Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins captain Sidney Crosby’s GREATNESS continues 20 years later

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

It’s a holiday in Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby’s birthday! Hunter and Patrick begin the show discussing what the expectations are for captain Sidney Crosby as he prepares for his 20th season and his age-38 season. Then, to celebrate the greatness of the captain, they dive into some of their favorite memories, moments, and milestones for Crosby. They include the Golden Goal, memorable playoff goals, Stanley Cup game-winners, and when he solidified himself as a top-five all-time player. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get $150 in Bonus Bets if your first $5 bet wins!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's August 7th, people. Yins know what that means. Happy birthday to Sydney Crosby. And today's episode, it's all about the Pittsburgh Penguins captain. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes.

You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Day, follow him on all social media platforms at Sendin'Vruet. You can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And you can find us on Instagram at Locked-on underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this, your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms.

And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Right now, new Fandual customers can get $150 bucks in bonus vets if your first $5 bet wins. So, Pat, it's Thursday. August 7th, 8-7 day. You know what that means every Penguins fan knows what that means. Happy 38th birthday to Penguins Captain Sidney Crosby. And yes, your reaction is my reaction as well, my friend. We are all getting very old.

I still remember exactly where I was 20 years ago when he was drafted by the Penguins. How has it been 20 years? Time just continues to fly. And we're going to spend this first segment talking about what we expect out of Crosby this year because, yes, he is in the back nine of his NHL career, but he is still one of the best players in the league at this past season, 33 goals, 91 points in 80 games, his third straight season of 90 plus points, despite being it is mid to late 30s.

He had 93 and 22, 23, 94 and 23, 24, and 23, 24, and then 91 this past year. In terms of this upcoming season, even though he's going to be 38, Why not in terms of having a fourth straight 90 plus point season? I think he can do it, especially if he continues to have very good wingers. And we expect that just because he always gets the, you know, first choosings when it comes to the top wingers on the team. Sorry, Gino, we still love you, but that's just how it's been throughout their careers usually. You know, right now they still have Brian Ross for Carl Rakell on the team. If one or both of those players are still penguins by the time the regular season comes around, you know, he's going to put up points, especially with those two because he loves playing.

playing with those two specifically Brian Russ. Those two very much have been like this ever since Russ came into the league. You look at some of the records that Crosby is chasing this year. One in particular, Pat, the franchise's all-time points record set by Mario Lemieux. Crosby only needs 36 points to Tile Lemieux with 1,723 points, 37 to break it. He stays healthy. He is 1 million percent breaking that record this year. That is a record that is going to be in place for a very long time.

If not ever, though I think a lot of Penguins fans felt like Mario's record was going to be in place forever until Sid came along and he's about to break it. So at the very least, it's going to be his record for a while, if not ever. And he's going to keep climbing the ranks in terms of the NHL's all-time points list. So, Pat, what are your expectations for Crosby this upcoming season? really about the same as they were this past season because you look at what he has done since turning 30. He has hovered over a point per game every single year. If you go from 30 to 37, which his 30-year-old season was 2017, 2018, 1.09 points per game,

age 31 season, 1.27, 13. 32, 1.15, 33, 1.13, 1.23, 1.22, 35, 1.13, 1.136, 1.15, 37, 1.14. So just a ridiculous model of consistency. And it comes back to the thing I have been saying about Crosby quite a lot. and I know I'm not alone in this. I don't really ever see a cliff coming for Sidney Crosby. His game is going to deteriorate the older that he gets. He'll have games and stretches where, yeah, he's not quite Sidney Crosby anymore, but I don't ever foresee him becoming, I don't want to say a liability,

but I think until he decides to hang them up, he will always be a top six forward in some capacity. So I look at this season, and like you said, he's chasing the franchise lead in points. We're probably going to be talking about that at the end of November. We're probably going to have to come on here, do a show and talk about in late November or mid-December in that range,

he is going to take over the franchise lead in points. I can see him having another 90 point season. If not 90, it's going to be around that. It's going to be mid-80s to 90s. I see him having, I see him having that kind of season this year. And the other thing I'm curious to see, and I think this is going to really give us an idea of where Sidney Crosby's game as he enters his age 38 season,

I don't know how long Brian Rust and Ricard Raquel are going to remain penguins through this year. I would say it's more likely Rust is going to be a penguin until he decides he doesn't want to be one anymore. Ricard Raquel, I see him at some point this season getting dealt. So you know that Crosby eventually is going to get paired up or completely surrounded by the young talent. How does he elevate those players? because we make the jokes, we talk about it all the time. Oh, he was great with Pascal DePuy. Who was Pascal DePuy?

