Alone At The Top Of Penguins' History, Sidney Crosby Keeps Redefining Greatness

It was a moment that everyone involved with the Pittsburgh Penguins had been anticipating for quite a while now. 

Heading into Sunday's matchup against the Montreal Canadiens on home ice at PPG Paints Arena, longtime captain and future Hall-of-Fame center Sidney Crosby was just two points shy of breaking fellow Penguins legend Mario Lemieux's franchise all-time points record. And Crosby did just that with a first-period power play assist - his second point of the game - earning him that 1,724th career point and giving him sole possession of eighth place on the NHL's all-time scoring list. 

Everyone in the building was aware of what was happening. As teammates crowded Crosby and celebrated with him, the pitch in PPG was deafening. Ears were ringing. A several-minutes-long standing ovation ensued, along with a recognition graphic on the jumbotron and a personal video message from Lemieux himself to Crosby. 

Teammates were elated. The rest of the Canadiens' bench tapped their sticks in acknowledgement to a player many of them spent at least a chunk of their childhood idolizing. This is no small feat for Crosby, and everyone knows it. 

And that includes Crosby himself. He isn't one to focus too much on records broken, milestones reached, and individual accomplishments. But this one meant something to him. He went from living at Lemieux's house as a teenager when he first entered the league with sky-high expectations to surpassing those expectations - and his former landlord and dear friend. 

Of course, it's difficult to compare the two players from two vastly different eras and with two vastly different skillsets. Back in his time, Lemieux was one-of-a-kind, born with a natural goal-scorer's skillset that was never before seen in hockey and may never be seen again. He retired with 690 goals and 1,723 points in just 915 NHL games - he is the only player in the NHL's top-42 in points to play in less than 1,000 games, and the next-lowest games played total in the top-10 is 1,348 (Marcel Dionne at sixth) - and, had he played the same amount of NHL games as Wayne Gretzky at 1,487 and maintained his 0.75 goals per game pace, that amounts to 1,121 career goals. 

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It's hard to argue that Lemieux would regularly be brought up as a legitimate contender for the NHL's "greatest of all time" had his health held up throughout his career. With so many what ifs, unknowns, and era differences with Lemieux and Crosby, it's not worth comparing the two players. They're both all-time great Penguins and all-time great hockey players in their own right. 

But something that Crosby has done all throughout his career - and continues to do at age 38 - is find new ways to redefine and reinvent greatness. And that is in comparison to everyone who has ever played the sport.

The ghost of hockey past

It's not exactly a secret that there tends to be a lot of favor given to players in the yesteryear of hockey, and it's well-earned. The Howes, the Gretzkys, the Lemieuxs, the Orrs, the Messiers, the Jagrs - they're all hockey royalty for a reason. And they all transcended the game in some way, shape or form. 

Howe - "Mr. Hockey" - transcended the game with his longevity as well as his blend of physicality and skill that set the stage for the modern era. Gretzky did it with his otherwordly talent and his typical label as the greatest player of all time - or, "The Great One." Orr completely transformed the way defensemen played the game and, essentially, created the offensive, smooth-skating blueliner archetype. Messier did it with his off-ice work, leadership qualities, and goal-scoring ability. Jagr with his European ancestry and incredible longevity, as his professional career continues to this day at age 53. 

Lemieux impacted the game with his raw talent, his size, and his unparalleled goal-scoring ability. He also transcended the game in Pittsburgh, especially, by becoming a majority owner and saving the franchise from relocation twice.

As for Crosby? 

Well, he's already - in a lot of ways - transcended the game. He and Washington Capitals' all-time great Alex Ovechkin quite literally saved the sport coming out of the 2005 lockout, and Crosby was the reason so many young kids ended up picking up hockey sticks. His Little Penguins youth hockey program has not only grown hockey exponentially in Pittsburgh, but across North America, as the program now has sister organizations in each NHL city. Crosby's been hockey's greatest ambassador for the better part of two decades.

Individually, he's won everything there is to win. Olympic gold twice. The Stanley Cup three times. The Conn Smythe twice. The Hart Trophy twice. The scoring title, the Rocket Richard, the World Championship, the World Cup, the 4 Nations Face-off. You name a forward or team accolade, and Crosby has probably won it at some point or could, at least, has put himself in the conversation to win it.

There's only one 87

And that brings us back to the "redefining greatness" discussion. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Crosby - and something that separates him from every other player mentioned above - is that he, quite literally, is so well-rounded to the point that he is great at everything.

He's won more faceoffs than anyone in NHL history. He has a real chance to finish - at the very least - top-five all-time in NHL points, and that will probably be higher if he decides to play a few more years after this. Heck, he may just flirt with 2,000 points. He will likely have over 700 goals when all is said and done, which would put him within the top-nine ever. He has played an elite 200-foot game for the vast majority of his career, even if his defensive play has fallen off recently. His edgework - especially down low - may be some of the best we've ever witnessed. He can play with some bite and some meanness, too. 

Essentially, there is nothing Sidney Crosby cannot do. If he feels he needs to work on something, he perfects it and comes back the best at it the next season, and he's been doing that for years on years.

He may not be as otherwordly talented as Gretzky. Not as physically gifted as Lemieux. Not as blazing fast and smooth a skater as Orr. But he works his tail off night in and night out to perfect his craft, and - at the end of the day - he is still in most discussions as one of the greatest at most things in the sport. 

Not only that, he's been doing it for almost 21 years. At the age of 38, he's still over point-per-game. His work habits have not changed. His on-ice product hasn't changed much in terms of impact, either.

Crosby not only has the longevity to simply keep playing hockey as long as possible, he has the work ethic and the ability to sustain an elite level of play for a length of time that no one else in NHL history has achieved. 

And he's doing it in an era when the bar of talent is much higher. When the game is much, much faster. When it's much, much harder to score. In fact, a large chunk of his career was mired in somewhat of a mini-dead-puck era, and what would have been the two best seasons of his NHL career were lost to concussions. And in those seasons, he was far and away dominating everyone. 

Sidney Crosby continues to redefine and reinvent greatness because - even though he has passed Lemieux as the Penguins' all-time points leader and continues to climb the NHL leaderboard - he has shown that greatness isn't always about the stat sheet. It sure helps, and he will have his fill there, too.

But he is quite literally the gold standard for work ethic, all-around competence, universal outreach, and an unwavering commitment to and track record of winning. 

And that is something that is, and always will be, uniquely 87 - no matter where he ends up on any list.

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