Is Crosby still a top 5 center?

[The Grim Reaper]

.5 PPG and .25 GPG as a minus 4 over the past two playoffs, while having his team swept once and go 1-3 the other time.

I realize Crosby gets a grace decade on HF and in the Canadian hockey media but this is getting ridiculous.

This take brought to you by a fan of a team the Pens have taken out behind the barn and bent over for the better part of 30 years.

What’s special about the last two years, why not the last 3, 4, or 5 years? Oh...

 

[Iapyi]

.5 PPG and .25 GPG as a minus 4 over the past two playoffs, while having his team swept once and go 1-3 the other time.

I realize Crosby gets a grace decade on HF and in the Canadian hockey media but this is getting ridiculous.

Maybe don't watch Canadian hockey media.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

.5 PPG and .25 GPG as a minus 4 over the past two playoffs, while having his team swept once and go 1-3 the other time.

I realize Crosby gets a grace decade on HF and in the Canadian hockey media but this is getting ridiculous.

If we're going to start judging players on playoff success and failures, minus one solitary year Ovechkin's going on almost 2 decades of grace period then.

 

[Big Empty]

I’d have him behind McDavid, Draisaitl, Matthews, and MacKinnon at 5

 

[Taluss]

I’ll put him at #5. I’ll take him over anyone in playoffs though

 

[Thenameless]

Yes, easily. I'll need to see a season-plus of poor production before I begin to write him off.

 

[Michael HOMERUNing]

Top 2

 

[Lukin1978]

.5 PPG and .25 GPG as a minus 4 over the past two playoffs, while having his team swept once and go 1-3 the other time.

I realize Crosby gets a grace decade on HF and in the Canadian hockey media but this is getting ridiculous.

You must be obsessed with Sid every post of yours I see is you bashing him.

 

[Thenameless]

You must be obsessed with Sid every post of yours I see is you bashing him.

He is. He can't stand the fact that Crosby is generally rated higher than Ovechkin.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Yes just because his “on” games are still so dominant. Not 5 guys I’d take I’ve him for a single night.

Id say at his age it’s becoming a little more varied though, so if you didn’t have him top 5 I wouldn’t argue.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

yes AINEC. only McDavid is definitely better and MacKinnon/Draisaitl have a claim

 

[Gurglesons]

How are we judging a top 5 center is it the current 5 best centers this season? Or is it who are the top five enters cumulatively over the last little stretch?

I think it is easy to argue Crosby is not a top five center this year. But, if I'm looking at centers in the league and who historically and potentially moving forward this year will be top five, I easily have him in the top five and bordering on the top three.

 

[Paper]

I’ll put him at #5. I’ll take him over anyone in playoffs though

My thinking too. McDavid may be Eddie Martel but when it comes to heart you need Shane Falco aka Crosby. Crosby is pretty much Keanu Reeves if Reeves was a Canadian hockey player.

 

[M2Beezy]

yes AINEC. only McDavid is definitely better and MacKinnon/Draisaitl have a claim

I agree with Kirk. At first was thinking at around 5/6 but elavates the HELL out of his game in the playoffs so much when star players should so have to easy breasy take him over Matthews/Barkov if ya want to win in the playoffs so yeah still top 5

 

[PettersonHughes]

Gotta agree with those making regular season vs. playoff performance distinctions, and I would also want him on the squad to escalate his play in the playoffs.

As good as guys like McDavid and Matthews are, they still don't have the track record that Sid has had in the same era, and just like it affected Ovechkin's legacy before he won his Cup, it should also reflect on who #34 and #97 ultimately are -- regular season performers with potential to become great, but in the postseason they are still unproven.

First couple folks who come to mind for post-season greatness (in no particular order) would be Point, Crosby, Mackinnon, Bergeron and O'Reilly.

 

[Tryblot]

This take brought to you by a fan of a team the Pens have taken out behind the barn and bent over for the better part of 30 years.

What’s special about the last two years, why not the last 3, 4, or 5 years? Oh...

Why would you be judging someone now based off 3+ years ago? The bottom line is he has 4 points in 2 very early exits back to back for the Penguins and it's not like he's getting any younger.

 

[Albatros]

There's no one in the league I'd take over him.

 

[Jarey Curry]

MacKinnon is a beast in the playoffs, has been better in the postseason than both of late.

No the other top centers are beast in the playoffs, Mackinnon in the playoffs is the beast of the beasts

 

[MrThomas]

In my opinion, he is #5 right now.

McDavid
MacKinnon
Draisaitl
Matthews

I have him behind these players.

For anyone else? Ask yourself if you would take that player ahead of Crosby if you were a Stanley Cup contender and were starting the playoffs tomorrow.

I think only a player like Point would have a legitimate argument, considering what he did in the playoffs last year.

Barkov is so underrated

 

[ScaredStreit]

He's around #5 or so for me. Being clutch in big games though I'd take him over the guys who are around his tier.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

I don't think so, or at the very best he's 5th. There's a bunch of guys in that range and close enough that whoever is having the best season basically deserves to be there.

He's still a great player but i don't think he's got the same dominant switch to flip on like in the past. Just watching these young superstars reminds you what that feels like, and how i used to go into Pens games thinking what's in the two-headed monsters bag of tricks today. You appreciate what they still are today but it's not the same anymore.

 

[Crow]

I think he is 6th. Good poll I guess. An argument can be made for 4th-7th. I think I’d rather have him this year than point. Not barkov though.

 

[DickSmehlik]

This take brought to you by a fan of a team the Pens have taken out behind the barn and bent over for the better part of 30 years.

What’s special about the last two years, why not the last 3, 4, or 5 years? Oh...

Is this a serious question?

He's getting older and like most players is getting less productive. There is a reason that regency is a thing.

 

[Machinehead]

He's not having one of the five best seasons, but if I'm taking a center to start a team with (let's say for one season, because Crosby is getting up there) he's still in my top 5 picks.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Is it weird that I think putting Matthews over Crosby is premature? Not that it's necessarily "wrong", but Matthews really hasn't proven to be better than Crosby at this point. Like he hasn't shown to be on that clearly better level that guys like McDavid, MacKinnon and Draisaitl have shown. Matthews has a better pace than Crosby this year, but he and Crosby essentially tied last year (in a year where Crosby had to get back surgery due to a hernia) and Crosby smoked him in 2018-2019.

I think McDavid is clearly #1, MacKinnon and Draisaitl are debatable for #2 and #3, and the debate really opens up at #4.

People acting like Crosby is washed really aren't living in reality: