The older Sidney Crosby gets, the older you get. It's math. Or science. Both, maybe.
The Pittsburgh Penguins superstar turned 29 on Sunday. Seriously. Now only a year shy of 30, there's no better time to reflect on what has so far been a storybook career.
Here are 29 random thoughts and observations on No. 87 on his 29th birthday:
1. No one is allowed to call him "Sid the Kid" anymore. It's over. He's a man. Accept it.
2. Not only was Crosby born in 1987, he was born on Aug. 7. So, yeah, 08/07/1987. Symmetry.
3. Have you ever met a hockey fan who said, "I don't like Sidney Crosby"? Sorry, but Philadelphia Flyers fans don't count. Let's face it, he's mostly perfect.
4. Sports and fandom are irrational, so I suppose not everyone has to like Crosby. But this is for sure: you have to respect him.
5. Crosby's birthday, during the quietest days of the offseason, is the perfect time to sit down quietly and look at the back of his hockey card (or visit his Hockey Reference page). And it's something, yeah. The 2015-16 season was his 11th in the NHL, somehow. They were right: the children do grow up so fast. Crosby's played in over 70 games in seven of those seasons, recording 100-or-more points in five of them.
6. It's easy for forget, because it was so long ago, but Crosby had 220 points in his first 160 games in the NHL, as an 18- and 19-year-old. Ridiculous.
7. It's crazy how dominant Crosby was before his concussion on New Year's Day at the 2011 Winter Classic. He played only one more game that season (2010-11), and finished with 32 goals and 34 assists in 41 games. His 0.78 goals per game and 1.61 points per game remain the highest marks of his career when playing at least 40 games.
8. Concussions limited Crosby to only 22 games the following season, but he averaged a remarkable 1.68 points per game.
9. Crosby's 1.06 points-per-game average last season was the lowest mark of his career. And yet, it may go down as his most memorable campaign, as he raised the Stanley Cup and won his first Conn Smythe Trophy.
10. He's actually trending in the wrong direction when it comes to production:
| Season | GP | Points Per Game |
|---|---|---|
| 2012-13* | 36 | 1.56 |
| 2013-14 | 80 | 1.30 |
| 2014-15 | 77 | 1.09 |
| 2015-16 | 80 | 1.06 |
* Lockout-shortened season
11. More importantly, though, Crosby's been healthy. Hockey needs him on the ice as the face of the sport, not the face of concussions.
12. Crosby ranks fifth all time in points per game, and he's played in an era that can only be described as the opposite of those whose company he keeps:
| Rank | Player | Points Per Game |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wayne Gretzky | 1.921 |
| 2 | Mario Lemieux | 1.883 |
| 3 | Mike Bossy | 1.497 |
| 4 | Bobby Orr | 1.393 |
| 5 | Crosby | 1.327 |
13. Crosby's 1.105 points-per-game mark in the playoffs (137 points in 124 games) ranks 12th all time.
14. That two of the greatest hockey players to ever take the ice have played exclusively for Pittsburgh is insane. Hopefully Penguins supporters realize how lucky they are.
15. Think about how special Crosby is. Now, look at those points-per-game numbers above and think about how dominant Lemieux and Gretzky were.
16. Ask yourself: what hasn't Crosby won?
17. The answer: the World Cup of Hockey. And that likely changes in about eight weeks.
18. Crosby's remarkable track record is all the more jarring when it's written down:
- 2 Stanley Cups
- 1 Conn Smythe Trophy
- 2 Winter Olympics gold medals
- 1 Golden Goal (on home soil, no less)
- 2 Hart and Art Ross trophies
- 3 Ted Lindsay Awards
- 1 Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy
- World Junior gold and silver
- World Championship gold
19. One thing is for certain: Crosby will never win the Memorial Cup. What a failure.
20. Somehow, Crosby's played in only one All-Star Game, missing four due to injury. Yeah, as many as John Scott.
21. Also remarkable is how controversy-free Crosby's career has been off the ice. He's a model citizen. He lived with Mario for five years, after all.
22. Crosby's 62 regular-season points away from 1,000. That'll happen in February or March 2017. Fun!
23. Among active players, Crosby's points-per-game averages in the regular season and playoffs (1.327 and 1.105, as noted) are tops. His teammate Evgeni Malkin ranks second on both lists (1.180 and 1.040).
24. Crosby's earned slightly under $87.5 million - of course - in cash so far in his career, according to Spotrac.
25. If you're Canadian, watching this video will never, ever get old:
26. It had to be Crosby. Who else could it possibly have been?
27. Take a minute to think about the sky-high expectations placed on Crosby when he came into the league, when the Penguins were flirting with bankruptcy. It's so hard for kids to live up to the hype - because they're kids - but Crosby has delivered, and more.
28. He's won everything, his name is twice on the Stanley Cup, but this is the lasting image of his career so far, because it has to be.
29. Thanks, Sid. Here's to the second act.
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