Sidney Crosby Has Tortured The Columbus Blue Jackets Through The Years. Love Him Or Hate Him Though, No One Can Deny How Consistent And Great He's Been.
Pittsburgh Penguins star center Sidney Crosby has been a thorn in the side of the Columbus Blue Jackets since he came into the league. Actually, I don't think a thorn accurately describes how big of a pain in the side Crosby has been for Columbus.
After two games last week that concluded the season series between the two teams, Crosby further cemented his name deeper into the dungeons of Blue Jackets fan's brains everywhere.
Sidney Crosby has now played in 42 career games against the Jackets, and with an assist on Saturday night, his stat line against Columbus now reads 20-40-60. Yes, That's 60 points in 42 games. In four games this season, Crosby finished with a line of 3-4-7. He LOVES playing against Columbus.
And as crazy as it sounds, that's not even the most anyone has scored against the Blue Jackets. That record belongs to Patrick Kane, who spent 6 years in the old Central Division terrorizing Columbus to the tune of 81 points. Kane happens to arguably be the greatest American-born player of all time with his 1279 points and counting. He continues his dominance over the CBJ by recording 3 points in one game played this season with the Detroit Red Wings.
In 2013, the Jackets moved to the newly formed Metropolitan Division and were joined by regional rival Pittsburgh, and with that move brought more games played against Pittsburgh. Every year since the move, the Jackets have played them at least four times. The only exceptions are the first year in the East when they played 5 times, and the Covid ending year of 19-20 in which they only played 3 games. The CBJ have gone 11-29 against the Pens since they joined the East. Can you imagine how many points Crosby would have against Columbus had they played in the same division his entire career?
On Monday, Sidney Crosby scored a goal that gave him 82 points on the season, tying Wayne Gretzky with the most seasons with a point-per-game average. They have both done it 19 seasons, and Crosby isn't done yet. He has one year left on a 12-year contract, and there is no way they won't re-sign him to a three or four-year deal to finish out his career in Pittsburgh, right? Columbus fans are hoping he retires or moves to the Western Conference, I know that for a fact.
If Columbus fans could take off their Union Blue and Goal Red glasses, how would they truly view Sidney Crosby? There's no denying he's an all-timer, and he's been viewed as the next great player since the day he was drafted. Luckily for Jackets fans, there are 13 teams in which he's scored more points against, and every team except the Chicago Blackhawks he has a ppg average. So in that aspect, Columbus isn't special, and that's a positive at least.
So, whether you view him as a villain or not, no argument can be made that he isn't one of the greats. Unfortunately for Columbus fans, they have to watch him torch their team four games a year.
Here are the NHL's top 10 highlights for Crosby. CBJ fans can watch in peace as none of them happen to be against Columbus.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7AnKygdGrI[/embed]
Is it possible to hate when he plays your team, and enjoy watching his greatness at the same time? Sure it is. But I understand the fans who don't as well.
Personally, I learned my lesson a few years ago by watching Kobe Bryant retire, and Lebron James take up his reigns. It's easy to hate on players who burn your team constantly, but are you truly paying attention to the greatness being displayed? Some sports fans spend too much time hating players instead of watching them perform, and I've been guilty of that, that's for sure.
There's no doubt that as long as Sidney Crosby is wearing a Pittsburgh jersey inside Nationwide Arena he will be booed loudly and often, but deep down every fan in that arena knows why they are booing him.
What's Next - The New York Islanders visit NWA on Thursday.
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Join Jason Newland's Columbus Blue Jacket page on Bunches, a new app that connects sports fans. Also, you can watch a new YouTube game show about the Blue Jackets, Around the Fifth Line.