Sidney Crosby is having a Hart Trophy-caliber season and it is flying firmly under the radar.
One thing I’ve noticed when looking at our content recently is that we haven’t talked about the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins nearly enough and, as a result, we haven’t put the spotlight on the superb year that Sidney Crosby is currently carving out for himself.
Maybe it is because we’ve come to take the veteran star for granted given that he has been part of the National Hockey League fabric for so long now, and maybe it is because we’ve been spoilt when it comes to watching his exploits on a nightly basis.
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Whatever it is, though, it has to stop and we need to start really shining a light on what Crosby is doing right now because he is having a stellar year at both ends of the ice, and his elite play has propelled the Penguins back into contender mix as they battle with old foes the Washington Capitals at the top of the ultra-competitive East Division.
Rewind back to the offseason and few predicted a season like this for both Pittsburgh and their iconic Captain, mainly because it was an aging core with a below-average supporting cast, question marks up and down the lineup, little flexibility when it came to the salary cap and an empty farm system lacking any real game-changing talent.
However, and thanks in large to the heroics of their franchise cornerstone, the Penguins have already stamped their postseason ticket and, with four regular-season games remaining, are top of the East with a two-point advantage over the Capitals having gone 7-2-1 in their last 10 outings.
Pittsburgh Penguins Star Sidney Crosby deserves to be in MVP conversation
They have been getting superb goaltending from Tristan Jarry who is 23-9-3 this season with a .912 Save Percentage and a 2.67 Goals Against Average to go along with two shutouts, they rank third in Goals For Per Game (3.37) and 10th on the power play (21.8).
But leading the charge all year long has been Crosby who leads the Pens in scoring with 56 points (20 G, 36 A) in 51 games, totals that places him 11th in scoring in the entire NHL, and he also paces his team with 20 power play points.
Crosby will likely finish over 60 points which is pretty impressive in a shortened season, and further proof that the 33-year-old is in no mood to slow down just yet and he continues to elevate the play of those around him.
He’s also been elite in his own zone and his defensive play sometimes gets overlooked, but the pivot has always been a high-level two-way forward who plays a real impressive 200-foot game, and he is currently winning 54.3 percent of his draws this season in addition to blocking 28 shots, racking up 40 hits and 45 Takeaways while averaging 20:29 of total ice time.
If you look at some of the underlying metrics then they only back up Crosby’s dominance this season, including a 52.6 percent CF%, a 62.0 percent oZS%, and you only have to study the eye test to understand just how dangerous the veteran still is and just how capable he is of pulling off breathtaking moves with his backhand and making things happen with a single sublime play.
Granted, Crosby has struggled as of late having recorded just two points in his last five games, while he looked invisible in the recent two-game set against the Capitals. However, given just how great he’s been all season, the Penguins will prefer that their Captain gets his slump out of the way now so that he’s firing on all cylinders by the time the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin in a couple of weeks.
And, with Evgeni Malkin hurt and Jake Guentzel the only other Pittsburgh player to have topped 50 points this year, coupled with the overall lack of real talent on this roster, you can make a strong argument that Sidney Crosby should be firmly in the Hart Trophy conversation this year given the impact he’s had on his team and where they currently are despite the obstacles in their way at the start of the season. He may not win any hardware but Crosby has been playing at an MVP level and the Pittsburgh Penguins would not be a top seed heading into the postseason were it not for his considerable efforts. It is about time we start giving both team and player more credit and attention.