Around this time last season, Penguins fans across North America (including yours truly) were all asking the same question.
What’s wrong with Sidney Crosby?
Despite the presence of super sniper Phil Kessel on his right flank, the Pens’ captain was off to the worst start of his career. He’d collected a paltry two goals and seven assists during the first 15 games of ‘15-16. Worse yet, in 10 of those 15 games Sid was completely absent from the score sheet.
At the relatively callow age of 28, it appeared Canada’s most celebrated son was primed for a decline of epic proportions. Unthinkable only two seasons earlier, when Crosby made a clean sweep of the NHL’s major individual awards.
What a difference a year makes.
Since returning to the Pens’ lineup on October 25, Crosby’s been positively on fire. He’s piled up 10 goals and three helpers in just nine games. In stark contrast to his moribund start last fall, Sid’s tallied goals in all but two games, including a trio of two-goal efforts.
Utilizing his exquisite hand-eye coordination, he’s mastered the art of the deflection. A prime example: a recent power-play goal against Minnesota when he redirected a bullet of a pass from Kessel past a stunned Devan Dubnyk.
So what’s changed? How did Sid get his groove back?
Some might argue that he never lost it in the first place. There’s some validity to that claim.
Shackled to a 200-foot game under former coach, Mike Johnston, Crosby often was positioned deep in the defensive zone. A tough place to be when you’re expected to score. Especially in today’s warp-speed NHL, when a millisecond can make the difference between finding the five-hole or clunking a shot off the goalie’s pads. Which Sid did with mind-numbing regularity.
There’s no denying Crosby sprang to life the instant Mike Sullivan arrived on the scene. Since “Sully” took over last December, the Cole Harbour native’s racked up 40 goals and 79 points in only 61 regular-season games. An average of 1.29 points per game. Perfectly in stride with his career average of 1.33 points per game. Well above the 0.98 he averaged with Johnston at the helm.
Indeed, Sullivan’s aggressive, up-tempo approach suits Sid to a T.
An improved supporting cast has helped, too.
In particular, the energizing presence of kids like Bryan Rust and frequent linemate Conor Sheary have sparked a revival of sorts in No. 87. The youngsters have helped rekindle the passion and fire that for so long were hallmarks of his play, while encouraging his emergence as a leader.
Along those lines, GM Jim Rutherford’s savvy retooling altered a black-and-gold mix that had grown decidedly stale. Without switching jerseys, Sid’s been given a fresh start with virtually a brand-new team.
Maturity is another factor. Crosby is aging like a fine wine. He’s evolved into a complete player a la Hall-of-Famer Steve Yzerman, his boyhood idol.
“He plays at both ends of the rink,” Sullivan noted shortly after Sid led the Pens to the Stanley Cup in June. “He’s a great faceoff guy. He kills penalties when we need him to. He plays in all the key situations. I could tell as we went through this postseason that he knew that our team had something special. He was going to will this thing.”
Attributes that earned Crosby the Conn Smythe Trophy. And placed him in a league of his own.
Hi Rick,
7 – 1. Washington. Last night was an example of one Team exploiting the weakness of the other.
Goal. Advantage Capitals. Defense. Advantage Capitals.Forwards…Again Capitals.
Everyone has an off game but last night was payback time and the Caps wanted to send the Pen’s a clear message. U want the Cup, you need to beat us first !
6 penalties was way to much to take as well. Where was the team discipline from last year?
The next game in New York should be very interesting indeed.
Let’s go Pens.☺
Hi Jim,
Yeah, we really took one on the chin the other night. Ouch. Washington could do no wrong, it seemed, and we couldn’t do anything right. We left Matt Murray and poor Marc-Andre Fleury out to dry.
I thought Malkin was particularly dreadful. His turnover that led to the Caps’ shorthanded goal set the tone for the whole evening. And he continues to take a ton of undisciplined penalties. Not sure what’s going on with him.
Anyway, you’ll have nights like this now and then. And I’d sure as heck rather have them in November than in the playoffs. But I do think it exposed some chinks in the Pens’ armor.
They’ll need to dial it up a notch if they hope to keep pace with the Rangers.
Rick
Sorry Jim, Rick,
I missed this discussion; busy week.
Here is thought, All the way up to the coaching staff cantributed to the loss against the Caps.
Let me start by saying this, I do like Sestito and think he can contribute more than just a fight to the team, if given the chance. Unfortunately, since the team only seems to play him sparingly and in the traditional role of an enforcer, dressing him against the Caps seems to set even the teams out-look. The Pens beat the Caps without Sestito, or any Enforcer hockey in the play-offs. By playing Sestito like they did, I can’t help think that is why they, as a team took so many stupid penalties.
