A few years ago here in the thread the debate raged over who was a better overall hockey player, Crosby or Ovechkin. This was during their first few years in the league. In that context, hell yeah I railed against Ovi. He was a phenomenal goal scorer, but it was plain to see he also had all the prerequisite talent to do so much more. But he didn't. He didn't pass, he didn't backcheck, he only hit if it was sure to be a knockout... And what made it more sad was that he COULD be so much more. Meanwhile, the only thing people could really say against Crosby was that he whined. So yeah, in that context I staunchly said I preferred Crosby over Ovechkin.
The strides Ovechkin has made the last couple years (especially under the tutelage of our Lord and Savior, Barry Trotz), have been satisfying, but at the same time shouldn't be too surprising. We've always known he's got the speed to get back on defense, the vision to make great passes, the smarts to play in all 3 zones. It is indeed great to see him doing that though. It's great for youth players to see it from their stars. If that comes at the expense of him scoring 60 goals a year, great. I'd much rather see a complete player with 30 goals than a 1-dimensional lazy ass with 50.
Going back to the old debate, I still prefer Crosby... but good on Ovi.
EDIT: And what's great about today's NHL is there are so many more complete stars beyond 87 and 8 to throw into the debate. McDavid, Backstrom, MacKinnon, Karlsson, Benn... many more.