By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux hold up Crosby's new jersey yesterday after he was named team captain.
Click photo for larger image.
Sidney Crosby already was the Penguins' undisputed leader and best player.
It has been a foregone conclusion that he would ascend to the captain's role, likely well before he was capable of growing a respectable playoff beard.
As an alternate captain, he has had the authority to talk to the referees on behalf of the team, just like a captain.
And he said yesterday he is someone who leads by example and does not expect big changes now that the "C" has been sewn onto his jersey. That hardly means the 19-year-old center undervalues his new title. Consider that Crosby mulled the decision to become team captain for months.
Michel Therrien, who stripped veteran John LeClair of an alternate captaincy and gave it to Crosby shortly after he took over as coach in December 2005, tossed out the idea to Crosby a year ago, after Crosby's stellar rookie season. Crosby knew he wasn't ready.
This past January, Penguins general manager Ray Shero made a more impassioned offer. Crosby still knew he wasn't ready.
Only after he finished his second pro season, became the youngest player to win an NHL scoring championship and got to experience the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time did Crosby accept the role he has been destined to fill since he was selected first overall in the 2005 draft.
"When it was brought up in January, I had a little doubt, and you have to be into it all the way. You have to be ready for the responsibility, and I've accepted that," Crosby said yesterday at a news conference at Mellon Arena in which Hall of Fame player and team co-owner Mario Lemieux presented him with a new version of his No. 87 jersey, this one with a white "C" on the left shoulder.
Lemieux was the most recent Penguins captain. After Lemieux retired in January 2006 because of health reasons, the Penguins employed three alternate captains.
"He's ready for it," Therrien said of Crosby "The first thing I did when I came here a year and a half ago, at the first opportunity, I took John LeClair's 'A' and gave it to him. You knew right away throughout the organization when we saw that kid that we had a special kid. You want to have guys like that to lead your team. I knew when I gave him the 'A' that when it was the right time he was going to be ready" for the "C."
Crosby becomes the youngest team captain in NHL history. He turns 20 Aug. 7.
"I was always told that age is just a number, and I try not to let it get in the way of anything," Crosby said.
That kind of insight from a teenager, along with an uncanny maturity and poise, added to the respect he has earned from his teammates and lumped on top of his playing ability. All were more than enough to convince Shero that Crosby was his team's heart and soul.
"When I came here over a year ago, I had heard a lot about Sidney Crosby," Shero said. "What I've seen over the past year is a player who's not only the best in the league at what he does, but he's also a player that exhibits a will to win, a passion for the game, a Pittsburgh mentality and a player that always strives to be the best.
"When I say earned, I mean earned."
That's why Shero approached Crosby in January at the All-Star Game in Dallas.
"Part of what makes him not your typical 19-year-old kid is that he thought about it for two or three weeks and came back to us and said, 'I don't feel the time is right,' " Shero said.
Once the season ended, Crosby took another few weeks to say yes.
"I was pretty optimistic that I was ready, but you don't want to make a sudden decision like that," he said. "That's a big responsibility and something I take seriously. It's an honor and a privilege to be captain."
Now that his time is here, Crosby doesn't expect things to change much.
"They shouldn't really a whole lot besides me individually maybe putting a little more pressure on myself," he said. "I just want to be better and lead by example."
Which is all the Penguins want.
"I don't think he's ever going to be the rah-rah guy, but I do feel as he grows into this he's going to be a guy who has that communication with the coaching staff and his teammates," Shero said. "He's got the respect in the room."
Crosby consulted with a couple of veteran teammates before finally accepting the captaincy. He anticipates no problem with his transition.
"As a captain, you have to take responsibility, of course, but there's a lot of guys I can lean on for advice or for help in that area," he said. "We have a lot of veterans, and even younger guys, who will speak their mind or give their opinion."
Although he's not a loudmouth in the locker room, Crosby developed a reputation during his rookie season for being a little too free with speaking his mind and offering his opinion to referees.
He has worked on that.
"I think I've taken strides at being better at making sure that I don't get as emotional as maybe I used to," he said.
Just as long as that doesn't wipe out his better attributes.
"We don't want him to change," Therrien said. "We want him to be Sidney Crosby and lead. "He's still learning."
(Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721.)
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