Sidney Crosby spent his entire NHL career playing against Alex Ovechkin. Now, for the first time, he knows exactly when one of the biggest rivalries in NHL history will end.
On Monday, Ovechkin announced that the 2026-27 season would be his last and that he would officially retire from the NHL at year’s end, citing his long-term health later in life.
Crosby, who learned of the decision at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex during the team’s morning skate, supported Ovechkin’s decision and hoped revealing it so early would let the Capitals’ captain enjoy this season as much as possible.
“I’m sure it’s something he’d be asked about a lot, so it’s nice for him to just be able to get that out there and enjoy playing and focus on hockey,” Crosby said per DK Pittsburgh Sports. “We’ve definitely had some great battles over the years. Obviously, when you get to our age, that’s something you have to make decisions on. For him, as long as he’s happy and enjoying it, that’s the biggest thing.”
Ovechkin and Crosby, the first overall picks in the 2004 and 2005 NHL Drafts, respectively, were positioned as rivals like ‘Bird and Magic’ before they even played each other during their rookie 2005-06 seasons. Crosby acknowledged that shaped their early, more contentious relationship.
“You come into the league at 18 years old, and before we even met, we were kind of built up against each other,” Crosby acknowledged. “So it’s kind of a natural thing to happen. With how competitive we are, especially coming in trying to prove ourselves, it would have been difficult to be too close, I think, given some of the playoff matchups and history there.
“Over the years, obviously, I’ve developed a friendship with him and have a ton of respect for him. You play against someone that long and you’re compared and see each other enough, I think that’s something that builds over time.”
Ovechkin won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year in 2006, but Crosby was the first of the two to capture the Hart Trophy (MVP) and Art Ross Trophy (most points), doing both in 2007. Ovechkin answered the following season with his first Hart, Art Ross, and Rocket Richard Trophy (Most Goals), beginning a run that would establish him as the greatest goal scorer of his generation.
Crosby reached team success first, captaining Pittsburgh to the Stanley Cup in 2009 and later adding titles in 2016 and 2017, going through Ovechkin’s Capitals each time on his way to lifting the championship trophy.
Ovechkin finally got his turn in 2018, assisting on the Evgeny Kuznetsov overtime goal to eliminate Crosby and the Penguins in the second round.
After beating the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final, Ovechkin was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoff MVP, celebrating so hard he later said he blacked out and has little memory of.
“I think it’s rare. Definitely possible, but it’s rare,” Crosby said of their intertwined careers, including playing for just one team. “To be in the same division for as long as we have been and see each other in playoff matchups — there were always comparisons.
“There are always players who are compared to each other, but they don’t necessarily have the matchups all the time, or they play in different conferences. The way it’s worked out in this case, we’ve seen a lot of each other, and that rivalry has kind of remained over that time.”
Ovechkin reached several of the early round-number milestones first, scoring his 500th goal in January 2016 and becoming a 1,000-point player on Jan. 11, 2017. Crosby followed him to 1,000 points just 36 days later, though he got there in considerably fewer games — 757 to Ovechkin’s 880. Ovechkin continued separating himself as a goal scorer, reaching 600 goals in 2018, 700 in 2020, 800 in 2022, and 900 in 2025. Crosby reached 500 goals in 2022 and 600 in November 2024.
Crosby eventually began beating Ovechkin to the higher points milestones. He reached 1,500 points in April 2023, eight months before Ovechkin did the same that December, then got to 1,600 in October 2024, five months before Ovechkin. Crosby reached 1,700 points in October 2025; Ovechkin enters his final NHL season with 1,688, putting him 12 points away from joining him.
Between them both, Ovechkin and Crosby have won a staggering 31 individual NHL awards, plus four Stanley Cups. Their combined hardware includes 11 Rocket Richard Trophies, six Ted Lindsay Awards, five Hart Trophies, three Art Ross Trophies, three Conn Smythe Trophies, two Mark Messier Leadership Awards, and Ovechkin’s Calder Trophy.
Head-to-head, Ovechkin and Crosby have faced each other 100 times over their careers — 75 times in the regular season and another 25 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Appropriately, Ovechkin holds the regular-season edge in goals (38 to 35) while Crosby leads in points (97 to 71).
Alex Ovechkin vs. Sidney Crosby: Regular-season head-to-head stats
| Player | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | Team Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Ovechkin | 75 | 38 | 33 | 71 | 0.95 | 32-33-10 |
| Sidney Crosby | 75 | 35 | 62 | 97 | 1.29 | 43-28-4 |
Alex Ovechkin vs. Sidney Crosby: Playoff head-to-head stats
| Player | GP | G | A | P | P/GP | Team Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Ovechkin | 25 | 15 | 18 | 33 | 1.32 | 12-13 |
| Sidney Crosby | 25 | 13 | 17 | 30 | 1.20 | 13-12 |
The Sid and Ovi rivalry may have been pushed even harder as a narrative and promotional tool, with the NHL wobbling coming out of the 2004 lockout. The two players were pitted against each other in NHL promotions to try and build interest back in the sport while the league did an entire show based on the run-up to the 2011 Capitals vs. Penguins Winter Classic.
“Looking back, I can only speak for myself, but I think I put a lot of pressure on myself,” Crosby said. “I felt like there was a lot of responsibility given the situation, being a young player, too. You always felt like you maybe had to do extra as a young player. There were some things that you probably didn’t feel like you deserved or should do because you hadn’t proven a thing. You hadn’t played a game and you’re doing all this promotional stuff.
“So yeah, there was a lot of learning that went through with that.”
The two players will play against each other four times during the 2026-27 regular season, including in two days for the Capitals’ home opener on October 7 and their final regular-season home game on April 4, 2027.
When the two stars take the ice on Wednesday for their 101st matchup, Crosby wouldn’t be surprised if an Ovechkin one-timer from the left circle finds the back of the net. When asked if any goaltender has solved the shot, Crosby responded, “No, I don’t think anybody has. He’s still as dangerous as ever.”
