OT - Sidney Crosby Unsportsmanlike Conduct
Why is it that one of the best players in the game has to act so childish. Spits on an opponent and then runs away.
https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/nhl-playoffs-2018-did-sidney-crosby-…
Yes. That's exactly the point. Crosby was never a great player. Then Guentzel came along and Crosby learned how to play well with him. So Crosby became the best player on the planet only last season. /s
Approximately 25% of 3rd round picks in the NHL go on to play 100 career games. A third round NHL draft pick hardly equates to a third round NFL pick.
As soon as you compared any NHL team (even one without McDavid) to being "reasonably competitive in the AHL" you lost any credibility that you might have had left. Every NHL team would obliterate every AHL team, and it won't be close.
You cannot possibly think I was seriously insinuating that Edmonton without McDavid is actually an AHL team. I refuse to believe anyone cannot understand that I was being facetious in describing how bad Edmonton would be without him.
All depends on how you define, "best."
Those that hate Crosby will cite that McDavid has been more productive in terms of points per game in the regular season. Thsoe who don't will talk about the complete nature of the player.
McDavid isn't "going to be" special. He already is.
But he's nowhere near the complete player that Crosby is. Not yet.
McDavid plays on a team with basically nobody else who is a threat and still outproduces everyone else in the league. The second best player on Edmonton is probably Nugent-Hopkins, and the best he's done is the 52 points in 62 games he had as a rookie. They have literally no good puck moving defensemen. It's a total mess of a team led by the most skilled guy to play the game since probably Lemieux.
I don't get the talk about 'complete' player in this context. What does McDavid have to do to be considered a 'complete' player? He's an offensive powerhouse, he plays plenty of PK minutes so he's obviously not a liability defensively, and he makes players around him better (seriously, watch his highlights and the amount of gift goals he sets up for his linemates). Is it the Cup rings? Because again, his team is garbage and that's out of his control; this isn't the NBA where one generational talent can drag a team to success like LeBron. If you put McDavid on a team that has guys like Malkin, Kessel, and Letang on it, he'd actually have a chance to win a title.
The second best player on Edmonton is Leon Draisaitl no questions asked. Agree with you on the Edmonton defense though. McDavid's faster and flashier than Crosby. But cups aside, if you watch Crosby, the thing that separates him from McDavid is his smart play, hand-eye coordination, and positioning. He creates goals out of absolutely nothing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNOc5Oj9774
https://www.nhl.com/penguins/video/crosbys-second-deflection-goal/t-277437428/c-53498503
I can get behind ranking Draisaitl #2 on that roster. I'd be curious to see how he produces without the benefit of spending most of his ice time with McDavid. Not that RNH is great shakes as the #2 pivot.
No doubt, Crosby is still fantastic and makes some great plays. But McDavid also makes plenty of goals out of innocuous looking plays simply with how fast he is and his ability to make plays with the puck at top speed. It's like half of his highlight reels on YouTube, him just blowing past people like they're standing still, then roofing shots from 6 inches in front of the goalie.
I hope Edmonton does something about that defense and adds a legitimate puck mover. Probably also need to seriously bolster that supporting cast on offense. Watching their powerplay is gross, nobody on the ice is dangerous besides him, so he just gets shut down in the zone. Lucic is such an anchor around the neck of that team.
Had the pleasure of watching C McD for three years in the OHL. He is a special kind of talent and a great kid. Cindy is talented, no doubt, but he's a douche.
This is part of the issue I have with Crosby. He dishes out as much as he takes but the guy is consistently complaining to the refs any time anyone touches him. He's sneaky dirty, always has been but a nonstop complainer.
That reputation will follow him the rest of his career. When he first broke into the league, even a lot of Pens fans were commenting on how he needed to shut up and play, that he wasn't going to get the benefit of the doubt coming into the league.
He's nowhere near that anymore, but it still dogs him. What Jonathan Toews does is called, "leadership" and what Crosby does is called, "whining."
Not sure I agree that each of them behaves similarly but even if so, Crosby definitely earned his crybaby tag. He has definitely toned it down a bunch but that doesn't make him honorable all of the sudden.
I'm not sure this is an either/or situation. This is all subjective, other than Toews and Crosby are both great at hockey. I find them both to be dislikeable, mostly because I'm a Wings fan (cries in fetal position), but I dislike Crosby more than Toews because Crosby appears to be whining all the time and also frequently sneakily cheap shots opponents both away from the play and after the whistle. I do not think that Sid's behavior justifies the many cheap shots he himself takes or the hot takes about how skilled he really is. He is one of the best to lace them up. He is also a poor sport who has also been an unwilling ambassador for hockey (which is his right). I also wonder how much of the hate he has gotten throughout his career has impacted how he acts and is perceived.
It was a heavy day
Marchand's motto.... if you can't beat'm, lick'm.... even if you can beat'm, lick'm
he's a little freak
/s
Crosby is such a bitch.
Aside from the fact that Crosby didn't spit on the player nor did he run away, excellent post by you.
What a punk.
that is all
Back and to the left?
Back and to the left?
I hated Crosby after those two Stanley Cup Finals vs. the Wings. But man as time has gone on, it's hard to dislike the guy. He's one of the best in the world and a class-act off the ice. Some fun stories below showing how genuine and sincere of a guy he is:
https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/look-sidney-crosby-sends-jersey-notes-to-humboldt-bus-crash-survivors/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/sidney-crosby-quebec-junior-hockey-player-mont-tremblant-2018-1.4513810
https://www.nhl.com/news/sidney-crosby-surprises-family-signs-jersey/c-281296116
With that said, I'd hate to see the Penguins win three straight. Go Caps!
I don't know why people expect good players to be good people. It always seems like there's an element of surprise when a good player does something dickish or even criminal. People feel like they "know" players because they see them playing sports on TV, but that really doesn't tell you what kind of people they are.
Look, I hate Crosby as much as the next guy, but I'm not so sure he spat in that video. When tensions are high words get exchanged, and it's not surprising if a little spittle is spewn in the process.
I mean, Brad Marchand has been literally licking people this playoff season. Please direct your ire towards him.
https://www.si.com/nhl/2018/04/27/bruins-brad-marchand-leo-komarov-lick
I do enjoy seeing the Pens lose and Crosby revert to his true self though.
Gordie would have sucker punched him and then speared him in the dick on the next shift.....
but it was a different game back then.
FWIW, I find this story dumb and almost wholly without merit.
Go Caps Go!
Go Caps Go!
I know Crosby gets into it on the ice. Maybe he talks more than he should and he's obviously not a fighter that can back it up.
Off the ice, he's one of the nicest people you could meet. He wouldn't even know how to act pretentious. Maybe you'd say he's an asshole on the ice, but far from the worst imo.
As for Kuznetsov. Within the past month or two I've seen separate incidents where both Malkin and Panerin wanted to murder him. You could see by Malkin's gestures, he wanted to take it out to the parking lot and finish the conversation there. Who's the common denominator? I don't know what's being said, but if I had money on, I'd say Kuznetsov is saying some horrible shit.
Not saying he deserved to be spit on, i don't know what's being said. Just making an observation.
As someone who doesn't watch hockey nor care who this Crosby guy is, I don't see any spitting. Looks like he's talking and has his collar pulled back so his head kinda snaps forward. Judging by the comment "...then runs away" when he's obviously getting pulled away, I'd say you have something against this player and/or aren't the best at assessing situations (the oppossing player, a hockey player full of adrenaline, doesn't react to getting "spit on").