Since he was the first overall pick by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2005 NHL Draft, Sidney Crosby has been one of the biggest superstars in the NHL. He was expected to be one of the best players in the league but he has exceeded all expectations.
Crosby played his junior career with the Rimouski Oceanic where he was a dominant player. He was often said to be “The Next One” of his era and he certainly became that. There are individual and team accolades for him to be proud of.
Throughout his career, he has won the Stanley Cup three times, the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP twice, the Hart Trophy as the MVP of the league twice, the Art Ross as the league’s leading scorer twice, the Rocket Richard as the league’s leading goal scorer twice, and has been an All-Star eight times.
Crosby was named as one of the league’s top 100 players of all time when it celebrated its centennial season. To be honest, you can claim him as a top-five player of all time when you look at it deeply.
Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins is one of the best NHL players ever
Now, we are 15 games into his age 36 season. So far, he hasn’t missed a beat as he gets a little bit older. Right now, he has 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points in those 15 games played. He is on pace for yet another 100+ point season.
At this point, Crosby should be thinking about a certain career milestone that he is capable of. Right now, Crosby has 560 goals and 962 assists for 1522 points.
Crosby, with four great years left in his career, should be thinking about 700 goals and 1300 assists for 2000 points. That would make him the second all-time leader in assists and points as he would only trail Wayne Gretzky in both departments.
For this to happen, Sid would need to stay pretty healthy the rest of the way. He’d also have to play for at least four more years and stay productive during those years. Nobody should ever doubt Sid at this point in his career.
There were a lot of tough years for Sidney Crosby. He dealt with some bad injuries in the middle of it all and it cost him a ton of games. It was pretty much two years’ worth of time missed. He’d be even closer to those milestones if he were to have had a little bit better luck.
The fact that he can be chasing these milestones with three championships already in his back pocket will make it even easier to chase. It has been fun watching Crosby for all these years and it should be amazing to watch him finish it up.