Primary Alex And Secondary... Sakic?

Caps fans are familiar with the nickname "Secondary Sid" for Sidney Crosby, earned due to his high percentage of secondary assists (currently more than 43%). But did you know that more than half of Joe Sakic's assists - a whopping 56% - are secondary? You would if you read The Forechecker's post on the matter.

The Forechecker breaks down the top 30 scorers in the League by primary versus secondary assists and has some interesting findings, not the least of which is that Alex Ovechkin leads the top 30 scorers in primary assist percentage (73.8%), no doubt due in large part to teammates banging in rebounds of his shots. In fact, "if only goals and 1st assists were counted, as was the case decades ago, when helmets were a rarity," Ovechkin would currently be ahead of Crosby in the scoring race.

The Forechecker concludes that

[v]iewed through this perspective, Sidney Crosby's dominance is somewhat diminished. Four of the five 40-goal scorers (Lecavalier, Heatley, Ovechkin and Hossa) pass ahead of the youngster in the modified standings, with perhaps the most notable jump made by Alex Ovechkin, based on the fact that nearly three-quarters of his assists are of the more substantial variety.

In other words, even with Malkin, Staal, Recchi, Gonchar, Malone, Whitney, et. al. to skate with, Crosby is less impressive than Ovechkin. But you knew that already, didn't you?