Did Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby really "save the NHL"?

Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin recently came out and said he and Sidney Crosby helped save the NHL. Ovechkin was drafted first overall in 2004 and has been the face of the NHL since his rookie year during the 2005-06 season.

The Russian is one of the best goal scorers to ever play in the NHL, and he and Sidney Crosby's rivalry helped bring in plenty of new fans to the league. But, reflecting on his rivalry with the Canadian, Ovechkin claimed they saved the NHL.

"We saved the league. Now they come in, and I guess we're old news," Ovechkin said to The Athletic's Rob Rossi. "But we saved it. It's up to those guys to come in and prove me wrong that we're not the best. We saved the NHL."

Alex Ovechkin's impact on the NHL

After Alex Ovechkin was drafted first overall, the NHL had a lockout and fans began to get frustrated with the league.

Attendance was down in the league, but once Ovechkin and Crosby entered the league, there was a buzz. Although part of the excitement was the fact that hockey was back, these two new superstars attracted plenty of fans.

Brendan Shanahan, who played in the NHL, said they relied on Ovechkin and Crosby a ton to get the league back on track.

“We banked a lot on them,” said Hockey Hall of Famer Brendan Shanahan to The Athletic. “We’d lost a season. Our fans just wanted hockey back. But we had to make these new rules to open up the game, make it more attractive to our fans, casual fans, advertisers, everybody."

“That’s where Sid and Alex came in. It wasn’t explicitly said, ‘Hey, you guys, go save the league.’ But, well, that was the hope. And it became obvious really fast they could.”

There's no question that Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby have had a huge impact on the NHL's success for nearly 20 years. But whether the league would have survived without them is uncertain.