The NHL has a vast list of players in today’s game with freakish talent from Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, Sydney Crosby and down the line. So when a player is tagged or being called “best player in the world,” it’s quite a bold statement for that player to either live up to those expectations.
During the 2012 NHL playoffs, former Flyers coach Peter Laviolette tagged the emerging Claude Giroux as “best in the world” immediately after the Flyers eliminated their cross-state rival Penguins in six games. Giroux went from up-and-coming player with a ton of upside, to being unloaded an exuberant amount of pressure on the shoulders of the Flyers’ best player, not the NHL’s best player, which simply wasn’t needed or warranted.
To be put into that class can only be obtained by achievement, not inherited through opinion. Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin all have Hart Trophies with the distinction as the league’s most valuable player. Crosby and Malkin have hoisted Lord Stanley’s Cup. Let’s take a look at the achievements these players have earned.
Alex Ovechkin
NHL First All-Star Team: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013
NHL Second All-Star Team: 2011, 2013
NHL All-Rookie Team: 2006
NHL All-Star Game selections: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012*
NHL All-Star Game SuperSkills Competition – “Breakaway Challenge” Winner (2008, 2009, 2011)
Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP): 2008, 2009, 2013
Lester B. Pearson Award/ Ted Lindsay Award* (Most Outstanding Player): 2008, 2009, 2010*
Art Ross Trophy (Scoring Leader): 2008 (112 points)
Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy (Most Goals): 2008 (65 goals), 2009 (56 goals), 2013 (32 goals; lockout shortened)
Kharlamov Trophy: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
Calder Memorial Trophy (NHL Rookie of the Year): 2006
NHL Player of the Year – The Sporting News: 2008, 2009
Wayne Gretzky Award (Most Valuable Player) – The Hockey News: 2013
Only the 8th NHL player in history to win the Hart Trophy at least 3 times.
Evgeni Malkin
NHL All-Star Game – 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012
NHL First All-Star Team – 2008, 2009, 2012
Calder Memorial Trophy (Rookie of the Year) – 2007
Hart Memorial Trophy (League MVP) – 2012
Ted Lindsay Award (Most Outstanding Player) – 2012
Art Ross Trophy (Regular Season Scoring Leader) – 2009, 2012
Conn Smythe Trophy (Playoff MVP) – 2009
NHL Stanley Cup Champion – 2009
NHL 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Point Scoring Leader (36)
Michel Brière Rookie of the Year Award (Pittsburgh Penguins’ Rookie of the Year) – 2007 (shared with Jordan Staal)
Pittsburgh Penguins’ (MVP) – 2008, 2009, 2012
Kharlamov Trophy – (Best Russian Player in the NHL) 2012
Sidney Crosby
Stanley Cup Championship (with Pittsburgh Penguins) – June 2009
Selected for the All-Star Game – February 2008
Hart Trophy (most valuable player) – June 2007
Lester Pearson Award (most outstanding player) – June 2007
Art Ross Award (leading scorer during the regular season) – June 2007
NHL First All-Star Team – 2007 – June 2007
Captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins (also the youngest captain in NHL history) – May 2007
Selected for the All-Star Game (& Youngest player ever to voted in an NHL allstar game) – February 2007
Mark Messier Leadership Award – January 2007
Youngest player in NHL history to record 100 points in a season – 2006
First rookie to record 100 points and 100 penalty minutes in a season – 2006
Pittsburgh Penguins’ franchise record for points in a season by a rookie (102) – 2006
Pittsburgh Penguins’ franchise record for assists in a season by a rookie (63) – 2006
NHL All-Rookie Team – June 2006
Rookie of the Month – October, 2005
NHL First Draft Pick overall – July, 2005
ESPY award winner (best NHL player) – 2009
ESPY award winner (best NHL player) – 2008
ESPY award winner (best NHL player) – 2007
Claude Giroux
Played in the NHL All-Star Game in 2011 and 2012
I can understand that emotions run high during the playoffs and Laviolette is a passionate coach when he lauded Giroux. That being said, all he did was put Giroux in a spotlight that he wasn’t quite ready for. Furthermore, claiming a player is the best in the world, who this year through eight games has zero goals and presently speaking has zero awards, it’s asinine. For players like Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin, it was a slap in the face, as these players have achieved, not inherited the necessary credentials that go along with being tagged the “best in the world.”
For Laviolette, it cost him his job.
