Mark Madden: New generation of NHL superstars still overshadowed by Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin

NHL fans are excited by a new generation of superstars. The “M” guys: Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon and Mitch Marner. Throw in Jack Eichel, Leon Draisaitl and David Pastrnak.

These players are all over the statistics: Five are among the NHL’s top 10 in points. They rank second through seventh in goals. They’re exciting and dynamic.

But they can’t make their teams win. (Pastrnak is an exception, but Boston was a contender before he got there.)

Toronto has Matthews and Marner. Edmonton has McDavid and Draisaitl. Both are peripheral playoff teams. Buffalo is rotten despite Eichel. MacKinnon’s Colorado has a shot if only because the Western Conference is so bad.

Perhaps the players mentioned can’t be blamed. Edmonton has squandered a plethora of resources: The Oilers had the first pick overall four times between 2010-15. Toronto sabotaged its rebuilding process to collect hockey cards: The Leafs needed defensemen but instead signed center John Tavares in 2018. Tavares, a Toronto native, sells tickets. Except the tickets are already sold.

The process takes time. Mario Lemieux didn’t make the playoffs until his fifth year. (That pursuit was hampered by the Penguins playing in an exceptionally tough Patrick Division.)

But the “M” guys, Eichel and Draisaitl have been in the league at least four years each. They can’t elevate their teams.

Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin did. Crosby got the Penguins in the playoffs by his second year, to the Stanley Cup final in his third and delivered a championship in his fourth. Ovechkin got Washington to the postseason by his third year. Crosby blocked Ovechkin’s path to better for a while, but Ovechkin ultimately delivered.

Now, at 32 and 34 respectively, Crosby and Ovechkin still elevate their teams. The Penguins and Capitals are still legit contenders.

If you’d like to invoke intangibles, the compete level of Crosby and Ovechkin is (and always has been) higher than that of those who would succeed them. Perhaps that’s why they don’t.

New princes get anointed. These are good players. The numbers don’t lie.

But when the playoffs start, bet on the aging kings.

This narrative could take a few twists in the years to come.

McDavid is signed through 2026 at an annual cap hit of $12.5 million. But will McDavid tolerate Edmonton’s mismanagement indefinitely, or will he ask out? Edmonton traded Wayne Gretzky, after all.

Matthews’ situation in Toronto is interesting. An American, he is third fiddle PR-wise behind Toronto natives Marner and Tavares and thus an easy scapegoat. Matthews is signed through 2024 (cap hit of $11.6 million), but it’s easy to imagine him moving on.

Long-term speculation aside, the new generation of NHL superstars haven’t impacted the standings as hoped.

Maybe the old guys are just still better.

Who would you bet on to win a big game, Crosby or McDavid? Ovechkin or Matthews?

Crosby is far from unappreciated in Pittsburgh. Given what he’s delivered, that’s impossible.

But Ovechkin seems to have attained a proper level of respect among Penguins fans since winning the Stanley Cup in 2018, and it’s impossible to ignore his nonstop goal-scoring.

Ovechkin has 40 goals in 53 games, 698 in his career and seems a decent bet to break Gretzky’s all-time NHL record of 894 (if Ovechkin thinks it’s important enough to stick around that long).

Ovechkin keeps scoring the same goals over and over: one-timer from the left circle and off the rush down the left wing. His changeup is going to the net, where his size and brute strength serve him well.

You know what’s coming. It can’t be stopped.

Ovechkin deserves respect, now more than ever. Crosby, too. Catch them if you can.