Agree. It's kind of crazy that if he had not missed those games in 2010-2013 as well as the covid seasons, he could hit 2000 points this season already. Or at least get close to it. Oh well, he's been pretty healthy/fortunate otherwise. Averaging ~67 games played/season currently.
For me, it’s crazier at this point that he seems on track to play at least 22 seasons and 1500 games. Assuming Suter, Burns, Ovechkin, and Kopitar get there first in the meantime, he would be just the 26th player in league history to skate 1500 regular season games.
For a player who was feared to have very little career left back during the time period referenced, it’s gone extraordinarily well for him and probably the best outcome one could hope for. Seems like a nice alternative. We once briefly wondered if he’d make it to 800 career points, and here he is all these years later, looking like a lock for 1800.
It’s unfortunate it went down the way it did, but remembering it all during the moment, I don’t know…I feel like it’s kind of pointless speculating how he might be going for 2000 in even two years time without missed time during the stretches you highlighted, let alone flirting with 2000 right now.
Also, Crosby missed 28 of the first 45 games in 2019-2020, so he only missed out on 13 games due to the COVID stoppage. Then 26 lopped off the schedule the following season. So that’s 39 games and maybe 45 points. 2010-2011 through 2012-2013….even if we’re generous and give him full credit for the PPG he had during that fractured stretch, we’re talking 182 points. So that’s 227 on top of his 1638 for 1865 if absolutely nothing else changes. Then to be even more kind by bringing up a season I don’t have to, 40 more points in 2007-2008. That’s crosses him to 1905. Again, that’s being generous. I personally don’t believe he maintains that high PPG, because he’s not McDavid who has essentially done so for 550+ games while missing very little time, and consistently putting up high scoring both halves of each and every season.
I don’t think there’s any realm he has 2000 points as of this post. An extremely generous projection where he plays an extra 171 games still sees him just hitting 1900…while having more games played than Ovechkin, even if Ovechkin didn’t miss his recent 16, and already being tied with the 26th most games ever. That is wildly unrealistic.
I guess you did add the caveat of getting close to the total, but the way he would do that is through extremely generous projections, which seems unreasonable. No, in the end, he should be applauded for salvaging what looked like a doomed cause, instead of wondering what could have been. We could have seen him exit a dozen years ago. Instead, he added important elements to his legacy.