From Washed-up-Crosby to Super-Crosby

[Pengwin7]

Then Tiger Woods happened. I held out belief for a long time he'd regain his dominance, because how does someone that good just lose it.

Hockey & golf are nowhere close to similar sports for comparison of player decline.

Golf is a highly mechanical sport. The best golfers have great physical dynamics & especially consistency. They have to be great under pressure. Focus of one's mind is critical to establish a rhythm that has been geared up to work.
In simplest terms, golfers are like watches. The best ones hit perfect timing... for some amount of time, it might be two months, it might be two years, it might be ten years. Perfection of each swing is critical. Once a watch loses its pace... it's done. That's what happened to Tiger & many other golfers over the years. And no, Tiger won't ever get it back.

Perfection in hockey is not critical. There are so many functions that all contribute.
It's like those EA Sports video games.
Guys have tools, maybe graded out of 100.
*Passing
*Shooting
*Skating
*Hockey Sense
*Stick-Handling
*Chemistry with others
*Team strategy/focus

Things like skating & stick-handling never decline quickly, unless there is some injury. Knees can kill a player's skating (Bobby Orr).
Shooting & passing may decline with serious hand/vision injury. Shoulders can kill a player's scoring (Dany Heatley).
Hockey sense is always there.
What can change for a player intensely is his chemistry with teammates and how he plays as part of the team strategy.
This is all it was for Crosby... and that gets sorted out soon enough when coach/management see that a dynamic player is off his rhythm.
They find a way to let him get back to the way he plays best.
Hockey players are more like car engines.
There are so many other parts to make them run at their finest. They are the key part for their own performance, but other things affect them. (Unlike watch timers, which is basically the whole watch.)
If they're all tuned up, the player goes really well... if one part is off, car might still run OK... if there's no oil... engine/car can look really bad.
Crosby didn't have enough oil at start of year.
Pens didn't do their vehicle maintenance.

[fungchen3]

Hockey & golf are nowhere close to similar sports for comparison of player decline.

Golf is a highly mechanical sport. The best golfers have great physical dynamics & especially consistency. They have to be great under pressure. Focus of one's mind is critical to establish a rhythm that has been geared up to work.
In simplest terms, golfers are like watches. The best ones hit perfect timing... for some amount of time, it might be two months, it might be two years, it might be ten years. Perfection of each swing is critical. Once a watch loses its pace... it's done. That's what happened to Tiger & many other golfers over the years. And no, Tiger won't ever get it back.

Perfection in hockey is not critical. There are so many functions that all contribute.
It's like those EA Sports video games.
Guys have tools, maybe graded out of 100.
*Passing
*Shooting
*Skating
*Hockey Sense
*Stick-Handling
*Chemistry with others
*Team strategy/focus

Things like skating & stick-handling never decline quickly, unless there is some injury. Knees can kill a player's skating (Bobby Orr).
Shooting & passing may decline with serious hand/vision injury. Shoulders can kill a player's scoring (Dany Heatley).
Hockey sense is always there.
What can change for a player intensely is his chemistry with teammates and how he plays as part of the team strategy.
This is all it was for Crosby... and that gets sorted out soon enough when coach/management see that a dynamic player is off his rhythm.
They find a way to let him get back to the way he plays best.
Hockey players are more like car engines.
There are so many other parts to make them run at their finest. They are the key part for their own performance, but other things affect them. (Unlike watch timers, which is basically the whole watch.)
If they're all tuned up, the player goes really well... if one part is off, car might still run OK... if there's no oil... engine/car can look really bad.
Crosby didn't have enough oil at start of year.
Pens didn't do their vehicle maintenance.

This is a great post.

[Mr. Guru]

Since Jan 1

Crosby is 1.62 PPG pace
Kane is 1.11

[kevinsrangers]

Maybe he was just in a slump. No reason. Maybe now he's playing hot. No reason. Players have hot and cold steaks. His was extra long, hopefully his hot steak is extra long. Anyone who gave up on him is crazy. Remember ovi had some "not so ovi" seasons.
With NO crazy slump crosby could come second, with a crazy slump, crosby could come in second.