Sidney Crosby Top 5 player of all time

[412 Others]

who won the Rocket Richard this year....

didn't need to float and wait to be fed one-timers either

 

[madlee]

Where are
Rocket
Plante
Doug Harvey
Hull
Vezina
Morenz
?
Also ahead of Sid

Well, these are the same type of people who think Emmitt Smith is better than Jim Brown, Walter Payton, and Barry Sanders.

 

[Internet Explorer]

Media tells me that he is now 5th all time.

 

[Weztex]

Crosby is #5. Not much of an argument to the contrary.

Somebody here didn't read the thread because there's plenty of pages full of arguments.

And no, "newer is better" isn't an argument in comparing greatness. It's ignorance.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

There are plenty of questions. Neither Conn Smythe should be his.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

All positions? No.
There's Gretz, Mario, Hasek, Roy, Lidstrom, Orr, Hull (Bo.), etc.

At the centre position? Certainly, once his career is done, he'll be in the conversation.

 

[MOGlLNY]

Crosby is definitely going to go down as a top 5 player of all time. Too many people are stuck in the past so they have a hard time accepting that a current player is good enough to be better than many of the greats of the past.

Agreed completely.

 

[NoMessi]

Penguins official facebook page just called Crosby the GOAT. I can't stand how overrated hes become. Like, they even forgot about their own owner?

Ofc they didn't, but they want to sell the game since the game is just business for them. This is why you guys should stop buying everything the league says about their players.

 

[edog37]

The only "cancer" he was to was Washington. He is still very much beloved in Pittsburgh, NYC, and Omsk. His present journeyman's teams sign him readily. His Art Rosses speak for themselves. He won the OG on an underdog team. Now let's talk about his Harts. I maintain that in the DPE / during Jagr's five Art Rosses Crosby would've won exactly ZERO Harts. In 94-95 Lindros was the League's darling. All of Crosby's assists and hard work would not have impressed the voters, when Lindros was the raging bull. 96-97 and 97-98 Hasek played at the peak level that Crosby never sniffed. 98-99 was Jagr's year. 99-00 was the year when every big forward was injured, so Pronger won. This is one year when I can sort of see Crosby snatching it from Pronger, but that's a big if. But he sure as hell ain't taking it from 00-01 Sakic. Just like Jagr was not taking the Conn Smythes away from 91 and 92 Lemieux.

I can guarantee you Jagr is not beloved in Pittsburgh. He burned too many bridges here. It's cute you think Sakic & Lindros deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Crosby. I liked Sakic, great player but only on par with Ron Francis. Lindros was a punk...a disgrace he's in the HHoF.

 

[edog37]

didn't need to float and wait to be fed one-timers either

Exactly

 

[edog37]

You're the guys saying he's a top 5 of all time. I'm saying he's very, very good.

No, he hasn't dominated the competition. He's the best by most measures but not overwhelmingly so.

McDavid will blow Crosby away when everything is said and done. He's got a real chance to be a top fiver.

I like McDavid, but this is an absurd statement. You have no idea how his career could play out. He could blow his knee out in the season opener & never be the same...

 

[edog37]

Not sure that I'm following your logic or your conclusions. Both are faulty IMO.

I so hated the Habs and I do like Crosby by the way.

Point is, the league is all about parity these days. The definition of a dynasty is different. I don't consider these Pens a dynasty unless they win another Cup in the next 2-3 years. Richard played in a smaller league with rules designed to promote super teams. If you put a prime Richard in today's game, he'd be an All Star, but not a legend.

 

[edog37]

Because both men faced 10x better teams & opposition during their careers compared to today. Can you see Crosby surviving the 90's with the likes of Scott Stevens & Chris Pronger in their prime? Doubtful.

He would embarrass those guys much like Lemieux embarrassed Bourque. The late 90s wasn't exactly a golden age for the game...

When you play Crosby you better be able to skate...those guys could hit but their skating wouldn't cut it in today's game....

 

[Semantics]

Somebody here didn't read the thread because there's plenty of pages full of arguments.

Are you kidding? All I see in the thread are conspiracy theories about his "undeserved" Conn Smythes, and a bunch of nonsense like "Yzerman was better". Most of these pages full of "arguments" are just people in hardcore denial.

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

For those making comments regarding your opinions that Crosby should not have won the Conn Smythe the past two playoffs...

He did.

Your opinions change nothing. Not a thing. Zero.

He is in the history books as having won it back to back, and will be for the rest of time when all of these games, Guentzel, etc are gone and forgotten.

