Thursday, May 31, 2007
By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Penguins center Sidney Crosby will become the youngest captain in NHL history today.
The team will formalize his appointment at a news conference at Mellon Arena.
Crosby has served as an alternate captain for most of his two seasons in pro hockey. He shared those duties with Mark Recchi, Sergei Gonchar and, before he severed ties to the team, John LeClair the past season.
Crosby, who will not turn 20 until Aug. 8, became the youngest scoring champion in league history in 2006-07, when he put up 120 points.
Vincent Lecavalier, who succeeded Chris Gratton as captain of Tampa Bay when Gratton was traded late in the 1999-2000 season, is the NHL's youngest captain to date but was about a month older than Crosby is when he inherited the "C."
Neither Crosby nor team officials could be reached for comment, but moving him into the captaincy for 2007-08 is an idea that has received almost universal support, inside and outside the organization, for many months.
The Penguins have not had a captain since a heart ailment forced Mario Lemieux to retire during the 2005-06 season.
Crosby will be the 12th captain in franchise history. The others are Ab McDonald, Ron Schock, Jean Pronovost, Orest Kindrachuk, Randy Carlyle, Mike Bullard, Terry Ruskowski, Dan Frawley, Lemieux, Ron Francis and Jaromir Jagr.
(Dave Molinari can be reached at DWMolinari@Yahoo.com.)
No comments:
Post a Comment