Sidney Crosby

[Don Wassall]

Crosby today became just the seventh player in NHL history to score 40 goals in a season at the age of 36 or older, joining Alex Ovechkin, Teemu Selanne, Gordie Howe, Phil Esposito, Brendan Shanahan and Johnny Bucyk.

After sleepwalking through the first 70 games of the season, the Penguins have started playing well just when everyone had written them off and now have a pretty good chance to sneak into the playoffs. The Eastern Conference being weak this season has certainly also been a factor in helping their playoff drive. Michael Bunting, acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade, has been a terrific sparkplug and Mike Sullivan is finally playing some young players and they've injected enthusiasm and talent into the lineup. Would be great if Crosby (and Malkin and Letang) have one last playoff run in them, but step one is to actually make the playoffs first.

 

[Don Wassall]

Tonight was another milestone game in Crosby's career as he now has 1,000 career assists and also passed Phil Esposito on the career scoring list and is now tenth all time.

And to show that it's not just about accumulating stats over a long career, the NHLPA, in other words the players themselves, just voted Crosby the NHL's "most complete player" and it wasn't close. Sid received 38.4% of the votes of his peers while second place finisher Aleksander Barkov got just 14.6%. Crosby's having a great season at age 36 and in his 19th NHL season.

Penguins' Sidney Crosby named NHL's 'most complete player' in annual NHLPA poll

Crosby edged out Aleksander Barkov for the honor

www.cbssports.com

 

[Don Wassall]

Crosby's contract expired on July 1 and most thought he would sign a new deal then or shortly thereafter to finish his career as a Penguin but he has yet to ink a new deal. And now the uncertainty grows every day as training camp and a new season approaches. This article was written a month ago but sums up the pros and cons of Sid remaining with the Pens or going to another team nicely as both sides are keeping the negotiations out of the media.

Kingerski: OK, Let’s Be Honest About Sidney Crosby

Canadians have a way of ending phone calls that is much different than Americans. Instead of goodbye or bye, many Canadians opt for the far more optimistic “Bye for now.” Which brings us to Sidney Crosby. Three Stanley Cups. A chance at a late-career gold medal in 2026. Sidney Crosby’s hockey...

pittsburghhockeynow.com

 

[Don Wassall]

Sidney Crosby has been known primarily as a great playmaker, but he's scored enough goals to become just the 21st NHL player to reach the 600 career mark tonight. Add to the goals his 1,017 assists and he now sits 10th on the all-time scoring list.

Sid's goal was the only one the Penguins scored tonight as they lost at home 6-1 to the not very good Utah Hockey Team. After 16 straight years of making the playoffs followed by two seasons of missing but not by much, the team has sunk to the bottom of the standings this year as they are old, slow and soft. Head coach Mike Sullivan should have been fired several years ago but is still made of teflon like the other Mike in town, Tomlin of the Steelers, but that's a discussion for the currently moribund 2024-'25 NHL season thread.