He elevated Chris Kunitz. Who was Chris Kunitz? He got end of the career, Billy Garan, who really, who wasn't Billy Garin anymore? He was just a guy who had the, and the thing they all had in common, was the ability to play with elite talent, which is I always say a talent in and of itself. You have to know how to play with elite talent. we've seen plenty of players who can't. But when these young guys are on his wing,

and they keep up with him and can Crosby elevate them, that'll really tell us in my estimation, not how much does he have left in the tank, but how much is he still Sidney Crosby? That's fair. I mean, he did spend quite a bit of last season with both Rust and Raquel, though sometimes Sullivan would split one of those two wingers up

from Cinn and then move one of them down to play with Malkin and stuff like that. Obviously, you saw Sid play with Coivin and McGrody a little bit down the stretch. In my opinion, I think he's a bit of a better fit with Magrorty. And I'm curious to see if Dan Mews decides to tinker with that at the start of the season, just considering the chemistry that they had. And I think McGority is the type of player that works really well with Sid. And we all know how great of a leader he is both on and off the ice, I think that will be very valuable to someone like a Magority who will be entering his first whole NHL season. You know, you'll say the same thing about Coyvon, who we expect on the team as well.

So I expect that to continue for this upcoming season. Points wise, I'm right there with you. You know, 80 to 90 plus points. I would love it if he hit 100. But I think right now that's a little bit more unlikely, not trying to rain on anyone's parade or anything like that. But I think just with where he is age-wise, I think if, you know, you're around that 80 to 90, point range, I will, I mean, anyone should take that. But I do think he's going to continue his point per game streak this year. But I do think you're also going to see. I'll say this about 100 points.

I don't think in this is going to sound very riding the fence, not taking a position. But I think if this, I think it's a possibility. But if it's, if only this were a better team. That's fair. Because if it was a better team, you'd have a better power play. you'd have more competitive games where he'd be called upon to do more and in things like that. You know there's going to be nights where they're down 2-1, 3-1, and it wouldn't shock me if Mews is like, just we don't need to put the top six out there, just hang out.

They're not going to get power plays. If this was a team that was contending for the playoffs, I'm not saying I would expect him to get 100 points, but I would certainly expect him to flirt with it. Well, just to play devil's advocate, excuse me, a little bit. That power play was basically top five last year. It was one of the best power plays in the league. So I will push back a little bit on that. But I'll say it from this perspective.

If you remember the 16 and 17 penguins, the reason they were obviously was the talent was why they were so good on the power play. But they were such a fast, competitive, talented team. They drew a lot of penalties. I don't think this penguin's team is going to draw a lot of penalties. So they might do well with what they get, but getting more opportunities because they're just better and faster than a team, I don't see that happening.

That's also fair just because they are not close to being one of the fastest teams in the league. You look at a team like the Devils, for example, when they're fully healthy, that's one of the fastest teams in the league. And we've seen them give the Penguins numerous fits over these last several years, whether it's in Pittsburgh or whether it's in Newark. But, yeah, I hear you a bit on a couple of the other things as well, but that'll also do it for the first segment here coming up in the second and the third segments. Pat and I are just going to wax poetic about Crosby,

go into our favorite moments throughout his 20-year tenure with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and that's coming up right after this. However, before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is Fandall. Summer sports are in full swing, and whether you're all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green or high-stakes soccer action, Fandle is the best way to make every game even more exciting.

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If you are new to Fandul, new customers can get bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the Fandle out today or visit Fandul.com to get started. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-o's Pachdam and Pat. I wrote a really cool feature today for the hockey news just going into five of Crosby's many great moments for the Pittsburgh Penguins over the years. I didn't want to include any international stuff on there just because I will be a very salty American. I don't want to include the team Canada gold medal clinching gold against the United States in 2010. I'm sorry, I just really did not want to do that just because even though it's been 15 years,

I still wish the U.S. would have won that game, even though it was an iconic moment for sitting company. What a game that was. Can I tell a story about that game? Can I tell a story about that game? So that was 2010. That was the 09-10 season. That was also my freshman year of college. It was my first year playing on IUP's hockey team.

