Crosby is brilliant in many ways
best hockey player in the world, a three-time Stanley Cup champion with his second consecutive title coming Sunday night in Nashville, Tenn.
Leadership?
There is no better captain in the sport. He is this generation’s Mark Messier. There are many examples to prove that point, but my favorite from this season’s Cup run happened after the Penguins lost, 5-1, in Game 3 of the Ottawa series the night MarcAndre Fleury was benched for Matt Murray. Crosby shut the dressing room door and called out his team. “This isn’t good enough,” he said. No surprise there, right? But Crosby was hardest on himself, saying he was the one who most had to be better. One member of the Penguins organization called that moment “unbelievable.”
“There are so many things that people don’t see what he does,” Jim Rutherford said. “He’s just very special at key times with individuals. He can go one-onone. He can make a difference with people.”
Mike Sullivan said simply of Crosby, “He’s the heartbeat of this hockey team.”
Will to win?
Mike Babcock, who coached Team Canada led by Crosby to two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup title, as well as Sullivan described that desire to win as “insatiable.” My favorite example in these playoffs came in Game 5 against Nashville. On the first shift, Crosby split rugged defensemen Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis and drew a holding penalty against Ellis, leading to a power-play goal by Justin Schultz and a 1-0 lead just 91 seconds into the game. Crosby never let up. He kept piling on the Predators and made sure his teammates did the same thing. The Penguins won, 6-0.
“I said to myself, ‘That’s the best performance I’ve ever seen anyone play,’” Dumoulin said.
“He took this team on his back,” Sullivan said. “He willed a win for us. He’s the most driven athlete I’ve ever been around.”
Work ethic?
It’s every organization’s wish that its best player is its hardest worker. Crosby is that for the Penguins. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he starts training this week for next season and a possible three-peat.
“He’s got an insatiable appetite to be the best, but he’s always willing to do what it takes,” Sullivan said. “This kid controls everything in his power to be the best hockey player he can be.”
I loved the way Rutherford put it.
“When you come to the rink, you had better be ready to go to work. He’s the guy who leads it. You gotta get on the train with him or you’re going to get run over.”
Franchise savior?
Do you think Mario Lemieux knows one when he sees one?
“Sid’s changed our franchise. He changed the way we do business in Pittsburgh. A good supporting cast, of course. But Sid really changed the outlook of our franchise and made it one of the best, not only in hockey, but in all of sports.”
It wasn’t all Crosby, of course. The Penguins needed the NHL lockout that shut down the 2004-05 season and the salary cap that followed to survive. They also needed their spectacular new arena to stay in Pittsburgh. But there’s no way the franchise would have won three Cup titles since 2009 if the pingpong ball didn’t fall their way in the 2005 draft lottery, giving the team the right to take Crosby.
“I don’t think so,” Lemieux acknowledged.
Humility?
OK, so maybe that doesn’t make Crosby a better hockey player. But it is a big part of who he is. One of my favorite videos from Sunday night shows him carrying the Cup into the craziness that was the celebration inside the Penguins locker room at Bridgestone Arena. He says, “Excuse, me,” to every person in his way. That’s pretty cool. “He’s just such a great person,” Sullivan said.
Crosby’s humility showed in a different way when he met the media after the Cupclinching win. He wanted no part of the discussion about his place in hockey history. He wanted to talk only about the team.
“You just want to do your part.”
Crosby has done that and more. Consider his accomplishments in the past calendar year. Cup champion and Conn Smythe Trophy winner as postseason MVP in 2016. World Cup champion as captain of Team Canada and MVP of the tournament in 2016. Winner of the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL’s leading goal-scorer in the 2016-17 season with 44 goals. Likely runner-up to Edmonton’s Connor McDavid for the Hart Memorial Trophy as NHL MVP for the 2016-17 season. Cup champion and Smythe winner in 2017. That’s silly good. “The kid just knows how to win,” Sullivan said.
No less than Wayne Gretzky has said Crosby has cracked “the upper echelon” of hockey players, adding Crosby has reached the point where he’s merely “adding on” to his legacy. Not bad, as endorsements go.
Gretzky is front and center on that Mount Rushmore of hockey. Lemieux is on it. So are Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe.
“Sidney Crosby is in with that group,” Rutherford said.
Crosby isn’t close to being finished. He won’t turn 30 until Aug. 7. He has a really good chance of winning another Cup, maybe multiple Cups. Bovada, the online betting site, has made the Penguins 9-1 favorites to win again next season. Chicago, Tampa Bay, Edmonton and Washington are at 12-1.
Are you willing to bet against Crosby?