Trade Options; McDavid to Pass Crosby?

It surely seems that Monday night Connor McDavid will lift his first Stanley Cup, finally earning his membership to a very small club of the greatest players of all time. As great as McDavid is, the glaring omission on his resume is that elusive championship. If or when Commissioner Gary Bettman awards McDavid is awarded the silver chalice, more than a few Pittsburgh Penguins fans may not like the chatter that comes next.

Sure, the pedantic will argue McDavid was already among the greatest of all time, but unless a player lifts his team to a championship, there’s always one thing missing. Tuesday morning, the shocked postmortem (if) the Florida Panthers blow what was a 3-0 series lead will be eclipsed only by the howling praise for McDavid.

And many of the chattering hockey class will begin to place McDavid ahead of Sidney Crosby in the hockey pantheon. Crosby, after years of being short-shifted by the same community, has finally earned consensus as one of the five best ever. The four horsemen of hockey, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr, and Gordie Howe, are untouchable.

It is the fifth spot that is up for grabs. For several years, that spot has been ceded to Crosby for three Stanley Cups and a career that could see him approach 2000 points. That recognition is well deserved, and no player among the top four were as dominant into their mid or later 30s than Crosby.

But McDavid has built on Crosby’s introduction to the next generation of hockey. Despite Crosby being a coach’s dream who plays with equal intensity on both ends of the rink on every shift and dominates the game by sheer force of will, McDavid is different. After nine seasons, his skating is still lightyears ahead of NHL defensemen’s, and his omnipresent creativity and aggressive threat to score have allowed him to put up points thought impossible just a handful of years ago. He has enthralled a new generation, changing the game in ways that perhaps no one else ever has.

However, in assessing that fifth spot, McDavid is about to own the greatest comeback in NHL history. You and I don’t necessarily need to agree but brace for it. If Edmonton wins on Monday, you’re about to hear a lot of, “Crosby is all-time great, but…”

Penguins Trade Options

I’m coming to believe that Penguins president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas is going to have a sleepy off-season. Because Dubas is trapped between the now and the future, each move must serve both…