Penguins' Crosby On Pace For Uncharacteristic Statistic

The Pittsburgh Penguins have struggled to keep the puck out of the net, resulting in some ugly plus/minus totals, including Sidney Crosby's minus-19 rating.

Sidney Crosby has achieved incredible statistics over his 20 years with the Pittsburgh Penguins, such as 600 goals and 1,600 points. He continues to climb the NHL's all-time leaderboards by rarely being a negative plus/minus player.

Only twice did the Penguins captain have a negative rating. First, in his rookie season in 2005-06, he was minus-1 on a team with a goal differential of minus-67. 

The second time was more recent, in 2019-20, when the Penguins finished 17 games above .500 and had a positive goal differential of plus-25. Yet, Crosby was a career-worst minus-8 that season.

As everyone knows, Pittsburgh has been atrocious at keeping the puck out of its net this season. They lead the NHL in goals against and have the third-worst goal differential, minus-36.

After 48 games, Crosby is a career-worst minus-19, the second-worst total on the team behind linemate Bryan Rust, who is at minus-23.

Since his debut in 2005-06, only five Penguins players have had a season with a minus-20 rating. This list doesn't include Rust or Crosby yet, but if their trends continue, they could join these players on this undesirable list. 

Of course, Rust and Crosby can turn things around and avoid cracking or staying on this list. It's been an uncharacteristic year for so many Pittsburgh players, but at no point in the past 20 years has Crosby seen such a dramatic swing in his plus/minus totals.