Sidney Crosby Deserves Better

[@whiplash1994]

Me 2 years ago: "We should let Letang and Malkin walk. Re-signing them is going to hurt the team in the short and long term." Other fans: "We know they'll suck, but just enjoy the ride and let the big 3 ride off into the sunset together. That's more important to me." Those fans today: "This is bullshit! I can't believe we're terrible! We should've gotten younger when we had the chance!"

[@chizorama]

Agree, everything looks good on paper, till it's played out on the screen. We want our heroes to stay till the end, but it's a young man's game in this era, warnings fall on deaf ears with big mouths.

[@whiplash1994]

@@chizorama it's Pittsburgh Sports Syndrome. Nostalgia > Success

[@jeffrichardjr]

Nedeljkovic < Jarry

[@benjaminperez7328]

EXACTAMUNDO.

[@theKid87]

Coaching needs to be held accountable. Any way you look at it they've had a hand in the teams failures whether it be poor systems fit or the players tuning them out. I think it's a bit of both.

[@DropthePuckHockey]

That’s a good point, I love sully but it might be time for a new voice in the locker room

[@chizorama]

Coaching is where I start too, they may not have a lot of depth, but they still have potential talent sprinkled through. I was like wtf when thay gave Jarry a 5 year extension, but he hasn't been the issue this season, not as much as last year at least. Hextall was also a saboteur sent by Philly, & he accomplished his mission.

[@toddwilliams8128]

Right now, I'd settle for seeing them go a calendar week without giving up a SHG. Small victories like that could go a long way, but there's not a long way to go to the playoffs. Whatever happens, I don't think there are players who don't want to win, but they are not playing well as a team. There are amazing individual efforts, but never more than 3 players in the same game... with a 20-man bench, that's not good. No one is blaming Crosby for any of this, or at least they shouldn't be. At teh minimum, he is leading by example, and if more players had 60 pts, the team would be in much better shape at the moment.

[@spearson103]

Crosby made this bed

[@deestrick5712]

There is still hope! 18% Trade Riley Smith Maybe Raks, keep Guentz and workout a deal. The third and fourth lines have had a zillion different combinations. D.O.C. Has been one of my favorites and he’s only getting better. Lars is playing consistently and Puustinen is gaining confidence. Rusty Razor and Jake Shakes back in the lineup is needed, duh. Noel Acciari also. This weekend is a rough one at Ducking Boston and back home ferda oilers again. Go 2-0-1 in the next three. Take 4 more points off Columbus and who knows. Make it close at least. Malkin played his best game of the year last night. Hope he can keep those legs hopping. Go 🐧

[@joelniemann9547]

Last game I was at, the players that stood out from my 1st-row balcony-level seats (I enjoy the birds-eye view) were Petterson (always in the right place at the right time), and D.O.C. (such a speed demon and plays with such heart). Karlsson was so slow and often out of place because of it. I was hopeful Karlsson would fit, but like I expected, he was a terrible addition to this already-old squad.

[@stratman103]

So I don't understand something. Pens have had a hard time scoring. So we're about to trade one of our highest producing scorers. How does this make sense? Jake has 52 points and is a +9 in 50 games.

[@willie9397]

jake wants to wait until the off season for a contract, if dubas waits jake will have pens by the balls he can walk away and pens get nothing hes a ufa

[@scooter29]

I’m hoping the Pens work out an extension for Jake before the deadline

[@DarrenShaw-ev5tb]

Sounds like a Oilers game !! - Are we Good ( some days ) Sid will be a Pen 4 ever ( just my pinion

[@allucknoskill4695]

crosby has had a great career. 3 cups. times up for the pens. you're lucky to have a team with the longevity that they had. has to end some time.

[@senju1kay]

W upload

[@DropthePuckHockey]

Thanks!

[@KevinWood44]

Crosby deserved BETTER than: -to be drafted by the Pens -Scored 102 points in his rookie year, winning the Calder -Getting mentored by Mario Lemieux, while living with him!! -Having a career-long linemate like Malkin??? -Winning 3 cups** (Corrected) Cmon....Crosby has been the most coddled superstar in modern NHL history.

[@skippy675]

3 cups, not 2. Wayne Gretzky was also coddled like crazy in EDM and LA.

[@Eric-mt7kl]

Malkin isn’t his linemate

[@KevinWood44]

@@Eric-mt7kl Excuse me, teammate

[@KevinWood44]

@@skippy675 100% agreed. Playing with Messier, Kurri, Tikkanen, Robitaille....Protected by McSorley the whole time Taking nothing away from either of them but other stars had MUCH harder careers. McDavid is more likely to have a career like Ovechkin's (point totals over cup wins) opposed to Sid's simple due to circumstance.

[@skippy675]

@@KevinWood44 crazy how much luck and timing can shape a career. A guy like Mario was on really bad teams early, then all time great teams later on. 92-93 pens are the biggest choke job in NHL history i think. Crosby did luck out with the team he was drafted onto. Oilers were so good in Wayne's day that they won another cup even after he went to LA.