It may serve the team better to either dress Sestito more often and play him like any other 4th liner 8-10min a game and not just with the expectation of go out there and fight somebody, or drop him from the team. However they do it, they have to break the mentality of playing against the Caps means fighting.
So, against the Caps is one of the rare times I place some blame on Sully.
But at the end of the day, the Pens are much better off at this time of the year than last year and there still 60+ games to go to hone the team back to the team that won the Cup.
Sabres tonight
Hey Rick,
I must admit that about 3 years ago I was questioning Crosby’s future. In my mind he was failing and then flailing in his fall. I criticized him for his whiney attitude of crying to the referees when they put their whistles in their pockets and let the “Players Play”, a euphamism for allowing marginal players to commit penalties with impunity to allow them to compete with legitimate NHL calibre players. I was abhorred at the ridiculous “Garage League”, as Mario called it, interpretation of the rules by most of the officials but I was equally appalled by Crosby whining to the officials, as that only caused them to overlook more and more penalties that should have been called.
I do maintain that was a flaw in Crosby’s game. However, although I was mystified by Crosby’s lack of production under MJs plow horse offense as you and I discussed several times at the beginning of the year, I really thought that near the end of MJs last season I started to see a resurgence in Crosby’s game, at least from an intensity stand point. And even though I couldn’t understand Crosby’s lack of scoring, when I saw him reach his stick underneath the stick of a teammates that was lying on the ice and flick it up and into that players hand like some movie stunt between swordsman, I knew he still had all the talent in the world.
It would seem to me that the most important thing Crosby did was buy into Sullies shoot first mantra. Once he started putting the puck on net instead of looking pass first he made defenders have to play more honest opening up his passing game as well as giving him his share of goals. Right now with the torrid way he is scoring defenders and goalies alike are in quandry when he comes in and their hesitations trying to decide whether to guard against pass or shot is making opponents look just a fraction slower and opening up tons of ice while he is out there.
When you add in Crosby returning to his physical game he really is hockey’s best player. It really is amazing to see him throw out body checks that separate opponents from their equipment, considering that he really isn’t all that big.
The best thing is we get to watch him 82 times in a regular season or at least as many of those 82 games that he gets to play.
The other great thing right now is not only do we have the most dominant forward in the league right now, we may be seeing the emergence of the leagues most dominant goalie. After listnening to one of Root Sports play-by-play guys suggest that Murray has been the most dominant player in the league since last March, I looked up some stats besides his play-off excellence, only one goalie in the league who has played 10 or more games since March 1st of last year has had a better GAA or SV% and that is Montreal’s Price. That is some company to keep.
I don’t know what the rest of the season has in store, things may change, but I will say this, I am enjoying watching this team play. My only hope is to see Sullivan start showing more faith in Kuhnhackl and some of the other kids, giving them the same trust he gave last March and less reliance on veterans if for no other reason then not to burn out those older players before the post-season gets here.
Oops I meant MJs first season I started to see a resurgence
Hey Other Rick,
Outstanding stuff. Eloquently stated, too.
You make a ton of really great observations. You’re right. Sid’s attitude did appear to nosedive the final season under Bylsma, and during Johnston’s tenure as well.
In particular, I recall his minus-five game against San Jose in March of 2014, when he appeared to outright quit on a couple of plays. Very much out of character for him.
Spot on about the whining, too. For a long time, I privately questioned whether Crosby would ever emerge as a true leader. We saw signs of it down the dismal stretch run of 2015, when he and Marc-Andre Fleury succeeded in dragging a banged-up Penguins team into the playoffs.
Then, after Sullivan took over, he just seemed to mature into the consummate leader/captain. Again, very Yzerman-like, to draw a comparison.
Excellent points about him shooting more and returning to his physical roots. It brings to mind Colby Armstrong’s classic quote, when he labelled Sid “the most skilled grinder in the league.” Qualities that make him very tough to play against.
To me, he’s the best all-around player in the game right now.
Rick
Hey Guys,
You both wrote some great stuff. Rick,your reference to Stevie Y. was spot on.It seemed the older he got, the better he played. Sidney is playing the best hockey of his career as a complete player right now. Amazing.
We know it can not last for ever, as father time catches all of us but for now he is enjoyable to watch.
Coach,your point about his constant complaining to the refs was a sore spot for me too! But even the great # 99 was guilty of that. Mario, Bossy and La Fleur were almost as bad. I guess it goes with the territory of being a star.
