By Michael Traikos
https://torontosun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/not-even-close-penguins-sidney-crosby-still-atop-hockeys-holy-trinity
October 18, 2018
Sidney Crosby and Josh Leivo battle for the puck during the Penguins' 3-0 win in Toronto on Thursday night. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press/AP)
Jim Rutherford is not sure if Sidney Crosby will win another scoring title.
Frankly, he’s not sure if Crosby even wants to win one. But if you want to win a Stanley Cup, then the GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins believes that Crosby — and not Edmonton’s Connor McDavid or Toronto’s Auston Matthews — is the player you want on your team.
And Crosby has the Stanley Cup rings to prove it.
“What do you need to do to ultimately win?” asked Rutherford ahead of Thursday night’s game between the Penguins and Maple Leafs. “Is it going out every night and trying to get as many points as you can or is it about winning championships? To me, that’s what has to be factored in when you’re talking about the best.”
Before deciding whom the best player in the league is, you first have to define what makes a player the best.
Does team success trump individual success? Are points in the regular season more important than points in the playoffs? To that end, is it more impressive to win the Conn Smythe Trophy or Art Ross Trophy in back-to-back years?
And can we even talk about McDavid or Matthews taking over Crosby’s crown when they haven’t yet advanced past the second round of the playoffs, much less won a championship?
“I don’t think it’s premature,” Rutherford said of the debate for who is the best in the world. “You’re talking about two young great players (McDavid and Matthews) who are going to have great careers, and you’re talking about a great player who has already established his legacy and won championships. But I think it depends on what categories you’re looking at. Are you looking at skill level or goal scoring or the overall team concept in winning championships?”
If it’s the former, there’s no question that McDavid — and perhaps Matthews as well — have surpassed Crosby as the NHL’s most productive player. But if it’s the latter, then there really is no debate.
“In my opinion, he is (the best),” said Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan, who won the Stanley Cup with Crosby in 2016 and 2017.
“To me, it’s not even close,” said Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock, who coached Crosby to a pair of gold medals at the Olympics.
If you don’t think team success is linked with individual success, then you didn’t pay attention to the Hart Trophy vote last season.
Part of the reason why McDavid wasn’t named league MVP was that the Edmonton Oilers failed to reach the playoffs. Matthews, who has entered the discussion for best in the world after starting the season with 10 goals and 16 points in his first seven games, has yet to win a playoff round.
And then there’s Crosby, who’s won it all and done it all on a team that has missed the playoffs once in the past 12 seasons.
“This is what I think,” said Babcock. “I think one guy’s got two gold medals and three Stanley Cups.”
And the other two guys?
“They don’t.”
Maybe that changes in the next year or two. But until then, it’s hard to argue against a player who has twice won the Art Ross and Hart Trophies, in addition to the Stanley Cup three times.
“I think everyone is trying to get a piece of the torch,” said Toronto’s Nazem Kadri. “But the passing of the real torch is the Stanley Cup. That’s what everyone wants.”
The last time Crosby won the Art Ross Trophy was in 2013-14, when he tallied 104 points in 80 games. In the four years since then, he hasn’t cracked the 90-point mark.
Not that it matters much. At this point in his career, Crosby is measuring his success in ways he might not have in the past.
So while he finished 19 points behind McDavid in the regular-season scoring race, it is worth mentioning that in the past three playoffs he’s racked up 67 points in 60 games — 13 more than the next-highest scorer.
“It kind of started with Steve Yzerman where he was getting lots of points every year but the team wasn’t winning,” said Rutherford. “And that’s when he adjusted his game to be the overall player and the team guy to win championships. And I see that as the same way with Sid.”
And yet, Crosby has not slipped into Jonathan Toews’ territory.
He’s two years removed from winning the Rocket Richard Trophy with 44 goals and has finished outside the top three in scoring only once in the past five years. He also entered Thursday night’s game with four points — all assists — in his first five games.
And that’s while playing on a line with Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust, two players who would never be confused with Patrick Marleau and Kasperi Kapanen.
“How old is Sid? Is he 31? He’s a pretty young guy,” said Babcock. “I saw McDavid play the other night and he had four points and he’s an absolute star. But these guys have done it forever, too. The measure in the end for all of us is we all want to have success.
“We want team success, because team success in the end is how you’re measured. So when you’ve been the best player on the best team, to me that’s totally different than being the best player on a team that’s not as good.”
QUICK LOOK AT HOCKEY’S HOLY TRINITY
Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews might end up surpassing Sidney Crosby as the best player in the world.
But it won’t be easy. Looking at each player’s first three seasons in the NHL, it’s clear that Crosby set a near-impossible scoring standard.
Sidney Crosby
2005-06: 81GP 39G 63A 102PTS (won scoring title)
2006-07: 79GP 36G 84A 120PTS
2007-08: 53GP 24G 48A 72PTS
Connor McDavid
2015-16: 45GP 16G 32A 48PTS
2016-17: 82GP 30G 70A 100PTS (won scoring title)
2017-18: 82GP 41G 67A 108PTS (won scoring title)
Auston Matthews
2016-17: 82GP 40G 29A 69PTS
2017-18: 62GP 34G 29A 63PTS
2018-19: 7GP 10G 6A 16PTS
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