Sidney Crosby and Evegni Malkin Make a Dynamic One-Two Punch

Ever since Sidney Crosby has entered the league the media has dubbed him as the next great one or the next Gretzky.

But ask anybody—with every great player comes a second great player, or a duo to be exact.

Enter Evgeni Malkin.

Like the great duos before them (Gretzky and Messier, Lemieux and Jagr) these two have taken the league by its legs and flipped it upside down.

They both have their selective weaknesses such as (although I don't see it as much) Crosby's shot power, or Gino has a bit lesser of a pass than Crosby.  Bt both of their strengths outshine their weaknesses and they complement one another.

Pittsburgh might just have a trend forming duos—but hands down I think these two will be the best. That's a stretch, but consider that Jagr and Mario only were together for a certain amount of years. I think that these two will be together much longer and possibly be more productive than Mario and Stevens or Mario and Yags.

Now one thing that could possibly prevent this is injury.  It's already been discovered that if one of these two are removed it can become a potential problem. Both are looked upon as team leaders, and if ether one goes down morale and goals could drop.

Simply put, these two are like peanut butter and jelly—without the other it's still special, but not as special.  Take a look at Crosby's stats with Malkin and without him you can see a production drop. Perfect example? 2008 Stanley Cup Finals—Malkin doesn't play well, the power play falters, thus Red wings win the series 4-2.

Example of when they're on? Flyers-Pens conference finals—seven points for Crosby, six for Malkin, Pens win in five games. It's obvious that these two's success—along with the goalies', of course—gears this team.

Even down to the whole who's better argument—both are great apart, but together they are the closest thing to unstoppable there is. Both do every facet of the game well, fore checking, back checking, shooting, passing—but together they take us back to '95-96 and that combo of Jagr and Lemieux.

Most importantly, neither skates in the other's shadow so ego's aren't a concern.

So if one day the salary cap rears its ugly head, I expect the Pens to do what I think everyone else expects—anything to keep these two together. Because in the end they won't be remembered as Sidney Crosby, or Evgeni Malkin. They will be remembered as Crosby and Malkin.