Feel that sensation? It's the truth burning it's way into your reality.

 

[Weztex]

Are you kidding? All I see in the thread are conspiracy theories about his "undeserved" Conn Smythes, and a bunch of nonsense like "Yzerman was better". Most of these pages full of "arguments" are just people in hardcore denial.

I only needed to go one page back to find a well written and explained post by Hockey Outsider. 2 and 3 pages back to find well thought arguments by Cyclones Rock KingDeathMetal and others. While one may not agree with those (I'm also on the fences with some of those arguments), there's certainly some valuable hindsight throughout this thread (as well as junk like you're talking about).

Edit : At this point I think it's realistic and justifiable to rank Crosby anywhere from 6 to 12, depending on what you value most.

 

[Eisen]

He could have played with the best in any era.

He could have, until he slashed a guy like Howe, Richard, Shore or Cleghorn in the nuts.

 

[Halakitlikethat]

The game has changed so much , you can't compare athletes today with players like howie morenz and georges vezina who were great players in their era but it's just not the same game at all. This isn't baseball.
Crosby is the best of this generation, I think he's got at least another 10 years left in him.
Making these lists is subjective a lot of the time I think we would all have different lists after the big 3.
I'm interested to see how Crosby is viewed when his career is over because unfortunately a lot of fans downplay his accomplishments and have some strange agenda to discredit him. It's really sad actually. Appreciate what we're seeing because it's history.

 

[I am not exposed]

haha
And Emma Stone is a better actress than Meryl Streep because she won the most recent Oscar.

Sums it up well.

He probably finishes as a top 10 player of all time imo.

 

[Kaners Bald Spot]

People,
Crosby is arguably not even the most talented player in the NHL anymore. He has more of a track record than McDavid, but I think McDavid is more talented, and has a real chance to be better due to size difference. I don't think he's more talented due solely to that, but it helps. We have yet to see McDavid's peak, we have seen Crosby's already. Let's wait and see whether 97 or 87 is the better player. In my opinion, based on what has already happened, There is no way that Crosby can pass the following on my personal all time list(and I'm only listing forwards)
Gretzky
Howe
Lemieux
Bobby Hull
Messier
Jagr

Those are 5 Forwards that are easily better than him.
Bobby Hull amassed his career NHL stats by age 32. Why does everyone forget about him? Because he was a winger? Because he finished his career in the WHA because Bill Wirtz was a notorious miser? I see him in nowhere near enough top 10 lists.
Crosby will be 30 this year, and Bobby Hull had put the biscuit in the basket over 200 more times in 2 more years. Yes, different era. But if you look at historical GPG the only time period that really stands out as massively different is 1979-1994.

 

[Bar Down]

I don't know guys. With the training and nutrition of modern players being light years ahead, I think he would have skated circles around guys back in 99s era. That's why it's impossible to compare stats vs the old era. Comparing points in a different era is useless. Now, in this era, the dead puck era, considering his point differential against his peers, I'd absolutely put him top 5. With room to climb.

 

[yababy]

For those making comments regarding your opinions that Crosby should not have won the Conn Smythe the past two playoffs...

He did.

Your opinions change nothing. Not a thing. Zero.

He is in the history books as having won it back to back, and will be for the rest of time when all of these games, Guentzel, etc are gone and forgotten.

Feel that sensation? It's the truth burning it's way into your reality.

What I'll remember most about these 2 Penguin cups is how undeserving the Conn Any the winner was. That sticks out for me. I really think everthing about these cup wins is pretty boring.

 

[spcastlemagic]

What I'll remember most about these 2 Penguin cups is how undeserving the Conn Any the winner was. That sticks out for me. I really think everthing about these cup wins is pretty boring.

Oh poor Sidney and his boring cups. He's probably bored to death right now.

 

[Bar Down]

What I'll remember most about these 2 Penguin cups is how undeserving the Conn Any the winner was. That sticks out for me. I really think everthing about these cup wins is pretty boring.

I'll never understand posts like this.

You are aware that during this years playoffs, Crosby had more points (27) than the previous 7 Conn Smythe winners? Not since 2009-10 did the winner have more points (29).

 

[66871]

Oh poor Sidney and his boring cups. He's probably bored to death right now.

I've been watching hockey since the late 70s. I've seen a number of posts during and after the playoffs saying the Penguins are boring and it always reminds me of the Islanders dynasty. In some ways they were a very boring team to watch. They weren't necessarily flashy -- they just did all the little things it took to win.

I hope the Pens can continue to be boring for a couple more seasons.