Ovechkin Soars, Crosby Crashes... For Now.

The Tale of Two Rookies, featuring Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, remains the spiciest soap opera of this NHL season.

The unstoppable Ovechkin earns rave reviews in Washington, where he regularly leaps tall buildings in a single bound. Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, Crosby has been sacrificed to the gods of bad hockey management.

Bob McKenzie at TSN.ca sums up the game plan for teams playing the Penguins: "Beat up Crosby, watch him snap."

According to McKenzie, Crosby's recent temper tantrums are the talk of the league. Opposing players are "absolutely astonished that an NHL team would leave an 18-year-old franchise player to fend for himself."

There is certainly no denying that the Penguins are a mess from top to bottom. The coach hates the players, one scoring star has bailed out and the team is for sale again.

But it's also worth noting that the 18-year-old Crosby trails the 19-year-old Overchkin by just seven points in the rookie scoring race. Both team are awful and both will miss the playoffs. As for the future, history shows that neither the Capitals nor the Penguins know much about building a good hockey team. This Crosby crisis will pass, but the NHL prize teenagers will both endure their share of trials and tempests before either of them wins anything.