Through 19 years of ups and downs, Sidney Crosby never stops loving his sport

It’s always a special thing in sports when a player who is considered a “generational talent” not only lives up to expectations but completely exceeds them. Sidney Crosby is one of the athletes that comes to mind when you think about a player who has changed the game for the better. He has been the face of hockey since he first stepped foot on an NHL ice surface. 

After almost 19 seasons in the NHL, it’s easy to forget that the three-time Stanley Cup Champion, two-time Hart Trophy winner and two-time Conn Smythe winner with a CVS-sized receipt of other awards is still to his core just a kid from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia who loves the game of hockey. 

When he’s not watching Saving Private Ryan or blasting some Morgan Wallen, Crosby is watching hockey just like your typical NHL fan. When he first entered the league, it wasn’t always easy to find an NHL game on television. If you wanted to see “Sid the Kid” play, you’d have to watch him on The OLN Network or NHL on Versus. It was a different time. 

“I remember it wasn’t that long ago when people didn’t know a lot about hockey. I felt like the common thing that they would say is they liked hockey, but only [if watching it] live,” Crosby told Daily Faceoff.

Despite Crosby being the “it” player, in 2006 hockey wasn’t exactly the “it” sport. Not only has Crosby become an ambassador for the game, but he entered the league during the rise of social media and has had to grow with that aspect as well. 

“It’s hard for me to judge [the growth of hockey’s entertainment value]. I feel like my best gauge is how recognizable hockey seems to be,” Crosby added. “You’re seeing it a lot more, there are more eyes on it. TV has done a great job showing it — you don’t hear the ‘I can’t really see the puck as well’ kind of thing anymore. It’s developed a lot and I’m sure social media has helped too, but there’s a lot more eyes on it which is great.” 

There were certainly a ton of eyeballs on Crosby specifically in the early stages of his career, before he even put a jersey on for the first time he was labeled as ‘”‘The Next One’ inferring that he would be this generation’s Wayne Gretzky. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a kid. Eighteen and a half years later, we’re seeing Connor Bedard experience something similar. 

“I’ve always looked at it the same way: it’s always been something that just comes with it,” Crosby said about how he handles his interactions with the media. While it may have been a bit overwhelming back in the 2010s, he’s learned to understand how powerful his voice and opinion of the game are as an ambassador for the sport. 

“I’m not gonna lie, it’s a little easier sometimes than others when you’re dealing with the media,” he said. “When you’ve won 10 in a row it’s a lot easier when you have to answer questions than when it’s the other way around, but that’s a part of it,” he added with a smile.

Crosby can sympathize with today’s younger players who are finding their voice in how they handle the media, but it’s something every superstar talent has to learn for themselves.

“I don’t think I’ve changed my approach, but I’m more comfortable understanding what’s most comfortable for me and just being myself,” he said. “When you come in — you’re trying to navigate through all of that and there’s a lot of responsibility put on your shoulders at a young age — you just learn through that and it’s a big part of the process.”

At 36 years of age, it’s easy to think that Sidney Crosby’s NHL days are on the back nine, but considering that he is still producing at more than a point-per-game pace, he’s not slowing down. On Monday night, Crosby tied Gretzky’s record with a 19th point-per-game season. They’re only two players to accomplish this in NHL history.

It’s not every day you tie The Great One so, I asked Crosby if he’d respond to Gretzky or his parents first after the game.

“Putting a lot of pressure on me there,” he said with a chuckle. “Whoever texted first maybe? I don’t know, but yeah, it’s cool. Obviously, something I didn’t want to talk about — I knew it was getting closer. Anytime you can be in that company, it’s pretty cool.”

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As great as he still is on the ice after almost two decades: we all know the adage about Father Time. Eventually, Crosby will have to think about life after his playing career. Could that include TV work?

“I think about playing as long as I can and don’t let my mind necessarily go there,” Crosby said. “You see so many guys that I’ve played with and against — you see them on TV doing a great job and it seems to be a pretty seamless transition. That’s a credit to them because they make it look a lot easier than it probably is. I tend to think that I’d want to be involved with a team just with how much hockey has been such a big part of my life. I think being a part of a team would be cool if I had to think that far ahead, but maybe TV as well, I’m not sure.”

I threw in a joke that a podcast with him and Gretzky as hosts would do “numbies” as all the kids say. Crosby got a chuckle out of that. “He’s unbelievable,” Crosby said in regard to Gretzky’s persona on TV. “His memory and the way that he can talk about things that happened years and years ago. Just the experiences that he’s been through — if you had to listen to anyone tell stories, he’s one of the best.” 

When it comes to being a fan of the game today, there is a popular debate on who this year’s Hart Trophy winner will be. As a two-time winner of the award himself, Crosby recalled his emotion from 2007 when he was in the race for the first time in his career. His good friend from back home, the Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon, appears to be the favorite right now as the NHL’s MVP.

“When you’re playing at that level — I think that you just want to continue that. You don’t have to think about it that much. If he played 70+ games like that, then you just got to continue it with the same mentality,” Crosby said about what he felt back in 2007.

The favorites for the award right now it seems are MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov, and Connor McDavid.

“I think his focus and all three of those guys’ focus is to try and get points at this point in the season for their team too,” Crosby said. “That’s a big factor, but that’s going to push them enough to leave it up for whoever gets it, but it’s going to be an interesting race.” 

When it comes to MacKinnon specifically, not many NHL players speak more highly of him than Crosby who happens to train with him in the off-season.

“There’s some great competition there, so it could be anybody’s but he’s definitely had an incredible year,” Crosby said. “Knowing him and seeing how hard he works, you want to see him get rewarded.”

There aren’t many players in the NHL that appreciate the game as much as Crosby does. Even after all this time, he’s still as big of a fan of the game as he’s always been. Crosby continues to be such an incredible representative of this sport and has an ample amount of time left in this league before he has to think about what’s next. 

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