Sidney Crosby made his long-awaited debut on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast on Wednesday's episode.
The full podcast can be heard here. Crosby joins the podcast at the 49-minute mark. There's a language warning on this.
Some notes from the podcast:
• There's a lot of talk about Crosby's superstitions. Early in Crosby's career, Crosby wouldn't touch the soccer ball before the pregame soccer game. He'd always play in the soccer games, he just wouldn't touch the ball until he was ready.
• They bring up a story Joe Vitale told when he was on the podcast. Crosby told Vitale a story about his trip to Italy the previous summer before the Penguins’ game in Montreal in March 2013. The Penguins won 7-6, and Crosby scored a goal and two assists.
Crosby, not wanting to change up his routine, told Vitale the same story as if it was new the next game. The Penguins won again, so telling Vitale about Italy became a weird ritual for as long as the Penguins kept winning. The Penguins went on a 15-game winning streak, so Vitale heard the story quite a few times.
"That's nothing for me," Crosby laughed. "I look back, and I'm like, 'Yeah, I did that.' But he went along with it. The second and third time I came back to tell him, I was like, 'Okay, he's on board, he knows what I'm doing here.' ... It's not word-for-word. ... It's not that long of a story, it's a quick story."
• Crosby had 102 penalty minutes his rookie NHL season. He spoke about it.
"I remember (Ryan Malone) telling me with I think five games left, he said something like 'You're at 98. You think you're going to get-' I was like, 'I'm not going to get 100. There's no way I'm getting 100. I can fight it off.' Sure enough, I got 100 that night right away, and I got an extra two. I was so pissed that I got 100 I just got teed up for an extra two."
• On Ziggy Palffy: "Ziggy was unbelievable. He just toyed with goalies, could just knock any puck down. You give him any pass, anywhere, he was incredible. So underrated for how good he was."
• On Chris Kunitz: "He can do anything. It doesn't matter if he's not scoring, if he's not setting guys up. He's doing all of those little things that you don't really notice, but you know that are so important to winning. In the playoffs he just always found a way to elevate his game."
• On Pascal Dupuis: "He's another guy like Kuni. I mean, he just did all of those little things. I feel like those guys, they're so important to winning. They do more than just score or set up guys. They just understand the game. If you need energy that night, they can bring that. If you need a hit, they'll bring that. They're willing to play any amount of minutes, whether it's 10 or 20. If it's 20, they want to play 25. It's just that they want to make an impact on the game somehow. He was one of those guys that just, he worked hard, he was willing to do whatever it took to win."
• Back in the Civic Arena days, the Penguins beat the Maple Leafs 5-0 at home and Evgeni Malkin had all five assists. Malkin was so mad that he didn't score that he went into the showers and smashed his stick into a hundred pieces.
• Crosby said there's "no doubt" that Nicklas Lidstrom was the best defenseman he's ever played against.
• Crosby said the part of his game that he needs to work on the most is his speed. He said the game is getting faster, and he's getting older.
• Crosby on his first few weeks living with Mario Lemieux: "They convinced me to get a dog. Right away. I was like, 'I don't know if I need a dog right now. I can barely do my own laundry.' So they convince me to get a dog, I have a puppy. Still have the puppy, 14-year-old Sam, to this day. But anyway, so I come back after the game and I smell something. I'm like, 'What is that? The puppy definitely s--- somewhere in the house. I've got to find out where this is.' So I'm looking everywhere, all around the house. Finally I come around the corner, and (Lemieux) is cleaning up all of this s--- everywhere. The kitchen, everywhere. I'm like, 'Oh my God.' I'm so embarrassed. Mario Lemieux is cleaning up my dog's s---. This is so backwards. This should not be happening."
