Crosby vs Benn

[islefan31]

Who's the better own at this stage of their careers. I own Crosby, but have always been a huge Benn fan.

[horrorfan]

Well, given their current production you would have to say Benn. Obviously that could change but current value is in the eyes of the owner, and if I had Benn I'd be looking at Crosby+ if you were considering an offer. Probably not the best time to do this, though, as you would be trying to acquire one of the top producers in the game and Crosby's value is low. That is, if the other owner is even willing to deal Benn.

[Leafs&G86]

Benn. Playing with seguin will allow him to realistically be in the 80-105 point range for the next 5 years. Sid may be but I'd put my money on Benn if you can get him.

[SeaDawg]

This is interesting...very interesting.

I own Benn and right now would not trade him straight up for Crosby.

That said, if I was in an inaugural points-only league, I'd probably still draft Crosby over Benn. Does that make any sense? Probably not.

I guess I just don't want to be the sucker who dealt Benn away, but at the same time I have a hard time believing that Crosby is not going to return to his old form. He is only 28, so he has plenty of good years left, and last year he had 84 pts in only 77 games, which was a better ratio of points-per-game than Benn. I know Benn won the scoring race, but he did so playing 5 more games. And the year before Crosby had 104 pts. Point is that Crosby has only struggled (by his standards) for 30 games so I don't want to write him off because of a cold stretch.

Interestingly enough I recently put together a top 10 list of forwards for one of my leagues (this is something I do ever year and it is always interesting to see how much the list changes from year to year). I had Crosby #5 on the list and Benn #7. At the time I was actually thinking I had put Crosby too low at #5, but now I am wondering if he should have been even lower if those of you who have responded so far prefer Benn.

[islefan31]

This is interesting...very interesting.

I own Benn and right now would not trade him straight up for Crosby.

That said, if I was in an inaugural points-only league, I'd probably still draft Crosby over Benn. Does that make any sense? Probably not.

Crazy, right? Maybe that's the real question, who would you draft in a new keeper league? It may be close enough to just split hairs at this point.

[VincentVega]

Like SeaDawg, I own Benn and would not trade him for Crosby but my league counts PIM and Hits too in addition to the standard scoring cats so Benn has the edge there. I actually think Benn is the #1 guy to own in leagues that count G,A,PPP,+/-,PIM and Hits.

[islefan31]

Yes in a hits league definitely. A little closer with just pims and I give Crosby the edge in PPP despite how things are right now.

[blayze]

Straight up points keeper today, I'd take Bennguin over Crosby.

[Crazy Joe Davola]

Benn for me. Crosby has been 'normal' for a full season now. Like Elliott Friedman said, he may have to reinvent his game to be successful and win more as a team. I'd love to buy low on him and bet he can get back to his 100+ point days, but its not looking great with that set up in Pitt, his production levels, age and injury history.

[islefan31]

Benn for me. Crosby has been 'normal' for a full season now. Like Elliott Friedman said, he may have to reinvent his game to be successful and win more as a team. I'd love to buy low on him and bet he can get back to his 100+ point days, but its not looking great with that set up in Pitt, his production levels, age and injury history.

I don't know how you can say Crosby has been normal for a full season. 84 points in 77 games tells me otherwise, granted there's a time frame when a coaching change caused the Pens to become a more defense 1st type of team, but that's over...hopefully. Only 4 players had a PPG last season and 3 of the 4 had a full 82 games played, Sid had 5 less.

[Crazy Joe Davola]

I don't know how you can say Crosby has been normal for a full season. 84 points in 77 games tells me otherwise, granted there's a time frame when a coaching change caused the Pens to become a more defense 1st type of team, but that's over...hopefully. Only 4 players had a PPG last season and 3 of the 4 had a full 82 games played, Sid had 5 less.

I did put normal in quotes to illustrate that normal for Crosby is still darn good. Although the first 30 this year have been rough at times.

Going back to last season though, from about January on, Sid has been fairly pedestrian (again, compared to what we've come to expect from him) in his production. Do I believe he's a 60-70 point player all of a sudden? Hell no. But will we see 100-110 points from him anymore? I'd wager we won't.

Wih that in mind, the amount of production that is flying out of Dallas is something I'd wager continues on. Benn, Seguin and Klingberg are young and still improving. I have no problem predicting a substantial difference in total points in favour of Benn compared to Crosby over the next two or three years

I'd still love to get Crosby on my team and hope for a resurgence, and be happy with a ppg, but Benn appears to have some triple digit totals coming his way

[islefan31]

I agree, I think that you can attribute that to the coaching change that took place. Timing is too perfect.

[ShawneePanthers]

In a keeper, it's gotta be Crosby - Benn in a peak year is only marginally better than Crosby in an Off-year. Give crosby some time to adjust to the new coach and he'll produce more in the latter half of this season.

[Rato]

In a keeper, it's gotta be Crosby - Benn in a peak year is only marginally better than Crosby in an Off-year. Give crosby some time to adjust to the new coach and he'll produce more in the latter half of this season.

Agree. Benn's production is quite dependent on Seguin, which can be a problem if he gets injured or something. Also Dallas is current NHL offensive juggernaut but that will change at some point I guess. Points-wise looking foward it's Crosby for me too.

[Crazy Joe Davola]

Agree. Benn's production is quite dependent on Seguin, which can be a problem if he gets injured or something. Also Dallas is current NHL offensive juggernaut but that will change at some point I guess. Points-wise looking foward it's Crosby for me too.

Benn did pretty well while Seguin was out last season for 11 games. I don't have the exact stats, but he popped 4 points in the final game without him.

I don't think his production is 'quite dependent' on Seguin. Obviously having him on the ice, is going to increase the potential for points, but Benn is a driver of play in his own right.