Why does Ovechkin get so much disrespect and criticism?

[AzHawk]

stifling lack of success

 

[Plural]

I see a lot of people (justifiably so) saying that if Sid would have similar lack of team success he'd get insane amount of heat here. One thing to consider though, the better you are the more you get detractors. For a long time now, Sid has been the best player in the world and he's making his way through some heavy hitters in all-time lists. When talking about a player of his caliber the standards are higher, fair or not. If he would have had his career arc similar to what OV has had (tons of individual RS success but practically no playoff success) he wouldn't be regarded nearly as great of a player as he now is. Meaning the standards would be lower and the heat he would get would also be smaller.

Now, he's always been more criticized than Ovechkin has been. Now sure why, probably a myriad of reasons. So stands to believe that he'd be getting more flak than OV nevertheless. But I believe if Sid would be worse player he wouldn't be facing as much detractors. That's just how it goes. It's super rare for the elite of the elites to be universally liked before the tail-end of their careers.

 

[daver]

He is undoubtedly one of the most gifted players, along with Crosby and Malkin, to play since the lockout but has not been able to harness that gift into team success.
I don't think his strengths were conducive to doing the little things or making the adjustments to win at the highest level.

IMO, the sense that he needed the spotlight to perform always creates a sense of a player who doesn't quite have the "it" factor to add winning to their individual resume. I like to see an "all business" attitude.

If he could have brought his Team Russia attitude to the Caps it may have been a different story. That the coaching, for the most part, let him do what ever he wanted on the ice and management were happy for him to play the rock star role and fill the seats contributed to this dynamic.