SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Mike Sullivan joked after the Penguins' practice at Sharks Ice on Friday that "another one, or two, or three" milestones that Sidney Crosby adds to his resume every year.
The milestone Crosby will reach when the puck drops for the Saturday game against the Sharks, 10:08 p.m. Eastern at SAP Center, is another big one. He will become the 129th player in NHL history and the 11th active one to play 1,200 games. Few players in the league have managed to have the same longevity as Crosby. Still, at 36 years old, in his 19th season, and with 1,199 games under his belt, Crosby isn't quite ready to accept the "old" label.
"Old-er, I'd say," he deadpanned this week when asked if the milestone means he's old now. "It's a lot of hockey. It's great that I've been able to play this long. I love it just as much as I did Game 1."
Old-er is right. Crosby may be getting up there in years, and climbing the all-times games-played list, but he's not old just yet. He's not slowing down, and what he's accomplished in those games tells that story.
Crosby, with 1,512 career points, ranks sixth all-time in scoring through a player's first 1,200 games. He trails only Wayne Gretzky (2,543), Mario Lemieux (1,723 through 915 games), Marcel Dionne (1,646), Jaromir Jagr (1,536) and Phil Esposito (1,526).
That production hasn't exactly trailed off, either. Crosby is coming off of his second-ever full 82-game season, with his other coming in 2017-18. His total of 33 goals last season was the sixth-best in his first 18 seasons, and his 60 assists tied for the fourth-best of his career. His 93 points was his fifth-best mark. His play away from the puck was even better -- his 59 takeaways and 47 blocked shots were both career highs.
Looking at where Crosby's production ranks historically for a player in his 18th season, his 18th year was among the best ever for a player in his position. Only five players in league history have scored more goals than his 33 in their 18th season -- Alex Ovechkin (42), Johnny Bucyk (40), Brendan Shanahan (40), Joe Sakic (36) and Mark Messier (36). Just three players have recorded more assists than Crosby's 60 in their 18th season -- Gretzky (72), Sakic (64) and Joe Thornton (63). Only two players scored more points than Crosby's 93 in their 18th season -- Sakic (100) and Gretzky (97).
The new NHL EDGE puck- and player-tracking data site shows where Crosby's skating is at this point in his career, and it's impressive. His top speed this season has been clocked at 22.88 miles per hour, better than 96% of the rest of the league's forwards. It's also the highest speed he's recorded in the three season that the league has been tracking this data, maxing out at 22.53 miles per hour in 2022-23 and 22.38 miles per hour in 2021-22.
Crosby has hit at least 20 miles per hour 25 times through the Penguins' first nine games, better than 93% of the league's forwards. The skating data from the previous two seasons suggests that Crosby can continue those bursts of speed over the course of a season, too. In 2022-23 he finished with 134 bursts over 20 miles per hour, better than 89% of the league's forwards. In 2021-22 he had 156 of those bursts, better than 92% of league forwards.
Older? Sure. Old? Maybe not. Slow? Definitely not.
"He's been able to sustain such an elite level of play after so many years, year after year," Mike Sullivan said after practice Friday. "When you really drill down the type of game that he plays, he plays a hard game. He's in the battle areas all the time, there isn't an aspect of the game that he doesn't excel at. He can beat you so many ways -- with his grind game, down low, with his rush game and his ability to make plays off the rush. He's been such a dominant player for so long."
Sullivan said he was running out of adjectives to appropriately describe Crosby's game.
"He's just a tremendous player," Sullivan said. "He's an unbelievable athlete. He's an incredible teammate. He's been the heartbeat of the Penguins for a long time, and he continues to be."
Crosby isn't one to celebrate these milestones. "It's a nice number" has been his take time and time again for games like these or milestones for goals or points. As he hits 1,200 games, he's taking some time to at least think about the milestone -- not pat himself on the back, but rather reflect on the players he's played with in those games and what they've accomplished together.
"It's just more about that timeframe -- the experiences, the friendships," he said. "All the stuff that's gone on in those games you think about more than the actual games played."
