Pittsburgh Penguins coach Michel Therrien, has suggested that his team needs more than two penalty killing units. He also suggested that he has penciled in Sidney Crosby for the 3rd penalty killing unit.
Crosby is enthusiastic about adding more responsibilty to his resume. He wants to prove that not only is he the best player in the NHL, but also the most complete player. He wants to show that there isn't any part of the game he can't master.
I have heard it said, that Sidney Crosby isn't the best player in the game, because he isn't a complete player like Vincent Lecavalier, because he doesn't kill penalties. This is complete hogwash and not based in reality.
Just because Crosby doesn't play on the penalty kill doesn't mean he isn't capable of doing so, after all he did that job very successfully while playing for Rimouski.
The Penguins previously believed, that there was no need to add minutes to Crosby's already heavy workload. They wanted Crosby to be fresh and ready to go for every offensive opportunity, not tiring himself by playing on the Penalty kill.
Their thinking has obviously changed and I don't necessarily think that's a good thing. Crosby may be capable of killing penalties, but why waste his energy doing so?
There are other players in the lineup that are less important to the team that are more than capable of filling that role. It is an unnecessary risk to have the best player in the league, facing slapshots from the point and putting his magical limbs at risk while blocking shots.
I suggest that the Pens continue to use him as they have been and only bring him out for the last few seconds of the penalty kill, in hope of creating scoring chances off the back of the tired opposition powerplay.
Crosby may turn out to be a top rate penalty killer, however, the rewards of being a complete player are far outweighed by the possibility of injury. An injury to such an important player, not only to the Penguins, but to the whole NHL, would be a crushing blow.
For the benefit of the Penguins and all the fans around the league who want to see Crosby and his magestical skill, I say, shelve the idea of playing Crosby on the penalty kill.
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6 comments:
Nothing wrong maybe in being able to fill in at that spot, but they have plenty of capable penalty killers, but on the flip side, he needs to become better defensively in his own end of the ice. (theres many players who are worse) He seems to be a hard worker, so that will come in time perhaps.
I would disagree, Crosby even if he did kill penalties, is not better then Lecavalier.
If you put him up against Lecavalier, Lecavalier is better then crosby is, in all facets of the game but one, passing.
If crosby is about proving he can do all roles that Lecavalier does, lets see crosby have the guts to drop the gloves like Lecavalier did with Chara!!
I doubt Crosby has any guts to do that!!
Crosby is a great player in the nhl, no doubt, but when you think about it, last 2 years, who was the top passer? THORNTON, who was the top Goal scorer? Heatly/Cheechoo.
When wayne gretzky led the league, for example in his third season, there was no doubt who was the top passer, and no doubt who was the top goal scorer.
Gretzky in his third year in the league, had 212 points, 92 goals, and tops in the league in assists.
Lets see if TSN has the guts to show a comparison of Crosby and Gretzky in their third years respectively...HAHAHAHAHA
NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHA
You are entitled to your opinion, but until Vinny wins a Hart or a Pearson there really is no debate.
As for the comparison of Gretzky to Crosby, I never made that comparison and thus is irrelevant to this article.
lecavalier is better in every facet of the game? vinnys 1st 2 years in the league 13g 15a 28pts year 2 25g 42a 67 pts. vinny has had one year where he scored more than 50 goals and put up over a 100 pts.
crosby year 1.. 39g 63a 102 pts
year 2 36g 84a 120 points. yeah i can see where vinnys so much better lets not even look at the vinny never scored over 30 goals till his 5th year.
as far as the gretzky comparisons go no one may ever match those numbers but you did forget one thing
the 212 point year was his 4th full year pro. he played in the wha with edmonton for a full year prior to the oilers joining the nhl. if your going to try and brag or insult at least get your facts correct.
Comparing Crosby to Thornton and Vinny and Cheechoo is like comparing apples to oranges to bananas, all 3 are different types of players, all 3 took different amounts of time before putting up their big numbers,and I get sick of hearing anyone compared to Gretzky and Lemieux because that was a different era where offense was king, and on the flip side, I get sick of hearing how Crosby craps gold, second year player with tons of talent and potential YES, but as talented as Sid is, he has lots of work to do on other aspects of his game, especially his defense. No im not a Sid hater at all, he IS the face of the NHL, he could very well be a legendary player before its over, but not yet. Before someone replies with some +/- blah blah stuff, +/- is a very overrated stat when it comes to determining a players actually defensive ability.
as good as crosby is he does have areas he needs to work on because he is second year player and sid himself has said as much in interviews. he is only 2 years into what i hope is a lengthy career
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