Sunday Slapshots

• Brian Costello is bang on in his latest THN.com column, suggesting if Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby are going to be breaking any of Wayne Gretzky's records, they better do it soon. History says their production will level off soon:
  

  It’s not a hard and fast rule that players hit their offensive peak in their early 20s, but for many players who reach “superstar” status, those halcyon years come in and around the age of 24. The first few pro seasons are growth years, the seasons afterwards are still exceptional, just not extraordinary.

  He supports his argument pretty nicely, mentioning the best single season performances of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Brett Hull, Guy Lafleur and Bobby Orr.
  
  
• He also suggests surprise that Sidney Crosby is not a more dominant of a scorer than he is. I agree. Sid needs to crack 50 goals and over 120 points a few times if we're going to talk about him being one of the greatest players ever.
  
  
• It just got a whole lot easier identifying identical twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin. Daniel will be on crutches for the next 4 to 6 weeks thanks to a broken foot.
  
  
• Ryan Malone's third career hat trick gives him one more hatty than his dad, Greg Malone. The Malones are one of six father/son duos in NHL history with both players having multiple hat tricks. The others are Syl Apps, Sr. and Jr., Cal and Paul Gardner, Bryan Sr. and Dennis Hextall, Ken Hodge Sr. and Jr., and Bobby and Brett Hull.
  
  
• Islanders fans should be excited about John Tavares' 5 points in his first 3 NHL games, but a word of caution. Only one 1st overall draft pick has had a better 3 game start to his career in NHL history, with 7 points in 3 games. His name: Alexandre Daigle.