Bylsma on Crosby "Sid is not the best player in the world skill-wise"

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Dey so soff*

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Feb 17, 2017
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I don’t disagree with Disco’s assessment, ON THE WHOLE.

Sid isn’t the best shooter. He isn’t the best passer. He isn’t the best faceoff man.

But he has/had a better ALL AROUND game than anyone else. He wanted to work on his shot one offseason, so he did and came back and scored 50 goals. He wanted to work on his face offs one offseason and he did and came back markedly improved. Etc, etc, etc.

His edgework might be the best in the game but as far as “skill”, there are others better in individual areas.

I think Disco could have worded it better but I think I get what he is saying...
 

billybudd

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Feb 1, 2012
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Dan's got rocks in his head, but the way this is phrased makes me feel like Wyshynski is probably taking him out of context for clickbait purposes. Also, that Wyshynski is the one reporting this makes me think that.
 
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billybudd

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What is a skill anyway? Isn't deflecting pucks on insane angles a skill? Is owning the puck along the boards using great skating, your stick, and feet a skill?

I think sometimes we just get an idea that if a player can do 3 things like snipe, deke, and quickly skate around a guy then he's skilled and then ignore other less traditional things that are skills in and of themselves. Crosby has skills that other players who do the more traditional "pretty" things often lack. Like Semin's comment a few years ago implying that if you aren't flying down the wing and sniping to get your hockeying done then you're lesser somehow when there's plenty of other skills that players can perform that end up with the puck in the net instead. There's no asterisk on your Rocket trophy that 30 of your goals weren't just blowing it by the goalie picking a corner.

Bingo. People confuse "skill" with Linus Omark style "fanciness" all too often. I'll take Joe Pavelski's skill at tipping pucks over Alexander Burmistrov's goal line trick shot 100% of the time.
 
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HandshakeLine

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Dan's got rocks in his head, but the way this is phrased makes me feel like Wyshynski is probably taking him out of context for clickbait purposes. Also, that Wyshynski is the one reporting this makes me think that.

This too. Wyshynski is bad enough that his beat should be in Pittsburgh. :laugh:
 
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canadianguy77

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He's likely the best board player to have ever played the game, which is where most of today's game is played anyway.
 

Shady Machine

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Add me to the "what does skill mean anyway" camp. If we mean fancy dekes and sick snipes, then sure, but those are far from the only skills.

Without knowing context, I take the comment to mean gifts from birth. Sid is likely not the most naturally gifted athlete in the world. Hard to know this for a fact, but certainly part of what makes Sid the best in the game is his unrivaled work ethic. I'd venture to guess that Geno is the more naturally gifted of the 2 but Sid has a drive and passion to be the best (meaning training, practice habits, lifestyle, etc) that Geno doesn't have day in day out.
 

Rodgerwilco

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Crosby's "skill game" is never what has made him better than other guys. Sure he's super skilled, but it's the other things about his game that make him the best.

He rarely "dangles" people, or pulls fancy dekes. His vision, board play, puck protection, hand-eye coordination, hockey IQ, edge-work, etc... These are the things that set him apart from his peers.
 

Treent1

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Jun 5, 2017
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Crosby's "skill game" is never what has made him better than other guys. Sure he's super skilled, but it's the other things about his game that make him the best.

He rarely "dangles" people, or pulls fancy dekes. His vision, board play, puck protection, hand-eye coordination, hockey IQ, edge-work, etc... These are the things that set him apart from his peers.
and they are skills
 

DegenX

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Love the Buffy gifs

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Yeah, I like Joss Whedon. Not really sure about him as a human, but appreciate him as an artist.
 

DanielPlainview

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Crosby took on a safer style after the concussion issues. I don't doubt he could still play like he did when he was 22 but I don't think he wants to. I think people mistake how he chooses to play the game with the limitations of his skill. His mentality and approach changed and so we see different skills.
 

