From Washed-up-Crosby to Super-Crosby

[ShawneePanthers]

So we've seen Crosby go from a really cold player (at least by Crosby standards ) at the beginning of the season- for at least a few months to what he is right now - do you guys really think the coaching change was the major factor behind this resurgence, or are there any other ideas of why Crosby was performing solo at the being of the season, but has stopped his game back up to what we expect of him at this time? Perhaps some personal life issues? I don't know. At any rate, the people who waited months for Crosby to get his game back in order, as well as those who know the value of buying low, are now being rewarded (not that it was necessarily hard to wait on Crosby - much easier than just about any other player in the league, granted there were a lot of Crosby trades within the first two months of the hockey season).

[JagrBomb]

He could have finished the season at the same awful pace as first half and I still would have drafted him 1st overall next year.

[Axeman33]

He could have finished the season at the same awful pace as first half and I still would have drafted him 1st overall next year.

Agreed.

[rataylor22]

So we've seen Crosby go from a really cold player (at least by Crosby standards ) at the beginning of the season- for at least a few months to what he is right now - do you guys really think the coaching change was the major factor behind this resurgence, or are there any other ideas of why Crosby was performing solo at the being of the season, but has stopped his game back up to what we expect of him at this time? Perhaps some personal life issues? I don't know. At any rate, the people who waited months for Crosby to get his game back in order, as well as those who know the value of buying low, are now being rewarded (not that it was necessarily hard to wait on Crosby - much easier than just about any other player in the league, granted there were a lot of Crosby trades within the first two months of the hockey season).

Couple things - Firstly, the coaching thing was huge. I went to the Flames-Penguins game when they rolled through Calgary and everything about Crosby's game you could tell was off. It wasn't just how he was playing, it was everything. His attitude. His body language. His skating. He started off the game frustrated as hell and it just went down from there. I have watched a lot of Crosby, and a lot of Penguins, and I honestly think it was all stemming from a dislike of the coach, his systems, everything about him. I don't think it was injury, I don't think it was things in his personal life, I think it was the coach. Even little things like Mike Johnston would regularly be rolling out Scuderi/Cole as the defenceman behind Sid. Good ole, off the glass and out, can't make a tape to tape pass Scuderi. Anyone who plays hockey knows how frustrating it gets when you can never get a pass in stride, always chasing the opposing dmen, never do a proper breakout. And after enough games of it, you start out the game frustrated because you know how the whole game is gonna go before it even starts. Right or not, it happens. Hell, even Toews and Kane are almost always out with one of Keith, Seabrook, or Hjalmarsson. Since Sullivan has come in, Crosby is usually on the ice with Letang, Maatta, Daley, even Dumoulin, guys that can skate and make plays. It just makes a difference when you can get a pass in stride and attack with speed as opposed to either having to forecheck defenceman every single play to get the puck back, or stop and reach behind you and be flat-footed because passes are never on your tape, or even worse always be playing defence because they defenceman you're on the ice are tire fires and can never get the puck back, and the odd time the do just immediately dump it to the other team again.

Secondly is confidence. You could see it every rush he got. He wouldn't shoot. He wouldn't even look to shoot. And he was passing to soon. Those breakaways he scored on last night? Hell, earlier in the year he would have been looking for the pass on both of them. By "he was passing too soon", part of what makes Crosby so great is he holds the puck until the last possible second. Until the goalie and defenceman commit, and then he makes a play most players cant make. But he wasn't shooting, so goalies and dmen weren't committing, and he was passing as soon as he saw it, instead of waiting until it was the right play to make. He has the confidence now to shoot and make the plays he used to make and it's showing.

There was an article in January that I'm honestly too lazy to find where Crosby talked about his confidence. He said over the Christmas break he went home, recharged, played some just fun shinny games with his friends and in playing those games something just kind of clicked. He started feeling his shot again, started feeling his timing again, stopped overthinking everything and just got back in his groove.

So really it was a combination of both. But I am more than confident in saying that without the coaching change, it wouldn't matter where Sid's confidence was at, we wouldn't be seeing this out of Sid. Mike Sullivan has done so much for this team. They didn't even rally change the system. Just changed their execution of it, changed the payers their players were playing with. Let Conor Sheary chase the game, don't make Sid do it. Something Mike Johnston never understood.

[forumname]

He could have finished the season at the same awful pace as first half and I still would have drafted him 1st overall next year.

I think that's easy to say now that we've seen a resurgence. I had faith too, but a whole season of that would have been hard to deny come next draft time.