[@nicolesmrekar2046]

No he doesnt, he hand everything handed to him and now this is what it looks like if he wouldve had to play for it.

[@draneym2003]

As much as I enjoy Sid, if he doesn't want to leave, and trading any of him, Geno and Letang is taboo, I don't known what to tell you. These guys will retire eventially and postponing the inevitable will only prolong the rebuild.

[@drewsanders9535]

Malkin, Letang, Carter, and Rudy should’ve never been resigned. Hextall has ruined this franchise for the near future

[@thomasb7264]

Crosby doesn't deserve anything. Championship teams don't last forever and the hard salary cap makes it very hard to keep building championship teams. Crosby is either in it for the long haul with Pittsburgh, the good and the bad or he can go to management and ask to be moved. He will always be a Penquin regardless if he moves on to another team. Crosby has choices but deserves nothing.

[@GWh135]

This is the right response. He already has 3 Cups, he’s an adult and can make his own decisions if he wants to retire as a Penguin or be traded elsewhere. The Pens should respect his choice either way.

[@GWh135]

I don’t know why people are surprised that they suck now. I think we all saw this coming sooner or later.

[@double-h-farms]

It must be a Pittsburgh thing, tremendously great players and can't win anything

[@chizorama]

It sure looks that way for both sports(the Pirates haven't counted since the 90's)...

[@Kariakas]

Except a couple of cups.

[@mcrrb1991]

Bostoooon

[@ICLight412]

Great points but how isn’t defense mentioned? It’s pretty much an all around sht show.

[@chizorama]

It's a weird hybrid of being statistically good on paper, but sucking, especially in the clutch, on the ice.

[@dennisschultz9180]

They look slow and old like OV time seemed to jump three years in one. I know JT from the Hawks has long-term COVID-19, I wonder how many older players might have been affected by COVID-19.

[@chrismallet5680]

Go to edmonton

[@TheBillaro]

Welcome to the Dubas shht show. yup. 6 years of it in toronto..... (oh it was shanahan. erm. dubas was in the job. if he had confidence in himself and shananan was pulling the strings dubas should have left because the whole mess makes him look bad)

[@Texasjoker]

Sidney Crosby needs a reality check if he thinks , all said, he’s getting ripped off, millions and respect is something most will never see

[@Tina_Delvecchio]

Crybaby Crosby deserves better? Thank god Bettman lost interest in his golden boy after Vegas got hot. Got tired of seeing every call go his way, and when it didn't, he'd cry tears to the officials. The amount of playoff series that were just handed to the Pens was nauseating. Remember Philly in 2018? Refs must have lost their whistles and their eyesight for Pitt. Then god intervened and told Ovechkin: "Its your turn now bud" 2 weeks after that though.

[@Tina_Delvecchio]

@Vartiwell I like Pens fans, they're like magicians because they disappear the second the Pens post a losing record. However thats all of Pittsburgh, nicest people in the world, but when their teams lose: Pirates? Penguins? Steelers? Never heard of them. We have professional sports teams here? Their back to back 16 & 17 cups were handed to them. The calls were so insanely lopsided, the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins could have won those cups. I'm not even a Caps fan, but if I need a boost, I re watch game 6 Kuznetsov dusting Murray, my absolute favorite highlight.

[@skippy675]

No bad calls whatsoever vs San Jose or Nashville. No bad calls whatsoever when Steelers beat the Seahawks in the Super Bowl either. The better team won and losing teams always cry about officiating which has zero net impact on the outcome.

[@Tina_Delvecchio]

@skippy675 Yes, I've had this conversation with many Pittsburgh fans in the past. They don't know what bad calls are. A bad call is any assessed penalty received by the opposing team where no penalty assessment was warranted. Quite often, they are disproportinately handed out to teams that play against the Penguins, especially prior to the 2017-2018 season. This tends to happen when a very marketable player is shown preferential treatment by the league, such as in the case with Crosby. Things such as poke checks, clean body checks, playing defense against him, battling for position with him in front of the net using anything more than a feathers touch. These calls against the players even getting too close to Crosby used to be called at an alarming rate. These instances would put the Pens in an advantageous situation. There also bad non-calls. These are instances in which Crosby or Guentzel. hook, slash and trip against an opponent, often with an official watching it happen and they just happen to forget the rule book. Pens fans do not notice such things. Due to their preferential treatment prior to the 17-18 season, they just believe that's how the game is played. This is due to their Fairweather nature.

[@skippy675]

@@Tina_Delvecchio you do tend to get spoiled when your teams win a lot of championships. I know, was being facetious. Crosby got tons of calls. So did Tom Brady with NE. So did MJ with the Bulls. The stars get away with things. It would really suck to be a fan in a place like Buffalo where you know failure is coming. You know that championship is never going to happen. That would be tough.

[@Tina_Delvecchio]

@skippy675 well that and I'm being a dick! Coworkers pissing me off. I just hate how good the Pens were back then. That 09 win over the red wings was cool, but goddammit you can't lay a hand on Crosby without ending up in the box.