All-Star selections more meaningful to Crosby as he gets older

Sidney Crosby's All-Star Game selection last week marked the ninth time he's been chosen for the honor, following selections in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

The All-Star weekend is set to be held in Sunrise, Fla. at the home of the Florida Panthers, with the skills competition taking place on Feb. 3 and the game the following day, Feb. 4.

Of those eight prior selections, Crosby has only actually played in half of those games. Four times he has been selection for an All-Star Game and missed out on the event due to injury. While some of those absences were certainly legitimate injuries, it feels like at least one or two of the games he's missed were due to a bad case of don't-want-to-go-itis.

So when I asked Crosby after Thursday's practice at PPG Paints Arena about the honor of being chosen, I also asked if he actually plans on making it to this game.

"Yeah. Why, did I not attend a few times?" he said with the biggest grin on his face.

It sure sounds like Crosby isn't going to finagle his way out of going to south Florida next month, though. He sounds excited to be going, and for good reason. He's 35 years old, and there's no telling how many more of these chances he'll have to go to the All-Star Game at this point.

"It's an honor to be named to the All-Star team," Crosby told me. "You don't know how many more opportunities you're going to get. That's how I look at it."

It's too early to know which events of the skills competition Crosby will participate in -- those usually aren't decided until the weekend of the event. Crosby does know which events he's looking forward the most to seeing, though.

"I always like watching the fastest skater and hardest shot," Crosby said. "Those two are always fun as a fan. Just watching up close, seeing guys move like that with no helmet on, they're pretty brave. I think those two events always stand out."

If there's something that could make the All-Star experience a little more enjoyable for Crosby, it would be having a teammate along for the ride.

The initial All-Star Game rosters only has one selection from each team. Each division has three remaining spots that will be decided by a fan vote, with two spots for skaters and one for a goaltender. All players are eligible for the voting pool, and fans can vote either at the NHL website or by tweeting the hashtag *#NHLAllStarVote" along with either the player's full name (first and last) or their Twitter handle. Voting remains open until Jan. 17.

Evgeni Malkin, understandably, seems to be getting a fair share of votes from fans online. With 14 goals and 25 assists through 40 games, Malkin is the Penguins' No. 2 leading scorer.

If Malkin is named to the All-Star Game and both he and Crosby actually attend, it would be the first time the two have played in an All-Star Game together in their 17 years as teammates. They were both selected for the initial rosters in 2015, but both players pulled out of that game due to lower-body injuries. 

"That'd be awesome," Crosby said of the possibility. "We'll see what happens with the fan vote, but I'd love to have Geno come along or anyone else who gets voted in off the team."

MORE FROM PRACTICE

• Mark Friedman was re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on the Penguins' off day on Wednesday. Just prior to practice on Thursday, the Penguins recalled another right-handed defenseman in Taylor Fedun. It's a curious move on the surface, given that both players are right-handed and Friedman is undoubtedly the better option of the two. Mike Sullivan cited there being multiple reasons for the move, with one big one wanting to be just getting Friedman playing time. He didn't mention any other specific reasons, but the No. 1 reason (at least for the timing of it) is Friedman's waiver status. Players like Friedman who cleared waivers once already this season can play up to 10 NHL games or spend up to 30 NHL days on the active roster before needing waivers again to be sent down. Those figures are both cumulative over the course of the season, and whichever one comes first is the one that matters. Friedman has only played in 3 NHL games this season, but Wednesday was his 29th day on the active roster between his three separate recalls this season. Had he stayed recalled another day, he would have needed waivers to go back down.

• Fedun, who is also Wilkes-Barre's captain, didn't make it to Pittsburgh in time for practice. Jan Rutta missed practice with a maintenance day, leaving the Penguins with five defensemen in practice.

• Kris Letang remains in Montreal with his family following the death of his father, and Sullivan said that he doesn't have a definitive idea yet of when Letang might return. He was dealing with a lower-body injury prior to leaving, and Sullivan said Thursday that the injury is still something that must be dealt with when Letang does return.

• Injured players Tristan Jarry (lower-body), Jeff Petry (wrist), Josh Archibald (lower-body) and Ryan Poehling (upper-body) all continue to make progress but their statuses remain the same. They all skated prior to practice with Ty Hennes and Andy Chiodo.

• The defense pairings rotated during drills, since there were only five defensemen. The forwards remained the same:

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Drew O'Connor - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Danton Heinen - Teddy Blueger - Brock McGinn

• The first power play unit was Ty Smith, Jake Guentzel, Rickard Rakell, Crosby and Malkin. The second power play unit was P.O Joseph, Jason Zucker, Jeff Carter, Bryan Rust and Kasperi Kapanen.

• In case you missed Danny Shirey's Drive to the Net today, it takes a look at the Brian Dumoulin-Smith pairing through their first five games. Dumoulin was asked after practice for his impressions of Smith.

"He's a great skater," Dumoulin said. "He's a great skater, he's very poised with the puck. He makes really good plays, he's got some confidence, it's good to see. He's really smart with the puck and he's really effective in the offensive zone."

• Sullivan was asked about what he's seen from Casey DeSmith in a general sense this season: "Probably similar to what our team has been," Sullivan said. "Volatility. He's had moments when he's been really strong and given us a chance to win, and then others where you'd like him to bring a little more consistency to his game."

• I asked Crosby about the decision to go to Montreal for Letang's father's funeral earlier this week: "We all wanted to be there for him," he said. "It's a really difficult situation. He's our teammate, we want to support and be there for him. I think we all wanted to make sure we did what we could to make sure we were there for him."

• Kapanen's father Sami, who played 12 NHL seasons between the Whalers, Hurricanes and Flyers, was in attendance in the stands. Sami currently works as a pro scout and development coach for the Flyers.

• Remember when Malkin and Chad Ruhwedel were co-losers of the shootout drill after practice on New Year's Day in Boston? The consequence for losing was that they had to cook the team breakfast, and they followed through today:

CHAD RUHWEDEL / INSTAGRAM

• There are a lot of Penguins babies on the way. Dustin Tokarski, who already has twin girls with his wife, is expecting his third daughter early next month. Marcus Pettersson is expecting his first child next month as well. Ruhwedel is expecting his second in May, and Rust is expecting his second around the same time. Archibald's wife recently had their third.

• Remember Pascal Dupuis' son Kody, who was five years old during the taping of HBO 24/7 in 2011?

Yeah, he's not five years old anymore. Kody is a prospect eligible for the 2024 NHL draft and just scored his first QMJHL goal Wednesday for the Shawinigan Cataractes: