Personally, I'll wait until the Olympic Break before anointing this kid "The Next One".
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Posted on 07/30/2005 8:01:00 AM PDT by TomB
OTTAWA -- Let's start from this simple premise: Sidney Crosby cannot possibly be as good as people expect him to be.
How could he?
If NASA and IBM joined forces and took the heart of Maurice "Rocket" Richard, the hockey mind of Wayne Gretzky, the leadership qualities of Mark Messier and Mike Bossy's shot and created their own super-player, such a creation would still fail to meet the expectations heaped on the slender shoulders of the 17-year-old Canadian.
"You wish him well," one respected agent said. "But he's been built up into an icon before he's scored an NHL goal."
Everyone involved in the game, from the league to the Pittsburgh Penguins to Crosby's handlers, has a stake in what happens from the moment the Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native steps onto the podium during Saturday's NHL Entry Draft and pulls on a Pittsburgh jersey, donning No. 87.
They also have an equal responsibility to make sure that a young man who will not celebrate his 18th birthday until a week after the draft isn't crushed in the pursuit of their different goals, no matter how honorable and just.
The moment the Penguins were awarded the No. 1 overall pick during last Friday's draft lottery in New York, the phone lines at the team's ticket offices crackled with activity. Operators stayed on the line until midnight Friday, and some stayed at a downtown hotel so they could get back on the phone first thing Saturday. There were reports of spontaneous applause in Pittsburgh offices as the news pushed the Pirates and Steelers off the local sports map for at least a few days -- no small feat considering this is July and, when last seen, the Penguins were the 30th team in the NHL.
A team that had an average attendance of 11,000 in 2003-04, the lowest in 20 years, now can realistically imagine selling out 41 straight home games in the coming season.
"I think the sky's the limit for us," said vice president of communications and marketing Tom McMillan. "It's not Cloud Nine, it's Cloud 87."
Then, there's the small matter of saving an entire league.
Although the league had to be shamed into televising the draft lottery, it turned out to be great theater. Would viewers around the hockey world have tuned in to see which team won the opportunity to draft Rick Nash or Marc-Andre Fleury (another Penguins pick), or last year's top pick, Alexander Ovechkin? No. And that takes nothing away from those players. People tuned in to what became known simply as the "Crosby sweepstakes" or the "Crosby lottery" because circumstances and the uniqueness of the player have combined to create an unprecedented dynamo of excitement and expectation.
Mario Lemieux, at 18, did not face what Crosby faces when the Penguins made him the first overall pick in the 1984 draft. Lemieux spoke little English when he arrived as the savior of the franchise. But he did not have the glut of all-sports cable networks and sports talk radio and the Internet ramping up the hype-o-meter that provides the backdrop to Crosby's entry into the NHL.
They're setting him up for a fall, another top agent predicted. "He's not that good," he added, offering an almost heretical take on the situation. "Yes, he's very good. But there are a lot of very good players out there."
Crosby's résumé includes two World Junior Championship medals, one silver and a gold from earlier this year when he held his own on a powerful Canadian team dominated by 19-year-olds. His numbers in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League are gaudy (168 points in 62 regular-season games), but one agent cautioned that the league has a history of paying little mind to defense, allowing eye-popping stats.
Although he had 11 points in five games during the Memorial Cup tournament, Crosby was held in check by the eventual champion London Knights.
"This is the NHL. You're going to have to go around Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, Scott Hannan," the agent said.
Still, it is a delicate matter, daring to raise a hand, even a tentative hand, to question Crosby Mania. No one wants to rain on the league's parade.
Juxtaposed against the scorched landscape of the post-lockout NHL, it's not so much what Crosby has achieved but what he represents and what he might accomplish. He is the fresh face in a league whose very survival depends on looking forward. In the wake of the lockout, the NHL has to rebuild itself on the ice and in the local coffee shops and office buildings of North America. Crosby is the face of that rebuilding -- if he can manage to excel in the finest hockey league in the world.
If there is reason for optimism, however, it is the cocoon that embraces Crosby, beginning with his parents and extending to agent Pat Brisson, who first met a 13-year-old Crosby at a tournament in Toronto.
"He was just a peanut," Brisson said.
But if Brisson sounds concerned about what lies ahead, he betrays none of that. Just as Crosby's game was light-years ahead of his peers', his development and maturity continue to exist beyond his own calendar.
