Crosby has many fans among NHL's elite

By Karen Price
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, January 23, 2007


DALLAS - Colorado Avalanche center Joe Sakic will be playing in his 12th NHL All-Star Game on Wednesday, is a three-time Olympian and two-time Stanley Cup winner and entered the 2006-07 season as the NHL's active leading scorer with 1,489 points.
The man knows talent when he sees it.

And Sakic is a big fan of Sidney Crosby's.

"Obviously, he's the best player right now in the game," Sakic said Monday at American Airlines Center, site of tomorrow's NHL All-Star Game. "He's taken off to a different level. We saw the impact he had last year, but this year, wow, every night there's a highlight reel of him. He's an amazing athlete and he's taken over."

Sakic isn't alone in his assessment. The Penguins' 19-year-old star has plenty of fans among the impressive talent assembled in Dallas this week. Turns out that many of the league's elite players believe that Crosby is the best.

"He's just a great player," San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton said. "He has great speed and he just has a knack for being in the right spot at the right time. He's a very complete player and it seems like he's getting better and better."

Said New York Rangers forward Brendan Shanahan: "I'm a big fan of his. ... What is he, 19? Man, it's amazing how he carries himself and his level of play, especially with the scrutiny he has. Very (Wayne) Gretzky-like in his ability to maintain a very positive image off the ice."

Shanahan wasn't the only one who brought up the Gretzky comparison.

"I played against Gretzky, although it was when he was a little older," Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom said. "But I can see the comparisons. Gretzky was great for the game of hockey, and I think Crosby's going to be the same kind of guy. People are going to know about Crosby like they know about Gretzky."

Crosby will be making his All-Star debut tomorrow, and it's certain to be the first of many such games for the native of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. Crosby will be the Eastern Conference's starting center after leading all players in fan balloting with 825,783 votes and registering the second-highest number of votes since balloting to select All-Star starters began in 1986.

For those Eastern Conference players accustomed to playing against him, several said yesterday that they're looking forward to being on the same team for a change.

"It's funny because during the season I'm usually matching against him," Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara said. "He's very creative and very competitive, and he seems very hungry every shift to make things happen. When you face a guy like that you have to be ready to play him every shift and take his time and space away as much as you can."

Crosby and Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin were the only two players to hold formal news conferences yesterday. As the pair exited the stage to continue holding court in media scrums along with the rest of the Eastern Conference team members, some of the best ever to play the game were on their way in for a Legends of Hockey photo shoot.

One legend was Mario Lemieux, who traveled with Crosby to Dallas yesterday morning.

Another was defenseman Ray Bourque, who may have delivered the highest praise of the day for the young star.

"For me, he may be the best player in the league right now and if he's not, he will be," Bourque said of Crosby. "His drive, his passion, his determination, not only offensively and how he plays the game, but how responsible he is and how he competes without the puck. ... He just brings it in all ways and all phases of the game, every night. That's what I look for when I talk about the best player in the league."



Karen Price can be reached at kprice@tribweb.com.