PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby has joined one of the NHL’s most exclusive clubs.
With a secondary assist on Bryan Rust’s power-play goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Crosby became only the 10th player in NHL history to score 1,600 points on Wednesday night. Crosby made history at PPG Paints Arena, where so many of his historic moments have happend.
One of the most heralded prospects in hockey history, Crosby’s NHL career has matched his hype as a prodigy.
And though he is unlikely to pass Wayne Gretzky as the NHL’s all-time scorer, he has in many ways lived up to “The Next One” moniker once bestowed upon him by Gretzky, who was nicknamed “The Great One” while rewriting the NHL record books in the 1980s and 1990s.
1,600 FOR SID 😱
Sidney Crosby becomes the 10th player in NHL history to reach the 1,600-point mark! pic.twitter.com/iAAJe5nXo3
— NHL (@NHL) October 16, 2024
This season, Crosby, 37, would likely pass Joe Sakic for ninth on the all-time scoring list if he can break a tie with Gretzky for most consecutive seasons with a point-per-game average.
Crosby and Gretzky are tied at 19 seasons of point-per-game scoring. Crosby will need 82 points if he plays in every game, as he has the past two seasons. He entered the season needing only 46 points to pass Sakic.
Crosby is also creeping up on Mario Lemieux’s Penguins record for points. Lemieux scored a franchise-best 1,723 points in 913 games for Pittsburgh.
Lemieux predicted Crosby would break his Penguins records. That is a lot likelier to happen after Crosby signed a two-year contract extension with Pittsburgh in September.
Crosby began this season needing 128 points and 99 goals to be the Penguins’ leader in the categories. He is their longest-serving captain and bested Lemieux with three Stanley Cup wins in that role. He also is the only player other than Lemieux with multiple Hart (MVP), Art Ross (top scorer) and Conn Smythe (postseason MVP) trophies.
Crosby started this season being eight goals away from 600 in his career. When he hits that total, Crosby will become only the ninth player with at least 600 goals and 1,600 points. His longtime rival, Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, needed 50 points entering this season to join that group of elite goals scorers and point producers.
Ovechkin is chasing Gretzky’s all-time goals record. Ovechkin needed 42 entering this season.
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(Photo: Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images)