"At 13, he was asking questions like an 18-year-old kid," Brisson said. "It's been going like that from the beginning. It keeps getting better and better because he wants to get better."
Brisson lists Crosby's changing voice and interest in girls as perhaps the most significant changes he has observed in the past five years.
Pittsburgh provides perhaps the perfect landing area for the young phenom, or more to the point, the perfect safety net.
The team is rife with players and staff who have made their lives in Pittsburgh, who understand the game and the city, from the training staff to GM Craig Patrick to coach Ed Olczyk to assistant coaches Joey Mullen and Randy Hillier to Mark Recchi.
"There's a large family here that I think will help because people help in different ways," McMillan said.
The team already is planning to add an extra public relations person to travel with the team, and the team will assist in setting up lodging as the Penguins have traditionally had younger players live with local families. Lemieux, for instance, remains close to the family with whom he stayed when he first came to Pittsburgh. And during the early part of the 2003-04 season, it was Lemieux opening his doors to Fleury.
"He's an 18-year-old kid. You can't take that for granted. We know we carry a responsibility for the league and the sport, as well," McMillan said of Crosby. "We certainly feel the responsibility as an organization, and we take that seriously. But we're glad we have it."
Lemieux, with whom Crosby worked out last summer, will be the focal point in helping with the teenager's assimilation into the NHL culture. He also will be invaluable in absorbing some of the pressure, some of the attention.
"The one thing Mario didn't have when he came here was a Mario to play with," McMillan said.
Olczyk also will be crucial to Crosby's evolution from cult phenom to everyday NHL player. A former Penguin who came to coaching from broadcasting, Olczyk quickly has established a reputation as a fine teaching coach.
"Edzo understands all of the things [Crosby's] going to face, and not just the hockey," McMillan said.
Said Olczyk: "It's going to be important to put him in situations where he's going to have an opportunity to succeed.
"We're going to help him become a good player. Any young player's going to go through a transition period," said Olczyk, who recorded 794 points in 1,031 regular-season games. "At times, it'll probably get a little hectic and a little crazy."
But it's the expectations of the team and the expectations Crosby has set for himself that will matter most to Crosby, Olczyk said.
Maybe it doesn't matter that Crosby can't possibly become the person his clippings suggest. Maybe no one really expects him to. But maybe, against all odds, he'll be enough to make everyone happy.
Maybe.
I'm assuming the "agent" they're quoting isn't Crosby's. ;-)
BTW, the draft starts at noon. It's being covered by Fox Sports.
Sounds a bit like when Eric Lindros was drafted. Lindros is a damn fine hockey player, but he never quite lived up to the hype either.
Personally, I'll wait until the Olympic Break before anointing this kid "The Next One".
Freep mail or ping me if you want on or off the Hockey Ping List.
I couldn't ignore the existance of baseball any more than I have been for the last decade.
Oh, and Lindros was overrated from the start. Became a "common star" to use sports card vernacular, and didn't ever come close to the hype. While the hockey world was waiting for Lindros to become the next Gretzky, Jagr was on his way to becoming the next Lemieux.
1st Overall Picks
1980 - Doug Wickenheiser - Lasted 10 years, but was generally a bust. Picked ahead of Denis Savard, Paul Coffey, Larry Murphy, and Brent Sutter.
81 - Dale Hawerchuk - Hall of Famer
82 - Gord Kluzak - Injuries hurt his career. Picked ahead of Brian Bellows, Phil Housley, and Dave Andreychuk.
83 - Brian Lawton - 1st American picked first overall. Bust. Picked ahead of Steve Yzerman and Pat LaFontaine.
84 - Mario Lemieux - Hall of Famer
85 - Wendel Clark - Great player when healthy. Best player in first round.
86 - Joe Murphy - Major Bust for the Wings. Could have been great if he wanted to be. Picked ahead of Vincent Damphousse and Brian Leetch.
87 - Pierre Turgeon - Very good player.
88 - Mike Modano - Future Hall of Famer - still with original team(Stars).
89 - Mats Sundin - Future Hall of Famer
90 - Owen Nolan - Solid career. Draft order was Nolan, Petr Nedved, Keith Primeau, Mike Ricci and Jaromir Jagr. Derian Hatcher was 6th and Keith Tkachuk 19th.
91 - Eric Lindros - Traded for Petr Forsberg and several other solid players and draft picked. Good, but not great player and didn't live up to Gretzky hype.
