but the wait was worth it

the epic highs and lows of penguins hockey

[rinkrats]

promo shots from a cw teen drama clearly | (© Sarah Friedman, 2007)

[rinkrats]

vs his early years as a disney channel star | (© Jay Drowns, 2004)

[girljeremystrong]

when you reblog a post about life being hopeless as an acknowledgement that your own life sucks and then your mutuals reblog the same post from you and tag it with the name of a hockey player it's like oh. so it's just me and this millionaire bastard in canada

[powerful-owl]

[rimouskis]

moments from Geno's 40th birthday, via his brother

[lazyandg]

“There was no indication that Malkin had any intention of halting his Russian chat with Liukin. Seriously, a gathering that included his teammates, coaches and bosses watched approvingly as he kept Liukin laughing.

These are the moments when one simply stays away and allows whatever will be to be.” -Rob Rossi (x)

[sidgenoarchive]

Amazing Crosby, 19, handles ceaseless pressure

Ron Cook | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | April 14, 2007

The Pirates' clubhouse might seem like a strange place to go for a little good hockey talk, but, hey, there are Penguins fans in there, too.

"How old is Sid? 19?" Jason Bay was asking the other day. "I can't believe that. I think I was a sophomore in junior college when I was 19 and here he is, the best hockey player in the world. That's just amazing."

Ridiculous, actually.

"He's only 19 ... I don't think I even had hair on my face yet," Bay said, shaking his head.

I'm guessing that makes it pretty much official.

Everybody is talking about Sid the Kid these days.

Bay is a Canadian, born and bred, and understands the hockey craze here better than most, but even he would be shocked at the scrutiny Sidney Crosby is getting as the Penguins prepare for Game 2 today of their Stanley Cup playoff series against the Ottawa Senators. Penguins winger Mark Recchi expected it to be intense, not just because Crosby is the face of the new NHL, but also because there is no Toronto or Montreal team in the playoffs to divert media attention. But he didn't expect this.

"I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to be in his shoes," Recchi said. "I played with Mario"—that would be Mr. Lemieux—"and he didn't have to go through anything like it. Not even Wayne"—that would be Mr. Gretzky—"had to deal with this. No one ever has and no one probably ever will again."

It starts for Crosby in the morning, after the Penguins' practice or game-day skate, when he's summoned to the media interview room, a place normally reserved for the two coaches. No other player is invited. Not goalie Marc-Andre Fleury or soon-to-be NHL Rookie of the Year Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins. Not captain Daniel Alfredsson or 50-goal-scorer Dany Heatley of the Senators. Only Crosby, who is interrogated first in English, then in French, for anywhere from 15 minutes to half an hour.

This happens every day.

Suddenly, the five minutes a week Big Ben Roethlisberger gives the Pittsburgh media during the NFL season doesn't seem like such an imposition on him.

Crosby will be the only player hauled back to the interview room after the game this afternoon, just as he was after Game 1 Wednesday night. That wasn't much fun for him; his NHL playoff debut couldn't have gone more badly. He was banged around pretty good by Ottawa's top defensive pairing of Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov, didn't get his first shot off until midway through the game and picked up his only point when he scored a meaningless power-play goal in the final minute. Even worse, the Penguins were humiliated, 6-3. Try explaining that in two languages.

"We're not angry. There's no reason to be angry," Crosby said. "We just expect more of ourselves. We all realize we have a lot better in us."

That's the same message Crosby delivered to his teammates. That made-for-TV moment the other night when he, Recchi and veteran winger Gary Roberts were huddled on the Penguins' bench together late in the game? "He was lecturing us," Roberts said, only half-kidding.

Added Recchi, "Sid is our leader. He knows he has to lead the way. He knows everyone in the room is watching to see how he reacts, how he practices, how he works. He accepts that responsibility. The kid is unbelievable."

Recchi and Roberts know the extraordinary pressure on Crosby. They know much of Canada—not to mention all of Pittsburgh—is expecting Sid the Kid to carry the Penguins past the Senators. It's not fair, they say—"Even the best player in the world needs good people around him," Roberts said—but since when did life become fair?

"It's not me vs. the Senators, it's our team vs. their team," Crosby said. "Maybe some people don't realize that, but that's the way it is. If we're going to do this, we're going to do it together as a group."

Good luck to Crosby with that.

Good luck to him trying to convince the masses looking at this series and seeing only No. 87 in the Penguins' uniform.

"My god, he's 19," Recchi said, sounding a lot like Bay now. "I think people forget that. I know they talk about it, but do they really realize what it means? They have to ask themselves: What were they doing when they were 19?"

Well?

Go ahead and ask yourself.

And try to remember if you had hair on your face.

[punksalmons]

sidney crosby receiving the entire pittsburgh penguins at age 18

[punksalmons]

incredible tags thank you

[jaesawalth]

HAPPY GENO DAY

[robindrake13]

🐧🐧

[bollig25]

“Now it’s Geno up to bat with Sid behind the plate…” (X)

[sidsrockingchair]

CCM | 7/30/26

[sidgenoarchive]

Evgeni Malkin — an all-time underappreciated superstar

Joe Starkey | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | March 6, 2019

It’s Milestone Week around here. Matt Cullen played his 1,500th game Tuesday. Sidney Crosby notched his 1,200th point.

Evgeni Malkin is next—and not for barely missing a hat trick of offensive-zone tripping penalties Tuesday. This is no time to focus on Geno’s bad habits. Or on what has admittedly been a subpar season (so far, anyway).

Rather, with Malkin just four points shy of 1,000, it’s the perfect time to celebrate one of the under-appreciated superstars in Pittsburgh sports history. And to consider his place in hockey’s pantheon.

