How bad would the NHL hurt if Crosby decided to retire tommorrow

Sports Enthusiast

Not Here To Be Liked
Sep 19, 2010
19,972
134
Middle of nowhere
A few years ago when sid was really the only young super star i think the impact would be far greater but now with a good amount of young super stars i don't think the impact would be as big.

Really? Him and Ovechkin have been around for basically the same time. Ovechkin wowed people with that goal on his rear in Phoenix.
 

Banana Sandwiches

Registered User
Jul 18, 2011
2,664
1
TV ratings for Penguins games would go down and that's about it.

Plus, a guy like Ovechkin can easily replace Crosby as the face of the NHL.

I'm already a hockey fan so Crosby retiring would have no effect on me.

If a casual fan were to watch Crosby and liked him, they'd become a Penguins fan. So really, I think this effects the Penguins' image more so than the NHL's.
 

One Winged Angel

You Can't Escape
May 3, 2006
16,531
3,454
Long Island
I really don't think losing Crosby will hurt the game all that much. The Penguins, and a small revenue hit, but not to the effect that some might think.

He isn't a household name in the US, and honestly, not many outsiders who don't watch hockey all that much and other casual fans of the game don't really know who he is or talk all that much about him.

It would probably be worse if ESPN had a tv contract with the NHL, because they'd be marketing Crosby and Ovechkin, and there would be much more national exposure to them and the sport in the US, but that hasn't been the case since 2004, so there goes that theory.

Overall, I just don't think there's enough exposure or care for hockey in the US for it to matter as much as some think it would.
 

MAROONSRoad

f/k/a Ghost
Feb 24, 2007
4,067
0
Maroons Rd.
NHL, not so much. Penguins - it would hurt. Hockey Canada - ouch.

How would it hurt Hockey Canada?

I think Crosby is a great player and he genuinely seems like a very decent person at least from this fan's point of view -- humble, modest, cooperative, etc. However, he is not heads and shoulders above all of his peers in the way a Gretzky or Lemieux or Orr were in their days.

If Crosby retired (and I hope he doesn't for years to come) not that much would change in the larger scheme of things.
 

Fish on The Sand

Untouchable
Feb 28, 2002
60,203
1,904
Canada
The NHL would hurt a little for maybe a year, but realistically no one player has that much of an impact on the game right now. There is nobody that really transcends hockey. OV comes close because of his sheer charisma, but its not like he's got a Gretzky effect.
 

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