With Latest Points Surge, Is Penguins' Crosby A Hart Trophy Front-Runner?

The NHL’s race to win the Hart Memorial Trophy – awarded to the league’s most valuable player to his team – is beginning to heat up. And a familiar star has worked his way back into the Hart conversation.

We’re talking, of course, about Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby – the same star who won the Hart in 2007 and again in 2014. While he has plenty of competition for the Hart honors, Crosby is proving himself to be invaluable to the Pens’ playoff hopes.

Indeed, since Dec. 12, Crosby has the fourth-most points in the league, with 20 points in only 13 games. Only Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl (23 points in 13 games), Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (22 points in 13 games) and Toronto’s Mitch Marner (21 points in 15 games) have more points than Crosby in this recent span. Most recently, during Thursday's game against Connor McDavid and the Oilers, Crosby put up a goal and two assists, pushing him ahead of Joe Sakic for ninth all-time in career NHL points.

The fact that Crosby is doing it all – posting 35 assists and 47 points in 43 games – at the advanced age of 37 years old is truly impressive and special. He’s on pace for 67 assists and 90 points in 82 games this season – and that would be his best assists total since 2013-14 (when he generated 68 assists) and he’d almost match his points total of 94 points last season. That consistency is astonishing. He’s laughing in the face of Father Time, and demonstrating that he can still handle the rigors of being a constant defensive target and come out the other side putting up terrific offensive numbers.

Crosby did get a bit of love from Hart Trophy voters last season, as he finished ninth in voting. But, the way things are going for the Penguins this season, it’s easy to see Crosby getting many more votes and being a Hart front-runner.

To wit: can you imagine where the Pens would be without Crosby in the lineup? Crosby is far and away their top producer of offense, with 11 more points than the next-best Penguin. And considering that Pittsburgh’s offense is mediocre – they’re the 14th-best team on offense at 3.07 goals-for per game – Crosby’s contributions are critical for the Pens staying close to a wild card Stanley Cup playoff berth. And that’s the definition of a high-value player who is extremely valuable to his team.

If Crosby does win this season’s Hart Trophy, he will make history as the oldest Hart-winner in league history. Currently, the oldest Hart winners are Eddie Shore and Herb Gardiner – both of whom were 35 years old when they won the Trophy, but both Gardiner and Shore were playing in a different era entirely, just about a century ago in both cases. Thus, Crosby would be the modern-day benchmark setter for the Hart, and winning it would be another laurel in a career that’s already made Crosby a lock as a first-ballot Hockey Hall of Fame inductee.

Even if Crosby fails to win this year’s Hart, the fact that he is in the conversation is a tribute to his longevity and his day-in, day-out elite contributions. Few NHLers have ever been this dominant for this long, and Crosby continues to show the hockey world he has all kinds of gas left in the tank.

Crosby is absolutely one of the most valuable players to his team, and after all these years, he's still capable of being one of the sport’s most outstanding competitors. And as he gets closer to age 40, Crosby is showing no signs of slowing down.

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