And we all piled into one of our teammates' apartments to watch the game. And I believe if my memory serves, I think our roster was 23 or 24 players. And there were maybe 16 or 17 of us in this little, apartment watching the game. And let's just for sake of argument, say it was 16 of us. 15 of us are Americans. One of us is Canadian. When the Americans tied it up late in the third, we went bonkers.

We went nuts. And then in overtime, when Sid scores, one person went nuts. and you could hear a pin drop in that apartment. And there were in IUP's demographic and makeup of where people came from, for a weird reason, I don't know if it's still this way, I haven't been there in years. When I was there,

it was like 50-50 Pittsburgh, Philadelphia. So like half of us were like, yeah, this sucks, but at least it was Sid. And then the other half were like, this guy forchers me everywhere. Well, I don't think I can beat that story. It's funny.

I was watching the game with my mom and my stepdad. My stepdad is sadly a Capitals fan, a big yikes for that one. My mom, of course, she's the reason I'm into hockey. She's been a fan of this team since before I was born. And when Sid scored, we kind of just looked at each other and kind of just said,

are we like, we were mad, but we were like, man, this is the first, one of the first times we've ever had to root against Cindy Crosby. It was just such an awkward moment because obviously we were stunned, but we were also just like, wow. So now we kind of know how it feels for these other fan bases where Sid just torches them on a nightly basis.

So that part of it was a bit funny. But in terms of Penguin specific moments, I have to start with the quote-unquote goal, game four 2009 Stanley Cup final, Evgeny Malkin, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again with that pass. He misses the first one, gets the puck back, sends it cross-ice to Crosby, who absolutely gets mobbed by both Malkin and Latang, sends Mellon Arena into a frenzy. And I've told this on the show before, but I really think that goal, which ended up being the game winner in game four, it made it three, two. The Penguins made it four to a little bit later to tie up the series

two against the Red Wings in the 09 final. I really think that goal, at least for me, put a thought in my head, I think for a lot of other fans as well, that they can beat this team. Like, this actually might be different because when you compare that final to 08, it was going the same way, Pat. Red Wings won the first two games. Penguin struck back in game three, but you have to find a way to win game four. The Red Wings won game four and 08, took a three-one series lead. They win that series in six games.

This one, Penguins, they want to witness Stanley Cup. You've got to find a way to tie up this series at two going back to Joe Lewis Arena. in 2009. Sure enough, they did Jordan Stahl with one of the biggest, biggest goals of that final and of that playoff run, ties it at two, and then Crosby gets the goal, just an unreal goal between him and Malkin to make it three, two. And I don't think that goal gets talked about enough when it comes to Crosby's career, but I want to start out with it just because of how huge of a moment it was when the Penguins were chasing their first cup of the Crosby era. It showed because we kind of forget how early in Crosby's career this was.

Yeah. This was what his fourth season in the league because if you go through his career, first season they missed the playoffs. Second year they get humbled by Ottawa. Third year they make that crazy run to the 08 final and then run into a juggernaut of a Red Wings team. So this is year four of Crosby's career. And it really showed us that. that we knew just in the way he played that he had that clutch gene in him,

that in the biggest moments he rises to the occasion. And I won't say because we were not at all looking at that 09 playoff thinking, oh my God, when is Sid going to show up? Because he was great throughout that whole run. But you were waiting for that moment in the Stanley Cup final. Right. You were waiting for the moment for Sid. and that was it.

Into your point, you look at the way how closely mirrored those two finals were. Yeah, as a fan, we go into 09 thinking, of course, we're in the Stanley Cup. We're one or two teams. We either win or we don't. Of course we got a chance to win the Stanley Cup. But in your head, you're like, dude, it is Detroit.

It is the Detroit Red Wings. Like, this is going to be a difficult lift. You mix together, Stahl's short-handed goal. and then that moment in that like you, I looked at that, and that was the first moment in that final where I went, yeah, like there's a real possibility they could do this. Because you look at the 08 final, great story. They had some moments, but you went, man, this one isn't really in doubt.

Like they're going to put up a fight, but we know who's coming out on top. After those two goals, you went, they got a shot. And sure enough, we were proven right because the Penguins won that series in seven games in 2009 against the Red Wings. But yeah, I mean, again, like, now an arena went into quite a frenzy. Remember, the Red Wings actually called Time Out after that, Crosby goal. And you can just see like the camera panning to everyone in the crowd. They're going nuts.

