Age: 27 (7 August 1987)
Contract Status: Signed through 2022-23, $8.7 million AAV
2014-15 Stats
GP |
TOI/GP |
Goals |
Assists |
Points |
77 |
19:58 |
28 |
56 |
84 |
Corsi For % |
Corsi Rel % |
Goals for % |
Zone Start % |
PDO |
56.0 %
|
3.9 % |
57.6% | 39.1 % off v. 27.0% def |
100.7 |
Penguins 2014-15 Forwards
Most Frequent Forward Linemates
Linemate |
Goals For % Together |
Corsi For % Together |
Total 5v5 Time |
Chris Kunitz |
58.7 % |
58.1 % |
578:24 |
Patric Hornqvist |
64.6 % |
54.9 % |
515:47 |
David Perron |
50.0 % |
58.6 % |
444:53 |
Hell of a thing when you can finish third in the NHL in total points and first in points per game average and everyone wonders what's wrong with you.
That's the new plateau for Sidney Crosby, who finished the year with 84 points in 77 games, or what passes for a full season in the Penguins captain's star-crossed career.
The 1.09 points per game average is the lowest single-season PPG average of his career by a considerable margin. Of course, the Penguins as a team finished 19th in the NHL in total scoring -- the worst such team finish in the Crosby era.
Did the team slump hurt Crosby's numbers or did Crosby's relatively quiet season hurt the team? Hard to tell, although given the 343 man-games lost and lowest power play opportunity numbers of the post-lockout NHL (not to mention the team's own power play ineptitude), we're guessing that Crosby and the addled Penguins both shoulder some blame in what was an uncharacteristically marginal offensive season.
That's not to say Crosby was ineffective. GM Jim Rutherford praised his transition into becoming a more complete player, even if at the expense of the usual offense.
"From an overall team point of view, and what's needed to be done to be successful, he's made that adjustment and done it very well," Rutherford said. "It's coming back into your own end, playing both ends of the rink. No cheating. Playing the game the way it should be played. And he's bought into that."
Was Crosby good at both ends of the ice? Without a doubt, especially given the effective offensive and defensive numbers the team put forth in the rare instances of relative good health -- they were at one point a top-five NHL team in both total goals for and against before someone stuck the pins to their effigy in December.
Is it okay for him to be a very good 200-foot forward if it comes at the expense of being a world's-best offensive talent? Hard to say, although given the NHL officiating climate -- as in, one that marginalizes its best talents to the point that one player gets 50 goals and no one cracks 90 points -- you take what you can get.
A Strangely Effective Ineffective Season That Was Strange
How this season stacks up depends on whether you compare Crosby to the league or Crosby to The Crosby.
Against the league, it was another elite-level offensive season. Third in total points, first in points per game. A 62.7 corsi-for per 60 number and 56.0 percent corsi-for percentage. Only 13 forwards with at least 1000 minutes this season had better than 56.0 percent corsi on the year, and Sid was one of them (Anze Kopitar led at 59.2).
As for the notion that Sid played a more complete defensive game this year? There's something to it. Crosby's 27.0 percent defensive zone faceoff percentage ranked 92nd among NHL forwards with 1000 minutes or more, in the company of not-defensive dynamos Alex Ovechkin (26.7 percent) and Vladimir Tarasenko (27.0 percent) but also right in the neighborhood of Good Ol' Selke Boys Jonathan Toews (26.7 percent) and Andrew Ladd (27.8 percent).
Crosby finished third among Penguins forwards in goals-for percentage behind linemate Patric Hornqvist and offensive dynamo Steve Downie (it's not a stroke you're having, Downie's goals-for percentage beat Sid, 58.0 percent to 57.6). He led the team in assists, total points, power play goals/assists/points, shots on goal and led all forwards in TOI (19:58 per game).
Mostly good, right? Against his career averages, not so much.
Sid's a 1.36 points per game player in the regular season for his career -- down to 1.09 per game this season. 2014-15 marked the first year in which he played 60 or more games and failed to produce at least 30 goals. His full-season shooting percentage of 11.8 marked the lowest such total of any season save 2011-12 (10.4 percent) and was nearly three points below his career 14.4 percent average.
Against himself, it's not a great look for the year. But keep things in the context of the league. Scoring, leaguewide, was down considerably, to near the lowest levels of the post-lockout era for both individual scoring leaders and teams alike.
The tide went out and everyone's stuck in the sand, but at least Crosby is still among the league's best (if offensively stranded) company.
The Good, Eh
Staying healthy is a good place to start, isn't it?
Crosby missed five games this season, just two the year before in what were likely rest days at the end of a running-away-with-it first place season. That's 157 games in two years and 18 more playoff games in two seasons -- he'd played in only 180 regular season games in the four seasons prior (though you have to lop 34 games off that total for the lockout).
Only three times in his 10 seasons has Crosby appeared in at least 150 of a possible 164 games in any given two-year span -- from 2005-07, 2008-10 and now 2013-15. Simply having him or anyone else on this luckless team in the lineup can't be taken for granted.
In those games, we've covered what Crosby did well. He led the team in nearly all significant offensive metrics, played a more defensive role in a system that prioritized five-man puck management and was one of the only drivers of scoring chances in a badly handicapped playoff series against the top-seeded Rangers.
The Bad, Eh
Same as we've mentioned before. The underlying offensive numbers remained impressive but the scoring figures weren't close to his career averages.
Concern over league-wide scoring came to a head in the middle of this postseason, when a handful of goaltenders had save percentages north of .940 and the most successful teams in the league were averaging something on the order of two goals per game.
In terms of Crosby versus the league, the numbers don't pop. But Crosby, when he's healthy, has always been more in competition with himself than with the second-closest offensive player in the league.
That changed this year. Coming up on his Age 28 season, one wonders if it was an aberration or a natural move back to the pack as his NHL career enters its second decade.
Trending Social Media Asset of the Year
Nice.
Alright, okay.
Nooooope.
Preseason Expectations
A great offensive season in which Crosby led the Penguins in all major scoring metrics and was among the league's best at his position.
Verdict
A great offensive season in which Crosby led the Penguins in all major scoring metrics and was among the league's best at his position and we're still not sure how to feel about it.
***
Feel free to vote in the poll below to grade Sidney Crosby's season on a scale from 1 to 10. Vote based on your expectations for him coming into the season -- i.e. 1 being "he was incredibly disappointing and I want him out now," 10 being "he was outstanding even beyond my craziest expectations."