Always some excuse for Crosby, but I’m always willing to deconstruct the myth that gets written whenever Crosby misses time or simply isn’t as good as he should have been.
Mumps likely had a negative effect for a whopping 5 games in December.
The guy had 24 points in his first 13 games. Having a case of the mumps, something that most people who don’t take care of their bodies get over in 1-2 weeks, doesn’t explain why he was substandard for the final 85% of the season.
He already was mired in a slump (by his standards since he was supposedly coming off one of the most dominant Art Ross wins ever) one month prior to sitting out a few games before officially being diagnosed with the mumps on December 14, 2014. He was believed to be through the infectious period by the end of the 15th, which tells us he likely contracted it 5 days before (hence why he played the 8th and probably starting feeling funny on the 9th and then like crap on the 10th and missed the games on the 12th, 13th, and 15th before being cleared to play (still sick I agree, but not contagious) on the 18th. He was likely completely over it sometime between between the December 23rd and 27th.
From November 11th through December 8th, he had 2 goals and 11 points in 15 games. The mumps didn’t have him underperforming then because he didn’t have them.
He missed 3 games. He likely played 5 games with the mumps from the 18th through the 23rd. He had 1 goal and 2 points in those 5 games. Fair enough.
He played 44 of the final 46 games, was mumps free, and collected 47 points. In all the games mump free past his hot 13 game start, he was sub PPG with just 58 points in 59 games, or 3/4 of a season.
He simply underwhelmed and is Art Ross-less past the age of 26 because he wasn’t good enough.
