What do you Hockey fans think of this young star? I don't follow Hockey much, but the cover of ESPN.COM got me to reading about him and it seems like this kid is the greatest thing to step onto the ice. How does he measure up to other Hockey Legends like... Gretzky, Goulet, Lemieux, or Howe?
2007-10-03 04:52:17 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Hockey
Great question, nice to see you are taking interest in hockey. You are right to compare Crosby with the best players of all time. He is already the best in the NHL at this young age, and he will be the best player in the league for the next 12-15 years.
He might not break Gretzkys records or win as many Stanley Cups as him, but Crosby is the closest thing to Gretzky we will ever see. Make sure to follow his career, it will be a great one.
2007-10-03 04:57:31 · answer #1 · answered by matt_levicki 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Sidney Crosby is getting a lot of people saying that he is the next Gretzky, which is possible. Since Gretzky retired in 1999, there has been no other player come into the league that can be said that he might challenge Gretz's records until Crosby. In 2 seasons, Crosby has recorded back to back 100 point seasons as a teenager, becoming the youngest player ever to win the Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion and then the Hart Trophy as MVP last season at the age of 19. The one knock on the kid is that he tends to whine when calls don't go his way, and he also tries to sell calls to refs a lot. In his defence, those are things that you're taught to do in the Junior leagues, and Sid is just 20, so there is time for him mature in that regard. If he manages to stay healthy throughout his career, Sid could very well challenge Gretzky's scoring records. And with the wealth of other young talent surrounding him in Pittsburgh (Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Marc-Andre Fleury to just name a few, and Angelo Esposito coming up soon), they could very well challenge for the Stanley Cup for many years to come, provided the Pens are able to keep the core of that team under the new cap system.
2007-10-03 16:58:51 · answer #2 · answered by Me 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Crosby is the best player in the nhl right now, last years award ceremony was proof of that. It's difficult to compare him to greats that played in a different era for hockey. However, every once in a while a player comes into the league (Orr, Gretzky, Richard) who seems to see the game differently than the rest, and in this respect I believe Crosby is like the greats you have mentioned. He possesses excellent skill, but, like Gretzky, his skills alone have not given him the success that he has had. It's the way he sees the game that sets him above the rest in the NHL.
Don't listen to those who call him a crybaby. Gretzky got the same kind of criticism when he came into the league. There will always be those people who try to bring down the greats. I don't understand it personally, maybe their fathers talked more about Gretzky than their sons. Everyone chirps the refs when they get butt-ended or lose a couple teeth.
2007-10-03 15:55:04 · answer #3 · answered by player44 2 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Well I wouldn't put Goulet in the legend category, lol. Crosby has the vision to see the ice like Gretzky did, seems to be developing his scoring and elevates the play of those around him. Things we used to say about Gretz and Lemieux. Given time I expect he will become a decent leader as well, after all Mario is his mentor.
2007-10-03 16:50:55 · answer #4 · answered by PuckDat 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Goulet is a hockey legend to be named in the same sentence as Gretzky, Lemieux, and Howe....................wow!
Crosby is an amazing player. Mike Milbury practically called him God last night on TSN when he said Crosby is the best and smartest player he has seen since Bobby Orr. Pierre Maguire inquired about Gretzky and Lemieux, and Milbury insisted that he didn't see the same skills in Gretzky and Lemieux that he sees in Crosby. I hope Maguire explained to Milbury off-air that it is ludicrosity like that which has Milbury as an analyst now.
Anyway,
I have Crosby beneath Orr, G. Howe, M. Richard, W. Gretzky, M. Lemieux and Bossy for now. He's young, things will change.
As for people calling him a cry-baby. I've yet to meet an NHL player that has played a single shift in the NHL without chirping at the ref about something somebody did.
2007-10-03 15:25:18 · answer #5 · answered by Like I'm Telling You Who I A 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
He has already broken some of Gretzky's records actually.
288- I take exception to "The greatest crybaby athlete with skills and talent in any given sport. All the others like Gretzky, Howe, and Lemieux are just great athletes."
What exactly makes him this crybaby? Because Don Cherry says so? I assume it is that he chirps at refs. You best take a LONG LOOK at the careers and game tapes of Mr. Gretzky and Mr.Lemieux before making a statement like that. Mario didn't even leave his disdain on the ice, he would rant about it endlessly AFTER games so that is not a fair statement. Also, Forsberg was the same way. I can actually see where some of these stars come from anyway-they are forever taking cheap shots and when they chirp about it, it makes them crybabies? I think it is more them just being passionate. I vehemently disagree.
A couple people make that statement (Crosby a crybaby), including my beloved Flyers team and everyone takes it to heart.
Let me tell you this, half the time when you would hear someone in the NHL say it (Derian Hatcher after he took out some of Crosby's teeth) it is because they are getting schooled by him and are looking to gain an advantage with the officiating in an attempt to minimize his effectiveness.
Sorry, just bothers me to hear that.
2007-10-03 12:08:43 · answer #6 · answered by Bob Loblaw 7 · 7⤊ 1⤋
The greatest crybaby athlete with skills and talent in any given sport. All the others like Gretzky, Howe, and Lemieux are just great athletes.
Bob, I'm judging him from his past two seasons. If you remember from last season, I've always said that he's a crybaby and I'm not backing down from my views until he shows otherwise; and that's just not from the spear he took during that Habs game at the end of the season. He's like an international soccer player. He takes a little swipe and goes down like a sack of bricks. He's a crybaby. I really hope that guys like Roberts and LaRaque tells him to stop doing that though. I was talking to someone a few months ago who said that Gretzky was like that in the beginning of his career, something that I'm too young to remember. The sooner Crosby starts taking it like a man (in a man's league, by the way), the better leader and an even better team the Penguins will be.
And no, Bob, I never listen to what people say about other people; it's all from my own observations.
2007-10-03 11:56:29 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 3⤋
Yes the kid is brilliant and yes he chirps. So what? As someone already mentioned, Lemieux chirped like mad, but he didn't have anyone to look out for him. Neither will Sid because there's no enforcers anymore. You can't deny the kid's talent and passion just because he's got a big mouth sometimes. I think if he stays healthy he's going to be right up there with Gretzky.
Now going off topic a bit, and probably opening a can of worms, all I can ever think of when I see that Russian kid with his STUPID visor....yeah that guy...is Team Canada cleaning his clock in Jr's. Soft, soft, soft.
2007-10-03 14:52:26 · answer #8 · answered by Nic 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
He could go down as the greatest hockey play in the history of the game. The kid's got an unmatched talent on the ice.
2007-10-03 11:54:43 · answer #9 · answered by burghgirl 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Unless his career is cut short due to injury he will definately end up one of the best players in hockey history; He won't ever be outscoring Gretzky though... changes to the game prevent that from occurring.
2007-10-03 14:16:32 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