[Pittsburgh,
PA] --
Sidney Crosby is not an easy pivot to play along side. He can be
demanding, unforgiving and a rigid perfectionist.
Crosby, the league's youngest captain, is also the best center in the
NHL. For the Pittsburgh Penguins to find success, this season or in
the future, he must make his game more adaptable to his linemates
tendencies and abilities.
Before last week's acquisitions of Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin, who
were acquired specifically to play with Crosby, the gifted center
played with eight different wingers through the first 60 games.
Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedetenko, Tyler Kennedy, Pascal Dupuis, Matt
Cooke and Petr Sykora were unable to achieve consistent offensive
production. Jordan Staal was a failed experiment as a power forward.
Only Evgeni Malkin, when moved from second line center to Crosby's
right wing, has found success.
Perhaps no one could have developed chemistry with the enigmatic
Satan. Malkin, however, has found enough chemistry with Fedetenko and
Sykora to create a formidable second line, and lead the league in
scoring.
Since the torch was officially past to Crosby in 2005, after Mario
Lemieux's mid season retirement with heart trouble, the number of
former Crosby line mates is larger than baseball's list of steroid
users.
Colby Armstrong had early success in '05, tallying 16 markers and 20
assists in just 47 games. He, unfortunately, was unable to maintain
the pace, scoring just 12 goals in 2006-07. Armstrong was bumped to
the fourth line at mid-season, and thus began the revolving door of
Crosby wingers. Ryan Malone, Mark Recchi, Michel Ouellet, Gary Roberts
and even Jarko Ruutu were given and lost opportunities to play with
Crosby.
Last season, the list of failed combinations was expanded to include
Sykora and Kennedy. It seemed no wingers could play with Crosby, until
Marian Hossa arrived at the trade deadline. The "click" was not
immediate, though. The pair did not catch fire until first round, or
perhaps early in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
After Hossa's off season departure via free agency, Crosby has again
this season engaged in search for a soul mate that makes The Bachelor,
Jason Mesnick's "journey" look easy. Though I highly doubt Crosby will
have a change of heart and tearfully beg Pens GM Ray Shero on national
TV to bring back Satan, who was waived last week.
If a few linemates had failed to net goals playing alongside the
league's most famous #87, the failures could be viewed through a prism
which exonerates Crosby. However, the volume of unsuccessful line
mates who have found production playing with Malkin and elsewhere,
indicates more fault may rest with Crosby.
Lemieux elevated wingers such as Warren Young and Robbie Brown to 40
and 50 goal seasons. For Crosby to vanquish doubters and a stream of
criticism from inside NHL locker rooms, he must elevate his team, or
at least a pair of wingers.
For the remainder of this season, Crosby will not have to worry about
unskilled or ineffective line mates. In fact, his new line with Kunitz
and Guerin may have all of the necessary ingredients to propel the
Penguins back to the top of the Eastern Conference. The early results
have been promising.
Perhaps the speed of Kunitz and his combined grit with Guerin will be
everything Crosby has ever wanted.
Well, not really, but they're good enough for now.
Daniel Kingerski, host of The Fourth Period Radio Show,
is the Pittsburgh Correspondent for The 4th Period Magazine and a Columnist for TheFourthPeriod.com.
