We’ve known Sidney Crosby was freakishly skilled since he was, let’s say, 10 years old. He scored 280 points in 55 games back then, around the time the media coverage began and still hasn’t ceased.
And we’ve known he was wise beyond his age since he was 16. That moment came back in 2003, when no less than Wayne Gretzky, only a few years into his retirement, was asked if there existed a player on earth with the ability to break his scoring records. Gretzky, giving a reporter a quotation that would soon be heard ’round the hockey world, replied with confidence: “Yes, Sidney Crosby.”
As flattering as that praise must have been, Crosby seemed to understand that, even though the anointing words came from the mouth of a legend, the idea was pure folly. Even as a teenager Crosby knew that the ghost he’d be chasing — those numbers Gretzky piled up in the free-wheeling 1980s, when NHL goaltending hadn’t caught up to the Edmonton Oilers’ collective skill level and Gretzky’s anticipatory genius — would be impossible to catch. Even as a teenager he understood the history of his beloved game and the way its evolution had changed the standards of greatness.
“That’s obviously a huge compliment, but at the same time, I’m not going to break his records,” said the 16-year-old Sidney Crosby. “There will never be another Wayne Gretzky.”
No, there won’t. But that doesn’t change the significance of Crosby’s work on Thursday night in Pittsburgh, when he scored his 1,000th, 1,001st and 1,002nd regular-season points as a pro. In reaching the four-figure scoring mark, Crosby proved yet again that he’s unique among the generations that have come and gone since Gretzky’s prime.
At age 29 he’s the 11th-youngest player to cross the threshold. Considering his struggle with injury — he has missed 85 regular-season games so far in his career, an entire season and more — that’s saying something.
Still, the sum of Gretzky’s NHL production, at 2,857 points, amounts to a planet inhabited by a superior life form in an unknown solar system. So Crosby’s achievement needs to be put in some context.
That he’s reached 1,000 points in just 757 games puts him fifth on the career points-per-game list behind Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy and Bobby Orr. Now, that’s an apples-to-oranges comparison for a couple of reasons. For one, Crosby isn’t yet 30 years old, but his points-per-game pace has been on a gradual decline for a few years now. Last year, thanks to a slow start that saw him score all of six goals before Christmas, he put up his worst statistical regular season. So to think he’ll remain in the top five in career points per game — well, that all depends on when he retires and how much he continues to fall off before he does.
Still, compared to Gretzky et al, Crosby is playing in a dead-puck era. So if you use a metric known as adjusted points per game — which attempts to account for the relative difficulty of putting up points when goals are scarcer for everyone — Crosby ranks third behind only Gretzky and Lemieux. Crosby is averaging 1.5 adjusted points per game. The next active player on the list is Ovechkin at 1.3.
What does that mean? It means that in a theoretical 82-game season, given their career paces, Crosby would out-produce Ovechkin by the tally of 124 adjusted points to 107. That’s a solid trouncing that all but ends any debate about the better player of the past decade-plus.
And Crosby’s had another handicap: His rookie season marked the ushering in of the NHL salary cap, a cost-suppression tool that’s been wonderful for owners but horrible for star players seeking top-notch teammates. Gretzky played with hall of famer after hall of famer, from Jari Kurri to Mark Messier to Glenn Anderson to Paul Coffey. Crosby’s only teammate who looks a lock to be thusly enshrined is Evgeni Malkin. He’s spent recent years taking regular shifts alongside Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis.
And yet there’s little debate about who’s been hockey’s best player in the past 13 months or so. As much as Connor McDavid continues to make a case as Crosby’s heir apparent, it’s Crosby who won a Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy as captain of the Penguins last spring. It’s Crosby who captained Canada to the World Cup of Hockey title as tournament MVP in the fall. It’s Crosby who had strong support in the room to win his third Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s athlete of the year before the vote, a survey of Canadian media members, was ultimately won by Olympic swimming star Penny Oleksiak.
But it’s McDavid — and really, every player in the game — who has benefitted from Crosby’s admirable example. The best player in the game puts in work as though he could be bound for the minors at any moment. Announced as the next great thing by no less than The Great One all those years ago, Crosby has never seemed to let the prestige of his status or the pressure of the daily grind impede his progress.
“I realize a lot of guys have been tagged with that ‘next great player’ thing. Some have gone on to be great players, some have fallen,” said Crosby back in 2003. “I don’t want to be one of the guys who disappears.”
As rare as Crosby’s talents have always appeared, he’s not the player he’s become without that old-soul perspective.
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