CLEVELAND -- Welcome to our series on who wore each number best for the Penguins.
The idea is being openly borrowed from our new hockey writer, Cody Tucker, and his project at the Lansing State Journal covering all the uniform numbers worn through Michigan State football history, one that's been well received by their readers and prompted heavy discussion and debate.
Under the organization of Taylor Haase, and following the voting of a big chunk of our staff, we'll publish one new one each day until completion, which should be right around the start of training camp.
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Name: Sidney Crosby
Number: 87
Position: Center
Born: Aug. 7, 1987, in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Season with Penguins: 2005-18
Statistics with Penguins: 864 games, 411 goals, 705 assists in regular season, 160 games, 66 goals, 119 assists in playoffs
WHY CROSBY?
"Serial winner."
I've covered Crosby's career from the draft to his debut to the Stanley Cups to his becoming a Canadian icon with the Olympics in Vancouver and Sochi and, therefore, I really resent that the perfect phrase to describe the NHL's one, true generational player came not from this keyboard but from Mike Babcock.
And it is perfect, isn't it?
Crosby can't ever have the complete package like Mario Lemieux, he can't ever be as prolific as Wayne Gretzky, and he can't ever transform the game the way Bobby Orr did, but he can -- and has -- become the greatest winner of his era. The one player you'd want on your side in a Game 7 of any series. And not just because he could score or set up the big goal. But because, as Babcock told a group of us reporters that day in Russia, "He'll do whatever it takes to win all over the rink."
That's Sid. On the ice. Off the ice. His motor never stops. His goal never wavers.
As genuinely good a human being as he's always been, as generous with his time as he's always been, it's always been evident, at least from this perspective, that the focus is never far from the Stanley Cup. It's not excessive to call it his obsession. It fuels his every practice, his every workout and even, to an extent, I'll bet, his immaculate conduct in all walks of life. He wants to be a champion, and he's firm in his belief that how a champion acts contributes to being a champion.
This, for me, will always be Crosby's preeminent trait. Even more than his extraordinary speed, skill, hand-eye, vision, touch, backhand, grinding, backchecking, and all else that make him easily one of the top handful of players who've ever lived. For me, it's the drive. It's seeing the end -- whether that's the Cup, Olympic gold, whatever -- and pushing, pushing, pushing, investing every waking minute into making it a reality.
I wrote from the ice surface in San Jose on that June night in 2016 that I was more struck than anything by how Crosby was clinging to the Cup. It not only never left his sight. It never left his grip. The least selfish person on the planet suddenly couldn't give the thing up with a crowbar. And there was cause: It had been seven years. His career had been cast in doubt by a yearlong bout with a concussion. He'd had other injuries, other setbacks. But on that night, he had it all back.
I never thought I'd see something like it again. Except I did the very next summer in Nashville, where he was clinging to that Cup the same way. As if he'd never experienced it before.
Enjoy him, Pittsburgh. Every day. Every game. Every shift.
WHAT'S HE DOING NOW?
IT WAS SPOKEN
Like Mario, Like Geno, this one's on you. You've read and heard all the Sid testimonials over the years. I want to hear yours. Use the comments section below to share personal memories, experiences, even encounters.
Let's make this one special. We can do that together infinitely better than I can alone.
Tuesday: Chris Bradford has No. 92.
Yesterday: Petr Klima
