Lies....
56% zone starts at even strength.
If you include all situations yes he was 66, but Kessel for example, had a 78.9% Ozone start that playoff run in all situations.
Malkin 73% zone starts at ES, 80% in all situations...
7 pitsburg forwards had had a higher OZS% at EV than Crosby in that year's playoff run. For a star offensive player, that's actually very neutral or even low offensive usage.
I hate the MF too but damn he lives rent free...where you gotta lie like this to try and make a point
Yea, the Pens were a great possession team that playoffs so they naturally had a high offensive zone start percentage at ES of 54.5%. Cullen line was buried, Crosby was pretty neutral and Malkin and Kessel lines got cushy starts.
The Pens strength was in the ability to roll 3 scoring lines and there’s no chance that 3rd line is as successful as they were if they were getting Crosby’s deployment. Crosby, as usual, had strong possession numbers that playoffs, and while not a matchup center, generally took the brunt of the best competition among the top 3 lines, allowing the third line to thrive and Malkin’s line to some degree as well. This is something MJ continually fails to give him credit for, because the focus tends to always be on his goals against and production.
The reality is that variance can be a bitch and Crosby generally played well but his PDO was awful. Now, I think it’s fair to criticize him for not producing enough because that’s what he’s mostly paid to do, and I believe his standing in the league and not having won the Conn Smythe the first time helped him in that voting. It’s also fair to argue against the narrative that he was a great defensive player that run, because statistically in terms of expected goals and chances, he was pretty average. But I also think it’s absurd to argue that he was a liability due to the small sample size of a few extra goals against in front a poor save percentage or that he played awful in that run. That’s where MJ seems to take a fair contrarian view point but then run too far in the opposite direction.