These lists always suck

I know that very few readers of this blog care about sports, let alone hockey, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to critique this list of the top 50 forwards of all-time, compiled by ESPN "experts."

Both Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin are on this list. Sure, they had great rookie seasons, and I do think Ovechkin is the most exciting player to watch in the NHL right now. But rookie seasons are all they have had--they are only in their second year of NHL play. Do they really deserve to be ranked above one of the grittiest scorers of all-time, Cam Neely? How is it that Pat LaFontaine (my all-time favorite player, along with Mike Bossy) deserves to be on the list but his former teammate, league MVP, Stanley Cup finals MVP and six-time Stanley Cup winner, the supremely mustachioed Bryan Trottier didn't make the cut?

I really hate lists like this.