92 - Roman Hamrlik - Solid Defensemen
93 - Alexander Daigle - Major Bust - compared to Lemieux. Still playing, but never scored more than 26 goals, and was picked ahead of Chris Pronger and Paul Kariya.
94 - Ed Jovanovski - Solid defenseman.
95 - Bryan Berard - Very good defenseman who came back from severe eye injury. Picked ahead of Jarome Iginla who slipped to the 11th pick.
96 - Chris Phillips - Good defenseman, but picked ahead of Derek Morris.
97 - Joe Thorton - Took awhile to adjust to NHL, but is a very good player today.
98 - Vincent Lecavalier - A major part of the Stanley Cup win for Tampa.
99 - Patrick Stefan - Picked ahead of Martin Havlat who is playing great for Ottawa, although Stefan has had a decent career so far and may break through.
2000 - Rick DiPetro - Starting goalie for the Islanders.
2001 - Ilya Kovalchuk - Star player in Atlanta
2002 - Rick Nash - One of the best goal scorers today
2003 - Marc-Andre Fleury - Expected to be a star goalie for Pittsburgh
2004 - Alexander Ovechkin - Drafted by Washington.
2005 - Sidney Crosby - Drafted by Pittsburgh
Despite the impressive statistics, I still wonder what all the Crosby hype is all about. Mario Lemieux finished his last season in the QMJHL with 133 goals and 282 points, and was much more of a physical presence on the ice (6'-4", 220 pounds) than Crosby (5'-10", 195).
I was thinking of Alexander Daigle, who turned out to be average or below average. We'll see.
95 - Bryan Berard - Very good defenseman who came back from severe eye injury. Picked ahead of Jarome Iginla who slipped to the 11th pick.
The Stars originally drafted Iginla. They knew what they had at the time, but they eventually traded him to Calgary to get Joe Nieuwendyk. Joe was a huge part of the Stars' Stanley Cup run. He won the Conn Smythe in their Stanley Cup season. Now Joe is in the twilight of his career, and Jerome is a star in Calgary. I would say that this trade worked out great for both teams.
Maybe the Penguins will trade Crosby to the Stars for Stu Barnes or something. After all, they traded Sergei Zubov to the Stars for Kevin Hatcher. :)
Yea, I was struck by that too. I saw him on the stage with Mario and was stunned by how small he is. But then again Lemieux is unusually large for his skills.
Well, considering they are already getting close to selling out all their home games, and the new CBA, I don't think money is going to be as big an issue as in the past.
When he had the youth and speed and talent, Daigle wasn't interested. Now he is but he went through a long period where he had let go of all his conditioning. Now he's a guy in his late 20s trying to get back his athleticism.
Lindros lived up to the hype. He centered the top line in hockey and got his team to the Stanley Cup Finals. Later, his career was compromised by a collapsed lung and several concussions.
Lindros lived up to the hype. The trade was a disaster as Forsberg and Ricci went on to great careers, Duchesne played well and Hextall had some more good years, but you can't hold Eric responsible for the deal. Well, he forced it but the Flyers didn't have to give away the farm.
Keenan sent Zubov to the minors during the Rangers' Stanley Cup season because he chain-smoked. He's got a lot of talent but has always been mistake-prone and sometimes a team gets tired of turnover breakaways on goal. Gee, what a surprise. Hey, he keeps the goalie in the game!
In the playoffs a couple of years ago he was last-man-back carrying the puck up ice (which I just hate, hate, hate). Just before crossing his blue line, he stepped on the puck and fell. I forget who picked it up and in one motion fired it past Turco.
Not really. And you can't blame Lindros him for the injuries. That open ice hit from Scott Stevens would have killed most guys.
Like I said in my post, the Big E is a damn fine hockey player and he definitely had the potential to be a dominant force, but the hype was that if Gretzky is the Great One then Lindros will be the Next One.
And regardless of the reasons, that didn't happen.
Zubov is still the best defensemen the Stars have had since they moved to Dallas. And over the last nine seasons, he has been the third leading scorer for defensemen in the entire NHL. During this same period, he is the only defenseman with over 40 points in each season. He sometimes makes mistakes, but every defenseman makes mistakes -- especially someone who plays about half the game (as Zubov usually does). The Stars never would have won a Cup, or even seriously competed for one, without him.
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