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Sidney Crosby has been the best player in the NHL for the better part of a decade but that hasn't been the case this season.
In this edition of the hotstove we discuss whether Crosby's days as one of the NHL's top players are done or if he can find his game and put himself back in the conversation as the best of the best.
Todd Cordell
In my opinion Crosby has been the best player in hockey basically since he entered the league so I'm not going to write him off after 25 (by his standards) mediocre games.
Just last season he led the league in points per game with 1.09. I very much doubt he lost his talent over the summer and is now half the player (he's averaging .56 points per game) he was a year ago.
Pittsburgh isn't exactly a fine tuned machine right now but at some point I think they'll get going and we'll see the Crosby of old.
I don't know that he'll ever be the undisputed best player in hockey again but I definitely expect him to be right up there with Alexander Ovechkin, Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and all the league's best.
So, no his days as one of the NHL's best players are not over.
Ryan Wilson
Sidney Crosby can return to form, but can Sidney Crosby can be the best player in the world again? It isn't impossible. However, that task is harder than its ever been. At 28 years old he is not in his hockey playing prime anymore as a forward. That is reserved for the 24-25 year old crowd. Players like Tyler Seguin and Vladimir Tarasenko are coming hard at the crown. Crosby has many years left of being one of the best players in the league but age catches up with all players eventually.
James Tanner
I believe that Crosby will return to form. THe's never going to be the pre-concussion 4 pts/60 player he was, but he was still the best player in the NHL - or close enough to it - last year when he put up "just" 2.38/60 which for him was a career low, but it's still an elite 25-30th out of 700.
But there is no reason Crosby can't get back to being a slightly more than a point per game player who challenges for the scoring title. He's currently a negative possession player, has like half a point per game and the team he is on is doing terribly - but it's also just a 20 game stretch - so I don't think what he has been this year is what he's going to be from now on.
He's declined from his peak, but he can still be one of the best players in the NHL at half his former power - that's how good he was/is.
Peter Tessier
Crosby is the victim of being the first generational talent in the new-age NHL. Having a concussion in what would have been a career defining season did not help his legacy either. However, look at the team he is on and ask if the Penguins are building the right surroundings to utilize Crosby to his max potential. I'd suggest there are arguments to say that is not the case.
Crosby is an elite generational talent that should still be producing at the top of the NHL but in an era of increased systems adherence with coaches having to win Sid is playing not for his own numbers. Rather, he's playing but his own numbers are suffering so his team can win- that's not his fault. Put Crosby in a situation like Ovechkin's and watch the turn around begin.
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