Sunday, July 24, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
E.J. McGuire of NHL Central Scouting is a thoughtful man with a heartfelt passion for his game, and the people in it.
So when McGuire insists that he does not want to add to the pressure on Sidney Crosby, hockey's looming legend and the Penguins' savior-in-waiting, there is no doubting his sincerity.
And when he expresses his belief that it is premature -- if not flat-out inappropriate -- for people to compare a 17-year-old to Hall of Famers such as Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky, it's clear McGuire means it.
"I worry for the kid," he said.
His concern is genuine, admirable and understandable. But while discussing Crosby's knack for sensing how a play will unfold long before it does, even McGuire couldn't resist temptation.
"Mario lets the puck come to him and has a plan as it's coming to him," he said. "I'm sure a master chess player [thinks], 'I'm going to do this, then that's going to happen over here, and this is how it's all going to work out.' [Crosby] seems to have that uncanny ability."
OK, anyone could slip up once. McGuire wasn't about to draw any more parallels between Crosby, whom the Penguins will claim with the No. 1 choice in the NHL entry draft Saturday in Ottawa, and Lemieux. So when the conversation shifted to the broad range of Crosby's offensive talents, there wasn't a single reference to Lemieux.
Instead, McGuire brought up, uh, Gretzky. The one who has 2,857 career NHL points.
"Think back to the days when Gretzky was at his peak," McGuire said. "He wasn't the biggest, strongest, toughest.
"Gretzky was in the top five of accurate shots, was in the top five of hard shots, was in the top five of fastest skaters, but I don't think he was No. 1 in any of those categories. Across the line, there was always this Gretzky thread across the top.
"In junior hockey, I think it's fair to say that Crosby is in that realm. When he goes pro, at least at the beginning, he won't be No. 1 [in any category]. But, you know what? In almost every category, you won't have to look far down to see the word, 'Crosby.' "
Crosby, it should be noted, said the comparisons to Lemieux and Gretzky don't faze him because "it's virtually impossible" to perform to the standards they've set, and his father concurred.
"I don't think we set the bar that high," Troy Crosby said. "Maybe the media or people like that are setting the bar high. I don't think it's fair to him. He doesn't even consider trying to measure up to that expectation because it's impossible to do that, for a lot of reasons.
"Those two guys are pretty great players to measure yourself against. It's hard to be in their class. And the game is different, as well. ... He doesn't compare himself to those two guys, that's for sure. They're role models to him."
Crosby seems to be a pretty quick study, because his offensive output while playing for Rimouski in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League last season reminded a lot of folks of the way Gretzky and Lemieux used to produce points.
Crosby scored 168 points in 62 games, an average of 2.71. That's the second-highest figure in major-junior history, surpassed only by the 4.03 Lemieux averaged in 1983-84, his final season with Laval in the QMJHL.
Those junior numbers will forever link Lemieux and Crosby, as will their superior skill levels and hockey sense. But while their results are similar, the ways Lemieux and Crosby go about generating them really aren't, at least on some levels.
At 5 foot 11, Crosby is about five inches shorter than Lemieux and lacks the wingspan that has been such an asset for Lemieux.
He isn't exactly a clone of Gretzky, either. Crosby is feisty and will throw his 191 pounds around, whereas the only body contact Gretzky had during most nights came if a teammate bumped into him during a goal celebration.
"[Crosby] has a nice competitive edge," Philadelphia assistant general manager Paul Holmgren said.
That's part of the reason Lemieux likens him to Peter Forsberg, arguably hockey's finest two-way center for the past decade.
If anyone inside the industry believes Crosby is destined for something shy of megastardom, they've never said so publicly. There are, however, varying opinions of which talent is his greatest.
Some scouts are partial to the way he sees the ice, others to his anticipation. His skating gets mentioned a lot, too, as does his sheer refusal to fail.
"He hates to lose," Troy Crosby said.
And he loves to set up goals, at least as much as he enjoys scoring them.
"He makes unbelievable passes when there are no passing lanes," Chicago general manager Dale Tallon said. "He creates something out of nothing a lot of the time. His passing and vision are things that draw me out of my seat sometimes."
Turns out it's a lot easier for Crosby to pull people out of their seats than it is for opponents to bump him off his feet.
"For a young guy, he's really strong on his skates," Holmgren said. "He's hard to knock off the puck."
Because of that, Crosby is comfortable in traffic, along the boards and in the corners, places where some skilled players don't often venture.
For all that Crosby has accomplished, and all the promise before him, his father is adamant that his game can -- will, must -- be upgraded.
"He can be faster, I think," Troy Crosby said. "He could be stronger. If he wants to go to the next level, he's going to play against grown men, so he has to learn to get stronger, quicker. Maybe get his shot better. Every year, you try to improve all the skills of your game."
Of course, if Crosby had stayed true to his pedigree, he might be working on his kick saves now. His father tended goal for Verdun, while Lemieux was with Laval, and was good enough that Montreal spent a 12th-round draft choice on him in 1984.
Predictably, Sidney Crosby gravitated to the crease when he took up the game.
"When he first started playing hockey, he always wanted to be a goalie," Troy Crosby said. "He could skate pretty well at 5 or 6 years old, and still wanted to play goalie. I kind of discouraged him, for that reason."
If not for the prodding of his dad, Sidney Crosby might have developed into the Patrick Roy of his generation. Or maybe a guy whose hockey is limited to recreational leagues.
"I don't know where I would be right now if I was a goalie," he said. "I have a lot of fun playing goal, but I don't think I'd be here if I was a goalie."
Probably not, but if you blend Crosby's athleticism, work ethic and drive to succeed, it might be risky to rule out anything.
"He doesn't ever appear satisfied," Phoenix general manager Mike Barnett said. "The exceptional players, even when they've accomplished what they've accomplished, set their own bar and always look for ways to improve. Ways to get better every day, even if they become their own measuring stick."
Which Sidney Crosby won't have to do. Not as long as anyone remembers Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky.
(Dave Molinari can be reached at 412-263-1144.)
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