Why Crosby Has Yet to Make a Score

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Sidney Patrick Crosby, ONS (born August 7, 1987) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who serves as captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Crosby was drafted first overall by the Penguins out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). During his two-year major junior career with the Rimouski Océanic, he earned back-to-back CHL Player of the Year awards and led his club to the 2005 Memorial Cup final. Nicknamed “The Next One”, he was one of the most highly regarded draft picks in hockey history, leading many to refer to the 2005 Draft Lottery as the “Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes”

Slumps happen. They’ve happened to Crosby before, and they will happen to him again in the future.

But he has never experienced anything like this. With just 11 points in 20 games entering play on Wednesday, he is not only off to the worst start of his career through 20 games, this is simply the worst 20-game stretch he has had in his career at any point. Ever.

And it’s really not even close.

If you break Crosby’s career down to 20-game segments he’s been held to less than 20 points just 9 percent of the time. Before this current stretch he was held to less than 15 points during one 20-game stretch just two other times, and never below 14. This isn’t just a slump. This is a massive, massive drop in production.

What stands out about that is that all of his 20-worst stretches of his career have come during two very specific time periods: The 2005-06 season when he was an 18-year-old rookie, and during the past 12 months.

Some of that should be expected. Even though Crosby is still only 28 years old, he’s at an age where his point production is going to start decreasing no matter what he does or how well he plays. It’s an unavoidable reality of life in the NHL where players hit their peak much earlier than people realize. But it shouldn’t be this much of a sudden drop.

Crosby made his NHL debut on October 5, 2005, against the New Jersey Devils, and registered an assist on the team’s first goal of the season, scored by Mark Recchi in a 5–1 loss. He scored his first NHL goal in the Penguins’ home opener on October 8 against goaltender Hannu Toivonen of the Boston Bruins. Despite having registered two assists for a three-point night, the Penguins were defeated 7–6 in overtime. Crosby began his rookie season playing alongside Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux. Unfortunately, Lemieux was forced to retire due to an irregular heartbeat after having played just 26 games of the season.

But when Scotty Bowman came to Detroit he insisted that Yzerman focus more on defense and become a better overall player, a demand that nearly resulted in Yzerman being traded to Ottawa. Eventually, Yzerman changed, became the great two-way player he’s now known for being, and won multiple Stanley Cups.

That all started to happen at the exact same age Crosby is now. It’s worth wondering (and this is just a guess) if Johnston sees his captain as entering that portion of his career right now. He’s not going to score as much as he used to, so he better find a way to make up for it in other areas, while also helping to cover up for a defensive unit that is short on talent.

By Adam Gretz | Hockey writer

Source: http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/eye-on-hockey/25389568/sidney-crosby-still-isnt-scoring-and-nobody-knows-why