Pens Points: Sid the 1Kid

Welcome to Saturday. Or, Sidney Crosby day as the captain and greatest of his time gets a victory lap for 1000 games of excellence.

Blast from the past with Mark Recchi, Buggsy Malone and Rico Fata giving some insight about the early days of Crosby in the NHL. [Post-Gazette]

And another teammate reflective with old mates from Armstrong to Zigomanis and a lot of names in between. [Tribune Review]

Old pal Pascal Dupuis wrote an article for the French NHL website (high recommendation to find or use a translation in Chrome or elsewhere if you don’t speak French), including: [NHL.com FR]

I vividly remember a discussion he had with me and Chris Kunitz, which kind of sealed our union. He told us (laughing, and without any arrogance): “Don’t try to change your game to suit me… Don’t worry, I will be able to adapt to you.” Anyway, even if me and Kunitz had wanted to, we agree that we would not have been able to raise our game to its level!

Back in English, a look at one Game #1 as Crosby’s debut with his first coach Ed Olczyk, the opposing goalie Martin Brodeur, Sid’s fellow G.O.A.T in Doc Emrick, father Troy and Pens legend Tom McMillan. [NHL.com]

“One thousand games later, Crosby is still a top player, a good man, and a marvel to witness. The Penguins have arguably had the best player in hockey non-stop since 1984.” When he’s right, he’s right. [Trib - Madden]

The stunning stats and also ‘what if’s’ on the career of Crosby. [NHL on NBC - Gretz]

“Well, the airport. That’s kind of the first memory I have. Just the amount of people that were there, just the excitement and just how welcomed I felt from the very first day I got here, right from that experience on. As far as what I felt that day, I’ve felt the entire time since I’ve been here.” We <3you too, Sid [Penguins.nhl.com]

Does my man have some superstitions? Yeah. They’re kind of legendary. Even his player union gets in on the fun of spelling some of them out. I also feel like, without exaggeration, these routines and superstitions are only scratching the surface of what the public has been able to pick up on. [NHLPA]

Yesterday, we put our spin on some of the best Crosby regular season moments over the years. [Pensburgh]

Crosby recently got by Al MacInnis to be the highest scoring player from Nova Scotia in NHL history. [CBC.ca]

What could have been without the injuries!

Former NHL’ers Mike Johnston and Jamie McLennan reflect on playing on the opposite side of Crosby. [TSN - video]

Craig Button weighs in on Crosby’s place on the all-time legends list. [TSN - video]

The great Michael Farber on Sid1000 and the vaunted silver stick milestone. [TSN - video]

The Cape Breton reflection on Crosby’s 1000th. [Cape Breton Post]

A Mike Sullivan-centric perspective on Crosby’s desire and effort into being the best each and every day. [Macomb Daily]

Finally, a look at where Sid stands with his points total among the other top players in the 1000 club.