Sidney Crosby is off to the slowest start of his NHL career. His possession numbers are down and so is the rate of tangible offense he has been able to produce.
This is very strange to see because the hockey world has been able to take his consistency for granted for a decade now. Much like pre-2009 Tiger Woods Sidney Crosby has set a bar so high that eventually the time would come where he wouldn't be able to reach it anymore on a consistent basis.
The big question(s) right now are: Why are these numbers down? Can he regain the ability to be consistently excellent? What is wrong with Sidney Crosby?
There are a few variables at play here and none of them favor Sidney Crosby. Most of these variables are also out of Sidney's control.
So what are these variables?
League Effects
The NHL operates in bizzaro world. Instead of catering to the skilled/better players they continue to cater to the lesser skilled players. They allow the lesser skilled to commit infractions which according to their own rule book are illegal. By not calling penalties this punishes the league's better players on two fronts. The first is that they miss out on power play time where there is more time and space and it is easier to rack up points. The second is that players are not afraid of being called for penalties so they continue to push the envelope on what they can get away with. This in turn bogs down 5v5 play to the sludge we are forced to watch these days. A prime example of this happened on Saturday night when the Penguins were playing the Calgary Flames. Sidney Crosby was given a holding penalty on the following play:
If players knew that penalties would be called they would be less inclined to engage defensively in the manner that they are currently doing so. This would open up 5v5 and allow for more controlled flow to the game which is what we all want to see. The players would eventually adjust or continue to be paraded to the penalty box. The end result is either more power plays or a more entertaining brand of even-strength hockey. Win win.
With the current 5v5 climate so incredibly tough for skilled players they need power plays more than ever to find time and space. As mentioned above the opposite has happened
This trend is unacceptable not only for Sidney Crosby, but for the entire league. The NHL is intentionally enabling a garbage product on the ice.
Team Effects
The Pittsburgh Penguins have come a long way since the 2003-04 season which was historically bad for the franchise. The driving force behind Pittsburgh exiting that dark age was getting extremely lucky with the opportunities to draft both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. In essence the Penguins were given a cheat code for their rebuild.
As great as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were/are they weren't the only centers who made a huge impact on the team. A lot has been made about Ray Shero passing up Jonathan Toews for Jordan Staal in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, but acquiring Staal still had a huge positive impact on the team.
Sidney Crosby's ability to generate and suppress shot attempts went through a huge change from the 2011-12 season to the 2012-13 season.
The post Jordan Staal era for the Penguins has been a rocky road. Without the best third line center in hockey Pittsburgh had to change up how they operated. The team could no longer just leave Jordan Staal to play all the tough minutes and his replacement as we came to find out was a 4th line caliber player. Somebody had to pick up the slack and that somebody was Sidney Crosby.
Here is a very good article that highlights the depth issues that negatively impacted Crosby and the Penguins
Matt Cullen and Building From the Bottom Up https://t.co/dbIDHQl2F6 pic.twitter.com/IggZJLbVKC
— Pensburgh (@Pensburgh) November 9, 2015
Age
Sidney Crosby is 28 years young now. As weird as it is to say his best years are definitely behind him. The apex of Sidney Crosby is over. That makes me feel old, but it is very true. The worst part about it is that David Steckel's "whoopsie daisy" shoulder check to Sidney Crosby's head robbed us all from seeing Sidney Crosby during his apex years. Crosby had 32 goals in 41 games in 2010-11 (64 goal pace) before that collision and was coming off scoring his career high 51 goals the year before when he captured the Rocket Richard Trophy with Steven Stamkos. As a result of the Steckel hit Sidney Crosby was injured and unable to play during what is historically a forward's prime years in the NHL. The chart below (courtesy of Eric Tulsky) highlights the aging curve of forwards and their ability to produce offense at 5v5.
Here is the track that Sidney Crosby is currently on:
It looks very similar doesn't it?
Sidney Crosby might not produce at the levels of his own personal ceiling, but that doesn't mean he still won't do better than 95% of the league. A good example of this would be the career track of Sharks superstar, Joe Thornton. Much like Crosby Thornton's best years came when he was ~24 years old. However, Thornton has still been able to produce offense at a top line level well into his mid thirties and I believe Crosby will be able to do the same.
Judging Crosby against his own personal standard won't accomplish anything because he'll likely never hit that again. Judging him against his peers is more appropriate.
Conclusion
Sidney Crosby is out of his prime. There are multiple factors at play and most of which are out of his control. This does not mean that he will cease to be one of the very best players in the league. It just means that he is a lot closer to not being the best player in the world anymore (if he hasn't been passed already).
When evaluating "what is wrong with Sidney Crosby" context is needed and the variables listed above need to be taken into consideration. It isn't always just "try harder" or "do more Sid". The reason Crosby has been hands down the best player of his generation is because nobody could match his consistency. We are entering the stage of his career where his ability to consistency hit his ceiling is going to fade a little bit. He is still going to be able to wow us for years to come it just won't come as frequently. It is something that needs to be accepted moving forward.
Nothing is "wrong" with Sidney Crosby he is just growing older in a league that doesn't want its best players to succeed.
Thanks for reading!