffs NBA:The EuroLeague has reportedly rejected the NBA's initial offer to merge and create a single NBA Europe entity, with the offer described as "colonialist." Despite the rejection, negotiations are expected to continue as the NBA aims to launch a 16-team league across the pond as soon as 2027.

🎾 Tennis headlines:Novak Djokovic won the China Open for his 102nd career singles title; Carlos Alcaraz defended his crown at the Tokyo Open; Jannik Sinner ended his season early , meaning Alexander Zverev will become the new ATP World No. 1 (30th in history).

🏈 Eagles legend retires:Six-time Pro Bowl right tackle Lane Johnson abruptly announced his retirement on Tuesday, ending a 14-year career spent entirely in Philadelphia. To sum up his impact: The Eagles were 122-63-1 (.659) when he played and 18-30 (.375) when he didn't.

🏀 WNBA arena upgrade:The Atlanta Dream will play home games at State Farm Arena (home of the Hawks) next season, moving from a 3,500-seat venue to an arena that holds 17,000. The Dream held six regular season games there this season, and sold out five of them.

🌀 Hurricane watch:Saturday's college football showdown between No. 2 Georgia and No. 6 Alabama in Tuscaloosa is set to proceed as scheduled — for now — as Tropical Storm Isaias approaches the Gulf Coast. But the hurricane threat is serious enough that moving the game is " clearly on the table ," says Alabama's foremost meteorologist.

🏒 A generation-defining rivalry

The Capitals' home opener tonight should be quite a spectacle after Alex Ovechkin announced Monday that this will be his final season. Fittingly, it comes against Sidney Crosby, whose decades-long rivalry with Ovi has defined hockey in the 21st century.

Parallel paths:The 41-year-old Russian and 39-year-old Canadian were picked No. 1 overall in back-to-back years, and debuted on the very same night (Oct. 5, 2005). They weren't enemies, per se (though sharing a division didn't help), but the context of their arrival didn't exactly foster friendship, either.

"You come into the league at 18 years old, and before we even met, we were kinda built up against each other," Crosby said this week . "I think with how competitive we are … it would've been difficult to be too close."
Ovechkin, perhaps not quite as eloquently, but no less honestly, echoed those sentiments years ago when he told longtime hockey journalist Michael Farber, "He is he. I am I."

As you can see below,* both guys have compiled astronomical point totals, but they've arrived at those totals in ways befitting their style of play: Ovechkin the pure goal-scorer, Crosby more of the playmaker. "He is he. I am I," indeed.

Tale of the tape:From the moment they finished 1-2 for the Calder Trophy (ROY) in 2006, "The Great 8" and "Sid the Kid" have racked up accolades matched by few in the league besides each other.

In addition to winning ROY, Ovechkin has three Hart Trophies (MVP) to Crosby's two, 12 All-Star nods to Crosby's eight, and is of course the NHL's all-time leader in goals (929).
Crosby holds the edge in Stanley Cups (3 to 1), points (1,763 to 1,688) and assists (1,109 to 759). And for all we know, he plans to continue playing and adding to those tallies well into his 40s.

Head-to-head:They've played each other exactly 100 times entering tonight's matchup. Crosby leads the all-time series in both the regular season (43-28-4) and playoffs (13-12).

Big picture:Ovechkin and Crosby arrived when the NHL needed them most. Ratings and quality of play were falling after Wayne Gretzky's retirement in 1999, and the nadir came when the entire 2004-05 season was lost to a lockout. "The game needed something special to come along," writes The Athletic's Josh Yohe . "That's precisely what happened."

In that way, they mirrored Larry Bird and Magic Johnson a quarter-century earlier: two lightning-rod superstars who entered a struggling league together and helped mold it into something bigger and better.
Ovi and Sid may never loom quite as large in broader sports history as Magic and Bird, but their shared reign has lasted longer: Here they are tonight, 22 years after arrival, still sharing the ice.

Bottom line:The NHL is in far better hands now than it was two decades ago, with future Hall of Famers like Connor McDavid and phenoms like Macklin Celebrini already bending the league to their will. But we may never again see two all-time greats so completely — and simultaneously — define an entire era.

* Neil Paine officially joined us on Monday and he's already contributing beautiful charts. Expect to see a lot more data visualizations now that he's on the team. We'll more formally introduce Neil soon.

⚾️ NLDS: Padres survive, Dodgers rebound

Padres 4, Brewers 3 —Facing a sweep after a deeply frustrating pair of games in Milwaukee, the Padres pulled out all the stops to keep their season alive in front of a raucous home crowd, who will be back for more tonight. As for the Brewers, they've now lost 12 straight road postseason games, extending an MLB record.

Next man up: With All-Star closer Mason Miller unavailable due to the birth of his first child, Game 2 starter Michael King entered in relief and delivered a six-out save on two days' rest. Here's the double play that sealed it .

Dodgers 3, Braves 1 —The reigning champs seized control of the series in Atlanta thanks to yet another playoff gem from Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 10 K, BB), whose 2.14 career postseason ERA is the second-lowest in MLB history among pitchers with at least 10 starts, trailing only Madison Bumgarner's 2.11.

Señor Octubre: Dodgers cult hero Kiké Hernández hit a two-run blast in the fourth, giving him 17 postseason homers (out of 151 total). In other words: More than 10% of his career home runs have come in the playoffs, which is something no other player with at least 100 HR can say. Reggie Jackson would be proud .

⚾️ Baseball's haves vs. have nots

In sports, there's always a game within the game. MLB's Division Series is no different; the subtext is the battle between the league's huge payrolls and its frugal underdogs. The results could shape the ongoing labor war.