It pans to the owner's box with Mario up there, just smiling with his wife. You see the watch parties outside the Aigloo with people have like the fake Stanley Cups in the air. Like it was such an awesome time. And you could just see the belief. in all of the fans who were in the arena, at least when I was watching TV, when I was only, what, 11, I was going to turn 12 later that year. So again, one of my favorite moments. And then, of course, before we get to the final segment where we continue discussing more great moments, poor Jason Spetsa, Penguins assistant general manager, Jason Spets. So former Ottawa Senator Jason Spetsa, who got turned into an absolute pylon behind the net in the 2010 series between the Penguins and

the senators. Crosby went to work on him down low, goes back to the point. Crystal Tang gets the game winning goal. Just another vintage Sid moment. There was nothing Spetsa could have done about that. I'm sure once he got hired here as an assistant GM, Sid probably went up to him. He was like, hey, remember what happened back in 2010? So still, that moment is still will forever live rent free in my head. It's so perfect. It's such a perfect encapsulation of one. what makes and what has made Sidney Crosby such an elite talent in the NHL. And real quick, I got to give a shout out to a lot of people who commented,

shared and watched my clip from a couple weeks ago about the youth hockey stuff. To relate those two together in a way, if you are any sort of hockey coach at any level, you need to evaluate and show that clip to players because it is a purpose. perfect model. Obviously, don't expect your players to do that. They're not Sydney Crosby. Not many people are. But it shows how good his puck control, puck protection, edge work, and power are because he puts it all together in that moment. He owns the puck. He protects it extremely well against the defender in so much of it. If you, in you guys who are listening to this, You're all sickos, just like we are.

So you know exactly what clip we're talking about. Forget about the crowd swelling. Forget about what Jason Spetsa is doing to try to get the puck off of Sid. Just watch Sid's skates and watch the way he positions his feet, the way he positions his body. It is an absolute master class in edgework in puck protection. Oh, 100%. Like the way that he was able to spin off Spetsa,

multiple times still get the puck back to the point even while falling to his knees before Latang rifles it for the game winning goal to tie up that series at one a piece against senators. Flawless stuff from the captain. But that would do it for the second segment coming up to end the show. As I said, we're going to continue to remember some of Cindy Crosby's finest moments so far with the Penguins, and that's coming up right after this. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locktown Penguins podcast.

I'm one of your host on Trojody's joined by my co-host Pat. I've gone into a couple of my favorite memories when it comes to Cindy Crosby. Let's hear a couple of years now. One of and I've been, I've had to do so much reading this week, both for the show and for work. So I think Josh, our good pal, Josh, he put this in his top Crosby goals because this week's been going crazy for me. So apologies to Josh. but I think he had this ranked as his number one, and it's probably my number one too.

It's the F, yeah, goal against the Islanders at then-Kinsall Energy Center, because, again, very similar to when we look back at the 09 Stanley Cup, we've kind of, I don't want to say forgotten, but it's been a little bit lost about how close we were to seeing Crosby's greatness cut short because of the concussion and the neck issues that he had in the early 2010s after the 2011 Winter Classic. And it was daily updates, Crosby skated, but only for like 10 minutes. Crosby didn't skate today.

Crosby skated today, but it was only for five minutes. And then you had that weird press conference where he had to push back on rumors that he was retiring. And we were all just counting down the days. And even though we didn't know when the end was, when Crosby would return to action. And then that day in November against the Islanders, it goes from just a random early season game against the Islanders to the biggest game on the hockey calendar. Everyone was at this game. Every outlet. TSN, Sportsnet, RDA,

ESPN, everybody was at this game because Crosby came back. And not only does he come back, his second shift. He does the most Sidney Crosby thing imaginable on his second shift. Makes a play in the defensive zone behind the net to break up an Islander's attack, immediately heads up ice, gets a pass, beats a defenseman wide, scores on his backhand because of course he does and just lets the cap off because for basically a year and a half. False starts, rumors about his retirement, injury troubles. I'm sure he had some absolutely brutal days because if you've even had a minor concussion, they suck.

but the fact that he had a concussion and neck issues finally gets to come back and scores an unbelievable goal in Consul Energy Center just erupts. And for my money, along with the significance of Crosby being back after all that time away, what made this goal so huge was it was the first moment. at Kinsal Energy Center because that initial season, they're doing well, they're playing well. Krosby goes on that crazy point streak. Because remember, this is only the second season of Kinsal Energy Center.

