COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Assuming they play in the Penguins' regular-season finale against the Blue Jackets here at Nationwide Arena Thursday night, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will do something that they've never accomplished in 17 historic seasons together.
At age 35 and 36, respectively, Crosby and Malkin will have both played in all 82 games.
It'll mark just the second time Crosby has played all 82 in his career and the third time Malkin has done so, speaking to just how incredible it is to do that at this stage of their careers. And it's not just that they were healthy, either. They were productive and effective. What everyone has witnessed since last October is quite literally a best-case scenario when it comes to these two. Nobody could have reasonably expected more from them.
And somehow, as of the Islanders' 4-2 victory over the Canadiens on Wednesday night in Elmont, N.Y., the Penguins are going to miss the Stanley Cup playoffs.
"I'd take 81 and a playoff spot, to be honest with you," Crosby said following a now-pointless practice Wednesday afternoon back in Cranberry.
To squander the seasons Crosby and Malkin just had is absolutely disgraceful. This should and will go down as an all-time failure in team history.
Ron Hextall's hands are all over it.
If someone told you in October that Crosby and Malkin wouldn't miss a game and that they'd both be at or well over a point-per-game, there's no chance you'd believe the scenario that unfolded. Failing to adequately construct a roster that supplemented their continued greatness is straight-up incompetence. There's no other way around it.
Heading into the regular-season finale, Crosby has 33 goals and 58 assists for 91 points. It's the first time he's reached the 90-point mark since the 2018-19 season and just the second time since the 2013-14 season. Despite unspectacular power-play production, Crosby still ranks 16th in the NHL in points and 16th in assists.
Easily the most impressive part of Crosby's season is that, despite Father Time's clock continuing to tick, he was one of the league's most productive players at full-strength. He ranks ninth in the league with 55 points at 5-on-5, tied with budding superstar Jack Hughes. In fact, the soon-to-be Hart Trophy-winner Connor McDavid has only four more points at 5-on-5 than Crosby in more ice-time.
Crosby's certainly not the player he was a decade ago, but he's remained relevant in the conversation surrounding the best players in the league while youth, speed and skill have taken over. The 2.7 points per hour he's producing at 5-on-5 are his highest mark since 2018-19 and second-highest mark since 2012-13. He's filling the net at his highest rate in six seasons and shooting the puck at a more frequent rate than any season over the last decade.
All this while spending a considerable amount of time flanked by Bryan Rust in the final month of the season and various other stretches rather than the optimal fit in Rickard Rakell. Crosby did spend over 100 more minutes with Rakell than Rust at 5-on-5, but it was more than apparent from the early stages what the best fit was, yet Rust still played 500-plus minutes with him.
Rust endured a disappointing season in which he created more chances than ever before, but scored seven fewer goals than expected based on the quality of his looks. That obviously influenced Crosby's production and impact. If it seemed the captain was a bit quieter down the stretch, it's because he was. Rust was not the sole reason, but Crosby did not register a 5-on-5 point in eight of the past 13 games.
He unquestionably has a preference of playing with Rust, but that shouldn't matter under the circumstances the Penguins were facing. He's not the head coach, and the actual head coach shouldn't be catering to his stars -- or anyone -- with the season on the line.
The one true blemish on Crosby's season is that he's producing only 4.76 power-play points per hour, the lowest rate of his career. He doesn't escape scrutiny entirely in that regard, but I'm inclined to question Todd Reirden and his wildly ineffective power-play game plan and tactics before questioning the man-advantage effectiveness of a top-five player of all-time.
Still, his excellence stands out when looking at how the Penguins performed with him on the ice in just shy of 1,224 minutes at full-strength, often against top competition:
• 56.8% share of goals (second on team, first among forwards)
• 55% share of expected goals (fifth on team, fourth among forwards)
• 3.29 goals for per hour (first on team)
• 3.52 expected goals for per hour (fourth on team, fourth among forwards)
The Penguins were an elite offensive team with him out on the ice. I'm talking top-notch. His isolated impact toward generating quality offensive chances ranks in the 97th percentile of league forwards, per JFresh Hockey. Over the past three seasons, that figure is in the 99th percentile.
Here's to verifying what you already knew (you can read a full explainer on the card here):
JFRESH HOCKEY
That's not normal, folks. That's greatness.
Wasted greatness, that is.
But again, nobody needed a snazzy player card to know that. All anyone had to do was open their eyes and marvel:
Over ...
And over ...
And over again ...
What a shame that Crosby won't be able to do that on the game's greatest stage, even if it would've been for a lone round.
As for Malkin, he made Hextall look foolish for trying to play hard ball with him last summer.
Entering the finale, he has 27 goals and 56 assists for 82 points, which has secured his 15th point-per-game season. Staying healthy is obviously the biggest factor here, but he hit 80 points for the first time since 2017-18 and only the second time since 2011-12.
I found it genuinely hilarious how many people confidently asserted Malkin's 5-on-5 impact had fallen off a cliff at the end of last season. That narrative assuredly came about because of his career-low primary assist rate of 0.32 per hour. The truth is that his linemates just couldn't put the puck in the net. Manually tracked microstats and several on-ice metrics indicated he still possessed the same prolific passing ability, as did simply watching him.
Unsurprisingly, his linemates' finishing rebounded from league-worst levels and his primary assist rate skyrocketed to 1.08 this season, his highest mark since 2019-20. It likely would have been even better, but the Penguins still scored quite a bit below expectations with him on the ice at full-strength, although his individual finishing played a part.
Malkin is second on the Penguins with 44 points at 5-on-5, which is also good for 30th in the NHL. His isolated impact toward generating quality offensive looks has him in the 97th percentile of league forwards, right next to Crosby.
Reports on the demise of his 5-on-5 impact were greatly exaggerated:
JFRESH HOCKEY
He also paced the Penguins with 36 points on the power play. He was their best weapon, but also part of the reason they allowed so many short-handed chances going the other way. He's always been a risk-taker to try and create above and beyond, but I again have to question the coaching and game plan from Reirden here. There wasn't anything done -- at least not consistently -- to try and mitigate that risk while remaining a threat.
This version of Malkin isn't to be confused with the one who won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2009. He's not arguably the best player in the league when he's on the top of his game anymore. He can still be, however, one of the most high-end drivers of offense.
His defensive issues are real, but his impacts actually improved a touch from where they were the previous two seasons. It's not as if the Penguins were going chance-for-chance with him out there. They controlled 55.5% of the expected goals during his 5-on-5 ice-time and finished plus-three in actual goals.
But please tell me more about his plus/minus.
Let's take another moment to marvel:
And again ...
And one final time ...
Look, Crosby and Malkin are not on the same level as a McDavid-Leon Draisaitl duo. They also aren't on the same level as a Nathan MacKinnon-Mikko Rantanen duo, or even an Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner duo. They are closer to the latter duos than it might seem, though. After all, they were quite literally two of the best drivers of offense in the entire league this season.
I don't want to paint a picture that they're infallible. That wouldn't be the truth. At their age, they're a little more susceptible to quieter stretches and are occasionally guilty of forcing plays that aren't there for various reasons.
But here's the thing: That's OK. They shouldn't have to be perfect. It's only the roster Hextall constructed that forced them to be.
The two of them counted $14.8 million against the Penguins' salary cap this season, as in just north of $400,000 more than what Mikael Granlund, Jeff Carter and Jeff Petry will count against the cap next season.
In other words, Crosby and Malkin provided extreme value. Their seasons were squandered anyway.
I'm not writing either one of them off next season. But I promise that there will never be a collective season like that from the two of them again.
They deserved so much better.
