What do they need to do?

[ZombieMatt]

Having made some comments in other threads about Dion Phaneuf and Sidney Crosby, I'm curious as to what people think these two players need to do in order to fulfill their hype?

I'm looking for projected statistics, accolades, and other accomplishments.

I'm just thinking about what has happened (in some cases) to the Sedins. High draft picks who are solidly second line players, one of which finished in the top fifty in league scoring, and playing second fiddle to one of the top five lines in hockey (Bertuzzi-Morrison-Naslund). And yet they are busts.

So what do these two future superstars have to do to avoid getting the bust label?

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[Jason MacIsaac]

Having made some comments in other threads about Dion Phaneuf and Sidney Crosby, I'm curious as to what people think these two players need to do in order to fulfill their hype?

I'm looking for projected statistics, accolades, and other accomplishments.

I'm just thinking about what has happened (in some cases) to the Sedins. High draft picks who are solidly second line players, one of which finished in the top fifty in league scoring, and playing second fiddle to one of the top five lines in hockey (Bertuzzi-Morrison-Naslund). And yet they are busts.

So what do these two future superstars have to do to avoid getting the bust label?

Phaneuf is in a win lose lose lose situation. He is much like Stuart with SJ where a good player is not good enough, even a good #2 defensmen will be considered a bust. Phaneuf needs a Norris, Smyth or a Hart to avoid the bust word.

Crosby will lose no matter what....

 

[West]

For Crosby I'd say putting up the same numbers as an earlry Paul Kariya and if Phaneuf looks like a Scott Stevens from 4 or 5 years ago they both would be doing really well.

Also give them 3-4 years in the NHL to ramp up to those levels.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I think Phaneuf will be given quite a bit more leeway than Crosby. Everyone knows defensemen take awhile to develop, while a forward like Crosby will be expected to put up huge numbers right away. To justify his hype, Crosby will be expected to win the Calder, and be a top ten scorer in the league by his second year.

 

[espo*]

I'd have to agree with ranger here....phaneuf will get a little(probably a lot) more leeway then Crosby because he's a defenseman and because he frankly isn't hyped as much as Crosby,he's hyped but man....not that hyped.It could be rough start in the press for sid right away,i can see it starting now both here and in the press now that he and Ovechkin will both enter the nhl at the same time.Ovechkin wins the calder instead of Crosby(i expect this,ovechkin is more physically ready for the nhl and should be the top guy coming in) Everyone starts yapping..."see...Ovechkin is the real deal,not Crosby)The difference in age of the two players won't matter to a lot of people. Crosby is going to be looked at to be top ten in scoring by his second year with maybe some leeway given because he will be on a terrible team most likely.....by his third year it won't matter,if he's not top ten or top five people are going to start saying he was not all he was cracked up to be,too small,not that gifted etcetc.Sid will take a little time to develop and show the hockey commuinity he is a star player,look for him at about 21 or 22 years of age to really bust out and show he's an impact player.Everyone will expect too much too soon and start to squawk,they'll eventually end up being proven premature i believe.But i think initially that is how it will play out.

 

[Levitate]

Phaneuf is in a win lose lose lose situation. He is much like Stuart with SJ where a good player is not good enough, even a good #2 defensmen will be considered a bust. Phaneuf needs a Norris, Smyth or a Hart to avoid the bust word.

bingo...at this point phaneuf is going to have to be a #1 defenseman like a chris pronger to not be considered a failure...he's gonna have to score and play a nasty physical game and be one of the top defensemen in the entire NHL

i don't think that's entirely fair but i think that's what it's going to be.

as for crosby...he's gonna have to be one of the top 5 players in the league, if not the best player in the league for some people to not be dissapointed in him

 

[alecfromtherock]

I think Phaneuf will be given quite a bit more leeway than Crosby. Everyone knows defensemen take awhile to develop, while a forward like Crosby will be expected to put up huge numbers right away. To justify his hype, Crosby will be expected to win the Calder, and be a top ten scorer in the league by his second year.

Hype has inflated exceptions for Crosby to the point of being unreasonable/unattainable.

The Great One did not help Crosby by saying he could be the one to break all of his records.

Who said that Crosby needs to justify all of the hype? Developing and adjusting to the NHL should be his priority, doing whatever he can do to aid his new team.

 

[espo*]

He does'nt need to live up to the hype but you can be sure lot's of people will be looking to see if he does or not.He'll have to be extremely sucessful from the get -go to avoid having all the naysayers jumping all over him being labeled as "next one".

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Hype has inflated exceptions for Crosby to the point of being unreasonable/unattainable.

The Great One did not help Crosby by saying he could be the one to break all of his records.

Who said that Crosby needs to justify all of the hype? Developing and adjusting to the NHL should be his priority, doing whatever he can do to aid his new team.

I don't disagree, but that doesn't take away the expectations that will be heaped upon Crosby once he hits the NHL. He is being touted as a once in a generation player, and that will be very hard to live up to IMO.

 

[AnThGrt]

If Crosby is anything short of AMAZING i can guarantee you he will be trashed and yelled at by many people to come

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

Having made some comments in other threads about Dion Phaneuf and Sidney Crosby, I'm curious as to what people think these two players need to do in order to fulfill their hype?

Are you asking what they need to do for the general community of fans or for each of us personally?

Personally, all I ask of Phaneuf is to translate most of his game to the NHL. The thing that pisses me off the most is when a prospect looks like a man against boys in the CHL and then turns into a woman against men in the NHL.

I would really like Phaneuf talent level to translate well but I won't be too worried about him if he at least shows the same guts. And I have a good feeling he will pull it off. Anything less than a very solid, very gutsy 2nd pairing D for Phaneuf would disappoint me. (I will not use the word bust as it is extremely loaded around here).

For Crosby, he has to put up a lot of points or find ways to be effective nonetheless. I'd be disappointed if he isn't a top line forward and extremely disappointed if he isn't scoring line forward period.

Both players have a lot more upside than that but you can't really label a guy a failure just because he doesn't reach his top upside, IMO. You can still expect more out of them, though. As long as they try their best, I won't complain too much if the performances are reasonably good.

That's how I look at it.

I just realized that I haven't really answered your question, though. If they have to fulfill their hype, it has to be a LOT more than that.

I'm just thinking about what has happened (in some cases) to the Sedins. High draft picks who are solidly second line players, one of which finished in the top fifty in league scoring, and playing second fiddle to one of the top five lines in hockey (Bertuzzi-Morrison-Naslund). And yet they are busts.

So what do these two future superstars have to do to avoid getting the bust label?

The Sedins' bust label is, as you know, extremely unfair.

The only explanation I could come up with is that:

1-They're kind of "gimmicky" because they are twins. Maybe some people pick on them for that.

2-They are not really agressive players nor flashy 5 foot 10 guys. Guys who are 6 foot 1/6 foot 2 (and look fairly large too) and play a smooth game without showing much physical impact sometimes fall out of favor quickly.

It still sucks. They are doing more than many young players out there. I must still admit that their style of play sometimes become a little tiring to watch. Labelling busts is still comical, though.