And by the time the playoffs show up for the first season of Kinsal Energy Center, Crosby's got the concussion issues, Malkins out with a knee injury. They go seven with Tampa, but it's a pretty forgettable series. So this was the first big moment in that arena. So it was really, really cool to see. I remember exactly where I was for that show. I was actually getting ready for practice. I could not watch the entire game.

But thankfully, he scored early enough where I just let out a huge scream. My mom was so excited. I think I probably, I would say I woke up because it was still early enough where everyone was up. But I think everyone heard my scream all the way down my street and my neighborhood. And I went to practice with the biggest smile on my face because it was just so awesome seeing him back for just that game and just in general because it had been so long. So I love that goal. You're right. F yeah, because he just let it all out.

Another one, speaking of the Islanders, because he has torched the Islanders so much start his career. The time pat where he comes back from the broken jaw, game five, 2013, splits the defenseman. Shades of Mario, by the way. and beats of getting to block off blocker's side and the whole arena just went nuts. He has that little weird visor. It's not like a full face shield, but it's like a half a face shield

just because he's protecting his broken jaw. He had just come back a few games ago. And that arena went nuts. Like it's still been pretty new as an arena, but that's probably the loudest that I had heard PBG since it opened after they stopped playing at Mellon Arena. And it was such a big moment too

because the Penguins had just choked in game four. And they were up to nothing before Crosby made it, three nothing. But it was still so huge because that was the goal that really, at least to me, clinched them that game. And I think gave them the confidence to go win that series in six games

on the island against, I would say their biggest nemesis throughout this franchise history. When you look at what's going on in the playoff failures, when you look at that. So that gave them the confidence to go to the island and beat them in six games. But that goal still, of my favorites to this day. It's up there for me just the way he bounces off a defender and just

every play by play person and us too loves to use the phrase buries it. But that goal was the definition of burying it. He blew that puck by the goaltender and it was an unreal shot. The next one for me isn't really a moment, but it's a run. And it's from the, end of the 2015 playoffs until the Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 2017 for the second straight year because there were never any doubts that he was going to go down as one of the greatest players to ever play the game. But when you look at his run from the time they exit the 2015 playoffs to when they beat Nashville to go back to back, it was an unbelievable performance for Crosby in those times.

He comes back and he struggles to start the 15-16 season, but the entire team does. Mike Johnston gets canned. Mike Sullivan comes in and a rocket gets strapped to this franchise's back. And Crosby is a huge catalyst for it. He absolutely goes off from December till the playoffs. He gets back-to-back con smyth trophies. as a result, wins a rocket Richard. He wins the 2016 World Cup of hockey.

And in the World Cup, he is not even close to anybody else. He was the best player in that tournament. And whoever you want to say was second, they were a distant second. And in that run, to me, not just because of the Stanley Cups, not just because of the Khan Smythe trophies. He solidifies himself as a top five player all time, just because you couldn't touch him in that time period. He was head and shoulders, no questions asked, the best player on the planet.

And yes, the HBK line, the rise of Matt Murray, Mark Andre Fleury's Swan Song, Phil Kessel, Mike Sullivan, all the heroes that helped them win those two cups. Yeah, they played a role, but none of it happens without the performance of the captain. He strapped that team to his back, and he got some help carrying the load, but for the majority of that two-ish year period,

it was Crosby and everybody else. Best player on the planet, a million percent. And even to this day now, still a top five, top 10 player in the world. even though he is 38 now. And this past season, Pat, when you look at international, Four Nations face off,

he goes in, it is clear that he is banged up. He's one of Canada's best players during that event, and it wasn't even close. Even though they had Cal McCar, Nathan McKinnon, Connor McDavid,

etc., etc. Crosby was still one of Canada's best players during that tournament. And I would expect it to be the case when he goes back to the Olympics and tries to captain team Canada to yet another gold medal.

but that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with another episode for you guys on Friday, continuing A, fan take Friday, and B, our top 25 of the last 25 years. Pat, we have a pretty fun category for tomorrow. So that will just be the tease for Friday's episode. But again, happy birthday, Sid, 38. It's crazy that it's been already 20 years, and we hope that you have another great season this year.

So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We appreciate it. We'll be back on Friday.