Alex Semin's trash talk, Ovechkin's hatred of Malkin, the Pens-Caps rivalry is getting more intense by the day.

A swelled head, delusions of grandeur, or temporary insanity? Take your pick. Whatever Washington Capitals’ sniper Alex Semin’s reasoning was to call out Sidney Crosby, the 2^nd youngest MVP and youngest player to score 100 points, it unnecessarily added fuel to an already intense rivalry. In case you just managed to pry that rock off and crawl out let’s recap what Semin had to say about the face of the NHL in an interview with Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog:

“What's so special about Crosby? I don't see anything special there. Yes, he does skate well, has a good head, good pass. But there's nothing else. Even if you compare him to Patrick Kane from Chicago ... Kane is a much more interesting player. The way he moves, his deking abilities, his thinking on the ice and his anticipation of the play is so superb.  I think that if you take any player, even if he is "dead wood," and start promoting him, you'll get a star. Especially if he scores 100 points. No one is going to care about anyone else. No one is going to care whether he possesses great skill.”

Where to begin?

First of all if there was an Alex on the Caps who had the right to trash talk the likes of Crosby it certainly wouldn’t be someone of Semin’s ilk. Crosby’s ranking in today’s game is debatable, he could be the 1A, 1B or 1C player in the entire league depending on where you rank Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin. But for Semin to say he doesn’t see anything special about Crosby is asinine.  Semin commenting that Crosby isn’t that special of a player is like Sarah Palin saying that Einstein was overrated as an intellectual.

Crosby vs. Semin

Ovechkin vs. Crosby

Malkin vs. Ovechkin

Even before Semin ran his mouth off there were so many subplots to the NHL’s most budding rivalry. The vitriol that’s coming out of Washington directed towards the Penguins these days is growing by the day. Perhaps Washington still feels slighted about the Jaromir Jagr experiment that ended up being as successful as Stephane Dion’s interpretation of the English language. Perhaps Washington is jealous of the young Penguins’ national exposure which grew by leaps and bounds following last season’s Outdoor game and Stanley Cup finals appearance. Or perhaps it’s something more personal between the individual players.

From the day they both started their rookie campaigns in the post-lockout era, Ovechkin vs. Crosby has been billed as the NHL’s next version of the Gretzky vs. Lemieux rivalry. Although unlike their predecessors these two are even more comparable with both players starting their careers at the same time, despite Ovie having a two year age difference on Crosby. During their first few seasons the rivalry was more cordial and competitive in a fun sense with both players being the lone shining lights on weak clubs. As the Caps and Pens have improved, the rivalry has lost that fun edge as both teams and star players are more concerned with jockeying for Eastern Conference supremacy. Sid and Ovie have gone from trading sticks to trading verbal shots at the end of games.

Despite the natural rivalry of Ovechkin vs Crosby the real interesting dynamic of the Penguins-Capitals rivalry has been fuelled by the apparent hatred and detest that Ovechkin holds for his fellow country mate Evgeni Malkin.  Watch any Pens-Caps game over the last season and a bit and you’ll see Ovechkin flying around the ice after Malkin like he’s doing his best Jordin Tootoo impression. In these games it looks like the only thing on Ovechkin’s mind is maiming and hurting Malkin. During a now infamous January 21^st game last season Ovechkin charged in from a long distance with evil intentions on his mind while Malkin was circling the net, Malkin saw him at the last minute lowered his shoulder and sent Ovechkin flying into the boards. Had Ovie connected we would have certainly seen an injury and some sort of suspension for intent to injure. It’s gotten to the point where Ovie will target Geno even if that involves playing a style detrimental to the team by taking himself out of his normal game and charging around the ice stalking his former friend.

What actually fuels the intense rivalry between the Russian country mates is more bewildering than whether or not The Killers new song “Human” is actually an elaborate commentary about the Robot Dance. Don’t believe me? Just examine the lyrics and tell me I’m crazy – “Are we human or are we dancers?” These were two guys who were teammates during numerous international competitions, roommates at the 2006 Winter Olympics and up until a while ago they seemed quite complimentary of each other.

So what the hell happened to cause this great disdain? During the lockout Ovechkin leveled Malkin’s current landlord Sergei Gonchar with an open ice hit and left him with a concussion, but that doesn’t fit the timeline of this feud or explain Ovechkin’s furor. There have been rumours that Ovechkin punched out Malkin’s Russian-based agent in a bar during the summer of 2007; Ovechkin denies it but Malkin says it happened. At last season’s year end awards it was observed by numerous sources that the two weren’t friendly. Maybe it’s as simple as Ovechkin just feels threatened about the emergence of Malkin as one of the league’s best and what we are witnessing with his reckless play against Geno is his insecurity about the pecking order atop the NHL? Whatever the case, it makes for great drama.

Circle your calendars for January 14^th when the Caps travel to Pittsburgh for the next edition in this heated rivalry.