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Ryan Miller had it half right this week.
"This is going to be remembered as their first game," the Buffalo Sabres goaltender, who started for the Eastern Conference All-Stars, said in reference to Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.
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| Alex Ovechkin (right) had one goal in the All-Star Game, while Sidney Crosby was shut out. (AP) |
While Crosby, the 19-year-old Pittsburgh Penguins star, and Ovechkin, the 21-year-old Washington Capitals franchise, are the horses the NHL has been trying to ride back to relevance since the lockout ended, the league took its hype of the dynamic young duo to new levels during the All-Star festivities, in effect making the entire show all about them.
It was a logical approach, considering the on-ice events were expected to be, and in fact became, duds. The All-Star Game itself was only slightly more watchable than the skills competition and the Young Stars contest that took place the night before, thanks to half-hearted efforts by players either too overwhelmed by the new experience of being there or too jaded to really care.
But there were Crosby and Ovechkin for the league to peddle. And the two were front and center at everything from a splashy Reebok presentation to introduce its much-hyped re-designed uniforms to media day, where they were the only players to be distinguished from the pack by getting podium press conference treatment.
They were even a central part of the scheduling issue that was contentiously debated at the league's Board of Governors meeting. In fact, it was virtually impossible to read or hear anything about the event in Dallas -- which was the biggest sports story in town until Bill Parcells packed it in -- without one or both of their names being brought up.
Crosby and Ovechkin handled it well, which isn't surprising considering both have received more than their fair share of attention since arriving in the NHL. But neither has subjected to the kind of crunch players face late in the playoffs, when much of the national media converges in one place. That's what happened in Dallas.
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What made it interesting was seeing them face the hordes at the same time. It highlighted their distinctive personalities and made one wonder whether they will spend their careers providing a Magic and Bird effect for the NHL, or whether one will emerge as the Michael Jordan type to singularly stand out above everyone.
Right now, it would be hard to choose one or the other on the ice because both have displayed rare excellence and flair. But off the ice, Crosby has a built-in advantage because of language, and he has moved ahead as a spokesman and commercial endorser, even if he has a bland Pete Sampras-like quality to his personality.
Crosby is polite, well-spoken, photogenic and polished well beyond his years, but ask him a softball question such as who has been this season's MVP, and he'll launch into a vanilla response about how there are so many guys, it's so long a season, it depends on who makes the playoffs, and yada, yada, yada.
Ask Ovechkin the same question a moment earlier, and you get a big laugh when he responds simply: "Crosby." His English is still a work in progress, but his efforts to answer questions seem to charm audiences as much as his child-like enthusiasm and give him a star quality.
So take your pick. Right now, everybody, including the players, seems pretty excited by them.