I'm not surprised by all of the "overhyped" and "great junior" reviews... Most review boards in the States think of Crosby in the same vein. Some even go so far as to limit him to being nothing more than a third-liner. In my opinion... you'll all be wrong. And it's not that I'm desperately looking for something to rejuvenate the game of hockey. He really IS that good. Do you really think that Poulion and Roussin are as good as their stats would indicate? Now at best, THEY will be decent pros... unless they get to play with Crosby.
C'mon people, you had a one line team that primarily existed because of the one man on that line. Replace Crosby with even a decent player and Rimouski never even gets a sniff at the Quebec title, let alone the Mem Cup. In an era where defence dominates the sport (even in Junior), you still had a player who accumulated more points than anybody else in their first two years than anybody else before him. Granted, Gretz only played one year... but notwithstanding him, that's a pretty damn big list. And a lot of the big guns previously listed (Lindros, Fluery, Yzerman, Lemieux) all played in stronger offensive eras.
As with any great player, in order to achieve greatness, you have to play with other very good to great players. As stated previously, his Junior linemates weren't bad... but as a pro, he'll get better ones. Luckily, I witnessed Gretz and Lemieux as they soared to jaw dropping stats... with very good to great players at their disposal. Yes... age, injury and a more defensive philosophy added to their declining stats, but so too did the wingers they eventually ended up having to play alongside. It's pretty tough to replace a Kurri or Jagr. And even with mediocrity, they still came close to averaging at least a point a game. With mediocrity, Crosby will at least be that good as well. With better talent (because the NHL is supposed to have the best talent in the world) he'll be that much of a better player. And yes... a dominant one.
And yes... while many Junior players do get tagged as being potential superstars, it is completely unfair to list Crosby in the same breath as a Cleary, Daigle or even a Jason Spezza (who will be a very good player). None of them had the same type of impact or numbers up to this respective point in their careers. Does anybody out there remember what Rimouski was before Crosby? And they still had Pouliot, who was already an Edmonton Oiler number one draft pick. The only player in the last little while who is comparable (besides Ovechkin) is Lindros. And yes, people, he was THAT good. As someone who watched him, played against him (and got hurt by him), he was a tremendously dominant player at both the Junior and Pro levels. His problem was that he was not exactly the brightest player on the ice. He tried to bring the same youthful arrogance he exibited as a Junior into the NHL. Stupid moves like crossing the blueline with your head down works when you're bigger than everybody, but in the NHL... Crosby is a much, much smarter individual than Lindros ever was, and with more talent. And really... more of everything.
Just wait and see...
#11
