The playoffs of 2012 sparked the comparison of Sidney Crosby and Claude Giroux. Since Crosby first broke into the league, Pittsburgh has held the bragging rights with the best player in the cross-state rivalry.

The first round of the 2012 playoffs resulted in the Flyers taking it to the Penguins, led by Claude Giroux. Not only did Giroux make an impact on the score sheet, but he also delivered a huge check to Sidney Crosby to open Game 6.

Last season is over, and neither the Penguins nor the Flyers won the cup. Both teams finished last season with the same disappointment.

The 2013 season is starting to wind down and now is a good time to take a step back and see how some things have turned out. Flyers fans ended last season with the thought that Giroux was ready to take over and dominate the battle of Pennsylvania.

The simple way to compare players is to look at how many points they have. Sidney Crosby is leading the league with 53 points, while Giroux is 33rd with only 28 points. The second obvious comparison is team success. Crosby and the Penguins are first in the Eastern Conference with a 12 game winning streak, while Giroux and the Flyers are 13th with a chance to miss the playoffs.

It is easy to compare the two players, they are both young, both captains, and both expected to lead their teams to great things. Crosby has some experience with all of that, considering he has been doing it for years already.

Giroux might just be having a rough adjustment to being the new captain.

Right now it is simple to see who the better player is. Crosby is dominating like he does every season and his team is at the top of the standings as a result. Giroux has the ability to be just as good as Crosby, but it just isn’t in the Flyers nature to have a super star work according to plan.

Flyer fans and Penguin haters both would like to see Giroux rise to the occasion and challenge Crosby. That will likely happen, but for now Crosby is still sitting at the top and Giroux has some work to do.