On another note, I would love to see him keep this up and blow past Kane! I don't own him in any pools, but that would be awesome.

[Rylant]

I think that's easy to say now that we've seen a resurgence. I had faith too, but a whole season of that would have been hard to deny come next draft time.

On another note, I would love to see him keep this up and blow past Kane! I don't own him in any pools, but that would be awesome.

He has 23 points to catch up in 30 games. Yes, that would be awesome, but the only way that happens is if Kane gets injured. I think Crosby will probably be comfortably in second place in the scoring race at the end of the year.

Rylant

[rataylor22]

He has 23 points to catch up in 30 games. Yes, that would be awesome, but the only way that happens is if Kane gets injured. I think Crosby will probably be comfortably in second place in the scoring race at the end of the year.

Rylant

Does he hit 100? After last night he needs 47 points in 30 games, 1.56 PPG. But if this hot streak he can have a couple more 3 or 4 point games and knock it down to 1.3, He might be able to.

[forumname]

He has 23 points to catch up in 30 games. Yes, that would be awesome, but the only way that happens is if Kane gets injured. I think Crosby will probably be comfortably in second place in the scoring race at the end of the year.

Rylant

Sure, it's unlikely, but if Crosby scores at good clip (100+ point pace) from here out, and Kane slows down to a 70 point pace (certainly possible), then I think it could reasonably happen. We could crunch the numbers to see exactly what kind of production it would take from both to make it happen, but I would rather just watch and hope it happens!

[Timmins_Tornado]

I keep reading all of this talk about buying low on players like Crosby and Tavares. I got offered Pavel Datsyuk and a first round picks (110 players off the board to start the draft) for Tavares. I also know the Crosby owner in my league would sooner let me spend a night with his wife than part with Crosby, mid season, in a selling low scenario. You guys are lucky if you managed to grab either of them.

[Kaype32]

Seems to me like Crosby is playing almost mad right now.
Hitting and cross cheaking players.
Just trying to prove a point.
Career ppg + player. If you let half a season of lower than standard production from him force you to trade him. You don't deserve him:

[ericdaoust]

Crosby was never washed up.

[fungchen3]

Secondly is confidence.

Confidence is a funny thing, eh? I remember hearing John LeClair talk about the "biggest reason" for his breakout when he was traded to the Flyers. He said that obviously playing with Eric Lindros helped, but more so, he credited confidence. He said he went from playing 4th line in Montreal to playing top line in Philly, and once he was confident enough to believe he belonged up there, there was no turning back - it's like a switch went off. There's no doubt in my mind that confidence played a part here with Sid... a BIG part.

Sure, it's unlikely, but if Crosby scores at good clip (100+ point pace) from here out, and Kane slows down to a 70 point pace (certainly possible), then I think it could reasonably happen. We could crunch the numbers to see exactly what kind of production it would take from both to make it happen, but I would rather just watch and hope it happens!

If Kane scores @ a 0.93 PPG pace (76 points over 82 GP pace) and Crosby scores @ a 1.52 PPG pace (125 points over 82 GP pace) for the remainder of both of their games...

... they would TIE for the Art Ross with 99 points each.

Could you imagine?

Is the ^ scenario likely? Nah. Is it possible? Sure. I think Sid could score at a sick 1.5 PPG pace, but I also don't see Kane dropping under 1 PPG pace considering he's been hitting a 1.33 PPG pace all season without much up-and-down.

[blayze]

Would love to see Sid come back with an unreal second half to steal the Art Ross from Kaner. That would be an amazing story.

[Pengwin7]

re: Crosby & others.
Player performance at the start of the season always gets magnified... too much... by most.
Case-in-point: Colton Parayko. How many people were going absolutely ga-ga over this guy?
What did the consensus have him pegged for after his first month or two... 30+pts... 40+pts... 50+pts!!! (I bet some some did.)

Crosby is Crosby.
Never shoulda been a sliver of doubt for anybody in the circles of dedicated fans.
Did any of us really doubt he'd pick it up? (sort of a strange/unnecessary thread... but it click-baited me... so mission accomplished)

[brett_c_b]

Crosby is Crosby.
Never shoulda been a sliver of doubt for anybody in the circles of dedicated fans.
Did any of us really doubt he'd pick it up? (sort of a strange/unnecessary thread... but it click-baited me... so mission accomplished)

I had a small amount of doubt, albeit not much. Historically I've always been of the opinion that someone that talented doesn't just lose it overnight.

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. That was in the back of my mind (although I did unsuccessfully try trade for Crosby since I didn't really believe he was all of a sudden terrible)