First-off, he’s one of the best players of all-time, easy argument for somewhere in the top 10. But he is absolutely not at this top 4 level that many seem to be putting him at now. The rarest aspect about him is consistency/longevity offensively, which I think goes without saying, but the other elements listed in the title more than hold him back from this top level. Not going to get too into the weeds in the OP, but:
- He’s the only player I know at this type of level whose prime gets hyped up as a hypothetical (“What if he didn’t miss so much time 2010/11-2012/13?”) rather than what he actually did. With Lemieux, as much time as he missed with health/injury problems, no one is pro-rating a 26-game Lemieux season as a what-if, it’s simply wishing he had the chance to have a healthier career, but looking at everything he did as a whole for his legacy. Crosby’s accomplishments relative to what these 4 achieved in their primes isn’t even in the same ballpark.
- His playoff play is very good, but it’s still underwhelming relative to his reputation, and it’s way too often simplified to team accomplishments to cover up for this. His overall resume in clutch situations/games and deeper in his playoff runs is lacking significantly relative to these other players, or even just other superstars in general.
- He has had this two-way moniker for a while, when nothing backs this up analytically. Arguments for his defensive play always seem to be narrative-based. In my opinion, this developed largely in response to him losing ground on the top offensive players as he aged, as well as a point of reference because his main competition throughout his career was maybe the worst defensive player in the league. There’s one brief stretch from like 2017-2019 you can argue as good (not amazing), and the rest of his career is somewhere between poor to average. If anyone has any support against this, I would love to hear it because there’s nothing analytically.
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Crosby is so much more than his stats. How I put it, he’s “whatever your team needs to win”.
Your team needs goals for a season? He wins the Rocket Richard. You need points and playmaking? Wins the Art Ross. Leadership? Mark Messier Award. You need some defense thrown in there? He’s gotten Selke votes in 10 of the past 11 seasons.
No he won’t blow you away with 150 point seasons, but his consistency and ability to win is what makes him so special. He fills whatever void your team needs. Guy played through so much physicality, and so many players went after him in his early years. He was able to play through it all and exceed all expectations.
His injuries don’t diminish what he’s done. The speculation is how much higher could he have got without them – namely in counting stats and It’d be second all time in points.
Three cups, two art rosses, two harts, two conn smythes, three ted lindseys, two rocket richards in a much more competitive era than the guys you mentioned already solidify him as what I say is an easy top 5. And dont forget, 19 consecutive ppg seasons.
Consistency and winning is key. Remember, Hank Aaron, the former HR king and widely considered one of the best HR hitter of all time never hit more than 50 in a season.
Outside of being a contrarian, or possibly arguing about how things were better in a different era, I don’t know what else you could expect from a player.
Again with this shit? He’s an elite player, just accept it