My only point I can add is that Mike Johnston was also very good for Crosby, in him learning to be a complete defensive player. My friend from Nova Scotia who coached Sid when he was in minor hockey, told me last year when I was complaining about Sid’s goal production, that I was wrong in my outlook.His conclusion was that MJ’s job as the Coach was to set the style of play for the team, and Sid was following orders from his Coach. In other words Sid was doing his job to the best of his ability and remember guys, he never complained.That was what impressed me most about Sidney Crosby.
All he ever said was the Team had to execute better !
Classy guy, really.
Cheers
Hey Jim,
A couple of great points there;
A. MJ’s plough horse offense as I put it above bored me to tears and caused me to pull out some of the few remaining hairs on my head, but as Rick can attest too, I always conceded that he despite his limitations he did bring something to the team that it needed, defensive responsibility. Under MJ, #87 may have grown the most defensively but so did all of the remaining primadonna stars. I may have hated to watch the Pens under MJ but especially now in retrospect, I do concede that putting up with that “Plough horse offense” may have paid divendens in the end.
To say Sullivan is the best head coach the Pens may have ever had with the likes of the almost peerless Scotty Bowman and Badger Bob but right now as a bench coach running the game situations, adjusting to the other team, and keeping the players focused he may be the best in the league. However, MJs attention to detail may have helped set up Sullivan in some small part for the success we are seeing.
Also your point about Crosby not whining about MJ is well taken and speaks volumes about him as a classy player; an old school player. Not only didn’t he complain about MJ, he fought really hard to make make MJs system work, bouying the team up several times when they started to founder, helping to stave off MJs removal when it appeared that JR was ready to pull the trigger.
Hey Jim,
Excellent point about Mike Johnston’s influence. For the record, MJ was no dummy. He’s a very seasoned and knowledgeable hockey man who perhaps had one great flaw–he tried to shoehorn the team into a set system rather than coaching to the players’ strengths.
In all fairness, he was fired before the arrivals of Daley and Hagelin–not to mention the kids–which greatly improved the team’s speed and chemistry.
I, too, was impressed by the fact that Sid never complained under Johnston, even though it was clear MJ’s system didn’t suit him.
They say we grow through adversity, and in the long run I think it helped shape Crosby’s character and made him a better all-around player, as you so aptly noted.
Rick
Hey Rick,
Like Jim, I do appreciate the Steve Y comparison. But I am going to digress a moment, since we are talking about Yzerman; With all of the talk I have seen in the media recently over Jagr, his eventual retirement, his HoF career, and the positing of the retirement of his number, do you remember the rumor mill back in his early years suggesting that the Pens were about to trade Jagr for Yzerman? There definately would not have been enough pucks to go around between Lemieux, Francis, and Yzerman.
Hey Other Rick,
I don’t remember that. Was this during one of Mario’s prolonged absences?
Digressing even further, your post made me think of the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season, which Lemieux missed. The Pens still had Jagr, John Cullen, Ron Francis, Shawn McEachern, Joe Mullen, Luc Robitaille, Tomas Sandstrom, and Kevin Stevens up front. Oh, and Martin Straka, too.
Talk about a stacked lineup!
Rick
PS–With Markus Naslund on the way!
Hey Rick,
The Pens really were stacked back then. Bringing all those names up it really brings back some good memories.
I can’t remember exactly when the rumors first surfaced, that was a long time ago, I would think it would have been when the Pens still had Tocchet and Mullen playing RW and before Lemieux had retired the first time but was off and on missing games.
It is interesting that you brought Naslund’s name up. Like we’ve talked before, that trade sending Naslund to Van has never sat well with me. Naslund was never properly used here in Pgh but I hold that opinion off for another time.
Other Rick,
The Naslund for Alek Stojanov swap was arguably the worst hockey trade of all time. Naslund would blossom into a First Team NHL All-Star and go on to score 395 goals over 15 seasons. Stojanov would score two (both for the Pens) over a brief 107-game NHL career.
In GM Craig Patrick’s defense, the trade wouldn’t have seemed quite so lopsided at the time it was made. Stojanov was a 7th overall pick, taken nine slots ahead of Naslund in the ’91 Entry Draft. He’d shown a lot of promise in junior. Many thought he’d develop into a supersized version of Rick Tocchet. However, his progress had been slowed by shoulder injuries.
Pin this one on then-Pens coach Eddie Johnston. After struggling his first couple of seasons, Naslund got off to a fast start in ’95-96 skating beside Mario (12 goals in his first 25 games). When he cooled off, EJ unceremoniously yanked him off the top line. EJ was funny that way—he generally had a keen eye for young talent—but little patience.
Anyway, Naslund languished on the third line until the March 20 trade. I think Patrick’s comment at the time says it all.
“He (Naslund) is a gifted goal scorer. We couldn’t—or didn’t—allow him the playing time to accomplish what others have.”
Rick