Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby wrote his name in the NHL history books once again on Thursday.
With a goal against the Buffalo Sabres, Crosby became the first NHL player ever to record 20 seasons where he’s averaged at least one point per game. He broke the tie with Wayne Gretzky, who had 19.
Crosby has 80 points in 72 games this season, 17 more points than the second-leading scorer on the Penguins, Rickard Rakell. Crosby missed two games before the 4 Nations Face-Off, meaning he can only play a maximum of 80 matches this season.
The 37-year-old could still break some massive franchise records set by another all-time great, Mario Lemieux.
Lemieux is the Penguins' leader in goals with 690 and points with 1,723. Crosby gained the lead in the assist column earlier this season and currently has 1,058 helpers.
It’ll take some time for Crosby to beat Lemieux in goals and points, but he’s well within reach. He could even get it done before his next two-year contract expires.
Crosby only needs 48 more points to become Pittsburgh’s all-time points leader. He’s more than capable of setting that record in the first half of next season.
In every season where Crosby has played at least 40 games, he scored at least 47 points. As long as he stays healthy, he won’t break a sweat on his way to becoming the franchise’s point leader. If we use his 1.11 points-per-game average from this season, he’s projected to record eight more points this season and break Lemieux’s record 36 games into 2025-26.
Penguins Crosby Joins Exclusive Club With Another 80-Point Season Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby scored a first-period goal against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, March 27, securing his 14th 80-point season.
Breaking the goals record will be a bit more of a challenge.
Crosby has 618 career goals, 73 away from breaking Lemieux’s 690-goal marker. In the next two seasons, Crosby will have to get close to 40 goals in each of those campaigns to become the club’s all-time goal leader.
Last season, he scored 42 goals, his most since the 44 he recorded in 2016-17.
The goal to give him the point per-game record was his 26th of the year. In the season's final eight games, he’s on pace to score two or three more goals. He’ll have to return to his production from last season if he wants any chance to break the record, but at this point, it’s tough to doubt what Crosby can do.
As for the team, they lost 7-3 to the Sabres, sit 26th overall in the NHL standings and are projected to miss the playoffs for the third straight season.
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