As if you didn't already know Sidney Crosby was having a pretty stellar season...
His O-Zone Start% this year is currently sitting at 45.1%, which is good for 362nd among all skaters over 20 games played. That's 362nd out of 467 skaters, forwards and defensemen. His O-Zone Finish%? Just a hair under 54%, or 60th among those same 462.
Just how wacky is that? Well, over the last three years, here are his O-Zone Start and O-Zone Finish numbers:
2007-08: 49.8 (Start%) --- 50.7 (Finish%)
2008-09: 56.8 --- 54.2
2009-10: 56.7 --- 56.8
This does nothing to settle the debate between whether Crosby or Ovechkin is better, but it certainly contributes to the ideas that a.) Crosby is having a hell of a year so far, and b.) he's having a better year than Ovechkin. We'll see how this shakes out; it's very rare to see top-line forwards like Crosby put up a differential north of +8% by the end of the season.