Sidney Crosby’s game has continued to age well, and Sean McDonough thinks he’s got plenty of quality years left.
Crosby’s age-35 season has been a dandy, with the star center posting 31 goals and 54 assists through 72 games. His skill with the puck on his stick hasn’t dropped off, and he’s still the same player who can score goals himself or be a playmaker for his wingers.
It’s never a sure thing that a player’s game will age that gracefully well into his 30s. But, as we’ve known for years now, Crosby isn’t any ordinary player. That’s the product of the three-time Cup winner’s discipline, something McDonough said on Audacy’s “Fifth Ave Faceoff” reminds him of Tom Brady.
“He’s as good as he’s ever been in my opinion,” McDonough said of Crosby. “The key to it is what Mike Sullivan said when I talked to him last week before we did the game in New York that there are a lot of really skilled players – and he’s enormously skilled, obviously. But what separates him is the work ethic and the dedication, the discipline to do everything right. Staying on top of his workouts, constantly working to get better at the hockey part of it, watching what he eats. He’s just so disciplined in every facet of his life that I think that’s what enables him to do it.
“It’s the same thing with Tom Brady. Living here in Boston, watching him over the years and getting to know him a little bit, he was famous – and probably still is – for his diet, the TB12 plan. But I think that was a huge reason why he lasted as long as he did at such a high level. … (Crosby) is fun to watch, and I think he’s going to have several more outstanding seasons.”
With 10 games to go, the Pens currently own the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. They won’t catch the Rangers for the third Metropolitan Division berth, meaning they’ll have have to fend off the Florida Panthers, in particular, to get into the postseason.
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