By the time it's all said and done, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby will forever be known as one of the top players not only in the history of the franchise, but in the NHL as a whole.
His place in the Hockey Hall of Fame is already guaranteed in his first year of eligibility, and his number 87 will be retired by the franchise before then, as players cannot be inducted any sooner than three years after their careers come to a close.
During a recent segment of the NHL on TNT, Gretzky explained to co-hosts Anson Carter, Paul Bissonnette and Henrik Lundqvist that Crosby may actually be playing better at age 39 than he did when he was 32 years old.
“You know, when you see a guy at 31 and he’s a great player and then you watch him at (39), you go, ‘OK, he’s slower now. He’s missing a step. His hands aren’t as good.’ But if you watch a tape of the game Sidney played tonight, you wouldn’t know if he was 31 or 39,” Gretzky said via The Athletic “He plays the exact same way. He has the same speed. Obviously, he’s a way smarter player because of his years of experience.”
Gretzky then compared Crosby to the likes of former NFL quarterback Tom Brady, or current NBA star LeBron James.
Article Continues Below“He might be a better player today than he was at 32,” he said. “Which is incredible. He’s like Tom Brady or LeBron James. There are only a few athletes who can do that, right?”
So far this season, Crosby has a pair of assists in three games played.