Bye Week Bracket: The Biggest Villain Revealed

There were some tight races throughout, and a few surprises. But at the end of the day, perhaps we all knew where this was headed.

After all, Sidney Crosby has been tormenting the Caps and their fans since his rookie season, bringing together the perfect blend of elite talent and utter pain in the ass-ness for well over a decade. It’s a mix that seems to work for him... and it’s what made him our #1 villain of all time.

So how did we get here? Well, let’s go back to the very beginning:

Photo By Brian Bahr/Getty Images for NHL

(Yeah, that’s unpleasant on so many levels.)

Let’s face it, talented or not, Crosby had an uphill climb ahead of him with Caps fans the second the Penguins drew that first-overall pick in 2005 - and he hasn’t exactly worked hard to endear himself to either since.

Most of that, of course, stems from his role as the frequent foil and archenemy of one Alex Ovechkin. Since the two made their NHL debuts in 2005-06, through a Calder Trophy race, numerous awards, and four epic playoff matchups (the last three of which have resulted in the Stanley Cup winner), they’ve been inextricably linked. And while some of it is media-driven and some of it is pushed by the League, it’s hard to deny that there’s always a fair bit of animosity between the two.

...okay, maybe not always.

Their rivalry has led to some truly great “heel” moments for Crosby, with the two clashing on multiple occasions over the years:

Hell, he even bitched about hats being thrown for an Alex Ovechkin hat trick:

“People kept throwing hats,” Sidney Crosby said tonight. “I was just asking if he could make an announcement to ask them to stop. I mean, the first wave came and then I think they were all pretty much picked up, and then more started coming.” - Washington Post, 5/4/09

Even without his rivalry with Ovechkin, Crosby would be a villain in DC merely because of the jersey he wears — and he’s certainly done plenty of damage over the years, with 24 goals and 70 points in just 49 regular-season games against the Caps (with another 30 points in 25 playoff games). He is to this generation of Caps fans what his one-time landlord Mario Lemieux was to the one before it.

But going head to head with the brightest star the Caps have ever had, and really leaning into his reputation as a bit of a whiny brat in the process, truly doomed him from the start.

And so it is with much joy and plenty of thrown hats that we crown Mr. Sidney Crosby, #87 for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the greatest villain of all time.

Congrats, buddy - you’ve earned it!