Turin

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Crosby took on a safer style after the concussion issues. I don't doubt he could still play like he did when he was 22 but I don't think he wants to. I think people mistake how he chooses to play the game with the limitations of his skill. His mentality and approach changed and so we see different skills.

This just isn’t true. The only injuries that affected Crosby’s game were the broken wrist and ankle. 2010-2013 Crosby was a static level of dominance. He got his wrist injury late 2014 and by the time he recovered he was already under the defensive tyranny of Mike Johnston. Maybe now he changed his game from last year, but Crosby was by and large playing “his game” at 29 years old.
 

DanielPlainview

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All one has to do is watch his play pre and post concussion problems. He changed his game dramatically.
 

SEALBound

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Look, I hate Bylsma as much as the next guy...but I wouldn't say he's wrong. Skill-wise, no Sid's probably not the single best. He's got elite skills, no question. His "best player in the world" title comes from combining elite skills in every category with one of the most monstrous work ethics the NHL has ever known. THAT is how he's able to do what he does.

Hell, Malkin has more raw, natural skill than Sid does...but Malkin's work ethic is about half of what Sid's is. The best player to ever grace the NHL past, present, or future would be to combine Malkin's size and skill with Sid's vision, IQ, and work ethic. Basically...Mario Lemieux. So it holds up.

There are better shooters than Sid. There are better stick handlers than Sid. There are faster players than Sid. There are stronger players than Sid (though not many, probably no one stronger on their feet than Sid). Smarter? I dunno. But Sid is great because has elite skills (maybe not THEE best) in every category and works his butt off.

So what Bylsma says is sorta true...but it's a cop out without further explanation.
 

flaneur

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Jul 17, 2013
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Had PTSD listening to his voice.

Anyhow, if anyone was interested, the context of the quote was: Wysh asked Byslma about Crosby's ability to analyze, process, and change his play between shifts in a game. DB, who has apparently been spending too much time in media dropping 'hot takes', decides to answer this question with "Crosby is NOT the best hockey player in the world... [pause]... skill wise". He goes on to talk about how Crosby is good at finding details that can be improved, works at it, and executes it by the next game. Nothing out of the norm... but still vaguely condescending.

Also, it's crazy how much that man loves Brooks Orpik.

And bizarrely dismissive of Malkin.
 

Old Gregg

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Had PTSD listening to his voice.

Anyhow, if anyone was interested, the context of the quote was: Wysh asked Byslma about Crosby's ability to analyze, process, and change his play between shifts in a game. DB, who has apparently been spending too much time in media dropping 'hot takes', decides to answer this question with "Crosby is NOT the best hockey player in the world... [pause]... skill wise". He goes on to talk about how Crosby is good at finding details that can be improved, works at it, and executes it by the next game. Nothing out of the norm... but still vaguely condescending.

Also, it's crazy how much that man loves Brooks Orpik.

And bizarrely dismissive of Malkin.


Probably because of this...
 

SHOOTANDSCORE

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Sep 25, 2005
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And it could be said that Bure was more skilled than Fedorov. Or Forsberg was more skilled than Jagr. But i'd still take the latter of the two examples on my team any day.
Kovalev comes to mind too.


This just isn’t true. The only injuries that affected Crosby’s game were the broken wrist and ankle. 2010-2013 Crosby was a static level of dominance. He got his wrist injury late 2014 and by the time he recovered he was already under the defensive tyranny of Mike Johnston. Maybe now he changed his game from last year, but Crosby was by and large playing “his game” at 29 years old.
I thought that the shattered face was a significant factor.
 

Tom Hanks

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This just isn’t true. The only injuries that affected Crosby’s game were the broken wrist and ankle. 2010-2013 Crosby was a static level of dominance. He got his wrist injury late 2014 and by the time he recovered he was already under the defensive tyranny of Mike Johnston. Maybe now he changed his game from last year, but Crosby was by and large playing “his game” at 29 years old.

He definitely changed this season but last year he was around the net or driving hard. He’s backed off significantly this season.
 
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