Tale of the tape:The National League field is more financially robust, with three of the four remaining teams ranking among MLB's top 10 tax payrolls . The American League, however, features a $229 million payroll divide between the Yankees and Rays. The other matchup pits the 26th-ranked White Sox against the 29th-ranked Guardians.

Wild stat:The combined tax payroll of the Brewers, White Sox, Rays and Guardians is only $45 million higher than the Dodgers' alone.

Battle lines drawn:Ownership's party line in the labor battle focuses on restoring competitive parity , framing their push for a salary cap as a rallying cry for the small market fan who doesn't believe their team can win. The composition of the remaining postseason contenders spits in the face of that argument. Four Division Series participants rank in the bottom half of the league's payrolls. Three are in the bottom five.

Counterpoint:As Billy Beane's "Moneyball" character surmises, "If you lose the last game of the season, nobody gives a sh*t." He wasn't wrong. A small-market team hasn't won it all since the Royals in 2015, and that's no small part of the competitive balance argument.

Food for thought:Both camps have reasonable questions worth asking to frame the conversation.

If teams like the Rays so consistently achieve more with less than their deep-pocketed rivals, shouldn't they have a better opportunity to collect hardware?
Or should those teams always have to accomplish mission impossible to earn a ring?
More bluntly, should their owners simply invest more money in talent?

Play ball:The game within the game is afoot. The results could chart the future of baseball.

This story was written by Dylan Dittrich, author of our new sports business newsletter. Subscribe to Yahoo Sports Biz: yahoosports.com/biz

🌎 The world in photos

🇺🇸 St. Paul, Minnesota

The USMNT beat Canada, 1-0 , on Tuesday to complete a perfect post-World Cup break that featured four wins (in four matches), 13 debutants (eight teenagers), 12 goals (seven by those teenagers) and two clean sheets against their biggest regional rivals (Mexico and Canada).

What they're saying:"Like we said going into this camp, there's no pressure for any of these kids to perform right now, but a lot of them did perform right now," said captain Tyler Adams. "They obviously set the standard. Now it's about continuing to keep that standard."

🇦🇷 Buenos Aires, Argentina

Lionel Messi played his final international match for Argentina on Tuesday. And because he is Lionel Messi, he had a hand in every goal, scoring once and assisting twice in a 3-0 win over Benin. "Not coming back is going to hurt so much," he said postgame. "Playing for the Argentina national team is the most beautiful thing that can happen to you."

Meanwhile, in Portugal:Fellow footballing legend Cristiano Ronaldo is authoring a far less graceful final chapter. The 41-year-old quit the squad last week after being an unused substitute against Norway, and he's apparently very mad at his manager .

🇨🇦 Toronto, Canada

No. 1 overall draft pick Gavin McKenna scored his first NHL goal (and recorded his first NHL assist) in the Maple Leafs' 5-4 (OT) victory over the Predators. "Big monkey off the back," said the 18-year-old Yukon native. "That's a goal I'll obviously remember forever."

A little help from his friends:McKenna lives with veteran teammate John Tavares and his family, so it was only fitting that his assist set up a Tavares goal. It was also fitting that McKenna's goal was assisted by Auston Matthews, who hosted him for a sleepover on Sunday. "We might have to have a weekly sleepover now," said the rookie.

📺 Watchlist: Wednesday, Oct. 7

⚾️ MLB Division Series

This is the final day of the year with more than two scheduled MLB games — and the baseball gods gave us four.

Buckle up:The White Sox (up 2-0) host the Guardians (4pm ET, TBS) to get things started, then it's off to Atlanta for Braves (down 2-1) vs. Dodgers (6pm, FS1) . We then travel to the Bronx for Yankees (down 2-0) vs. Rays (8pm, TBS) before the Padres (down 2-1) host the Brewers (10pm, FS1) in the nightcap.

🏀 WNBA Semifinals

Both road teams will try to draw even tonight as the Liberty (down 1-0) visit the Dream (7:30pm, ESPN) and the Aces (down 1-0) visit the Valkyries (9:30pm, NBCSN/Peacock).

Making the leap:After years of being a defensive stopper, Golden State's Gabby Williams has blossomed into a bonafide superstar, particularly in these playoffs, where she's averaging 25.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists.

More to watch:

🏒 NHL:Penguins at Capitals (7:30pm, TNT) … Alex Ovechkin's final home opener comes against Sidney Crosby and the Pens. Well played, scriptwriters. Well played.
🏀 NBA Preseason:Timberwolves at Pacers (7pm, NBA) ; Warriors at Trail Blazers (10pm, NBA) … Pregame reading: Ant-Man, LaMelo and Minnesota's most polarizing pair yet

Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!

🏒 Trivia time

Alex Ovechkin (929) and Sidney Crosby (654) rank first and second in goals among active NHL players.

Question:Who ranks third?

Hint:Two-time Stanley Cup champion.

Answer at the bottom.

📆 222-0

110 years ago today, Georgia Tech — coached by John Heisman — beat Cumberland College, 222-0 , in perhaps the most lopsided outcome in sports history.

Not a fair fight:Georgia Tech was a national powerhouse in the midst of a 33-game unbeaten streak. Cumberland, meanwhile, had disbanded its football program that spring and assembled a makeshift team to avoid a $3,000 cancellation fee (about $90,000 today).

The Yellow Jackets scored 32 touchdowns in 55 minutes, good for one every minute and 43 seconds. Cumberland had 15 turnovers, zero first downs and -33 total yards.
As legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice, who was there, put it: "Cumberland's greatest individual play occurred when fullback Allen circled right for a six-yard loss."

Revenge game:Heisman, who was also Georgia Tech's baseball coach, reportedly ran up the score as payback for a baseball game the prior year, when Cumberland fielded a team of minor league ringers and embarrassed Tech in a 22-0 win.

Trivia Time answer:Steven Stamkos (625 goals)

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