I’m guessing we can do better than the 58 voters who embarrassingly excluded Malkin in choosing the NHL’s Top 100 all-time players two years ago.

Let’s set aside the three Stanley Cups, the Hart Trophy and the Conn Smythe and use a simple statistic: points per game. I’m sure there’s a fancier stat for measuring offensive production, but there cannot be a better one.

Points. Per. Game.

Have you ever looked at the all-time list and considered Malkin’s place on it? It’s mind-blowing, mostly because of the names just behind him.

Malkin has averaged 1.18 points per game over his 13-year career—all in the dead-puck era. That puts him 14th all-time and second to Crosby among active players. The only players ahead of Malkin who did not play in the two highest-scoring decades (1970s, ’80s) are Crosby and Peter Forsberg.

The story, however, is who’s directly behind him.

Jean Beliveau and Jaromir Jagr are behind him. Steve Yzerman and Alex Ovechkin and Pavel Bure and Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe are behind him, too. So are Gilbert Perreault, Pat LaFontaine, Eric Lindros and Mark Messier.

In fact, you will find 16 consecutive Hall of Famers just behind Malkin on that list. Which is to say, 14 already in, plus Ovechkin and Jagr.

I’m thinking about all of that as the Columbus Blue Jackets come to town for the first of a back-to-back set. But I’m also thinking of how Malkin has endeared himself to this city and performed one of the great second-fiddle acts in sports.

The best comparable might be Scottie Pippen, a superstar in his own right—a Top 50 NBA player—but one who was mostly content winning championships in Michael Jordan’s immense shadow.

Malkin has always thrived in Crosby’s shadow, largely free of the media glare Crosby absorbs so adroitly.

It’s not always this way with superstars. Alpha males naturally want to lead the pack. Kyrie Irving wanted his own team after a few years with LeBron James. Mr. Big Chest (Antonio Brown) couldn’t stand the fact that no matter what he did, at least one player (Ben Roethlisberger) was always going to be the bigger and better-paid star.

I’m thinking, too, of how Malkin has grown up here. How he picks his spots to talk and often speaks the bluntest of truths. He always has the pulse of the team.

I think of his big-game acumen and the fact he is second among active players in postseason points per game—behind Crosby—and just behind the likes of Phil Esposito, Guy LaFleur and Toe Blake, for goodness sake.

And how, even in a “bad year,” he has 66 points in 60 games with the biggest ones dead ahead.

Ovechkin was the prize of the 2004 NHL Draft. A generational talent the Penguins were going to miss out on. The joke was that they were so bad, they couldn’t even win the draft lottery.

But as draft day approached, several unbiased observers told me they believed Malkin would at least be Ovechkin’s equal.

Then-New Jersey Devils scouting director David Conte put it this way: “(Malkin) is an exceptional talent, and it’s not unreasonable to think the guy who goes second could be better than the guy who goes first.”

We could debate for days if that is in fact what happened. This much is indisputable: Evgeni Malkin is a civic treasure, not to mention one of the most talented and productive players in the history of the game.

I’m not sure we talk about that enough.

[xio2mara]

Sid and Geno. Peanut butter and jelly. The star centers who have carried the team to (three) Stanley Cup championships (...)

At first, it was an arranged marriage.

Thanks to the way the ping-pong balls bounced in the NHL draft lottery process, Crosby and Malkin were thrust together into the Penguins lineup about (2)0 years ago whether they liked it or not.

As it turns out, they liked it. x x

[sidsrockingchair]

[sidgenoarchive]

Dear Zhenya!

Vladimir and Natalia Malkin | NHL.com/ru | March 13, 2019

Dear Zhenya! When we put you on skates at the age of 3 we could not have even imagined that one day you would amass 1,000 points in the NHL. We weren't thinking about that at all. We just wanted you to grow up healthy and strong.

You were obsessed with hockey. We understood right then that this is your true passion. You were the best at every facet. For several years you wouldn't even go to bed without your hockey stick. And once, when they let you try on a hockey mask, you fell asleep without taking it off. Do you remember the rink around the bend from our apartment building? Locals would make the ice sheet and put a lock on the electrical switch, but your dad would bend the edge of the box with a crowbar so that you could skate with the lights on. And you ran alongside: "Daddy, daddy, I want to go with you! I want to watch you break the box!" That rink gave you so much; you skated there for so many years. It was where you learned how to play. Nowadays, where that rink used to be there's just a parking lot … We miss watching your games. They usually start at 5 a.m. for us in Magnitogorsk. Our hearts bleed every time someone bumps you. This year has been especially brutal … In general, there have seemingly been some skirmishes in every game. We text you: "Son, don't pay attention! Don't get so rattled up!" But we understand that you can't play without passion. It all happens because of emotions, and we can't imagine your game without emotions.

We were happy that in Pittsburgh you were immediately accepted as one of their own. It's not just a team, but a big family that you get a lot of support from. We send our thanks to the owners and management of the club, who have helped you even when you had serious injuries. You always recover and get stronger, but this support from Pittsburgh has been very important. As well as the fact that your true friends have remained near. Sergei Gonchar helped you get started in the NHL, and now has become your club's assistant coach. But the relationship between you two hasn't changed, so you know who would always lend a shoulder to lean on. We travel to Pittsburgh every March and stay until the end of the playoffs. It is our family tradition. The fans take notice. When dad is shown on the scoreboard, he is greeted with applause. And when you scored a hat trick and said in an interview that your mother helped you play so well because she came and prepared Russian borscht, we have since been asked about this recipe in each interview: "What are you feeding Geno that he's playing so well?" We know how incredible a player you are. How well you see the ice, how different your goals may look. You're capable of skating and stickhandling around entire teams and scoring. There are almost no other players like you. And we say this not just because we are your parents. We know how to evaluate players, too. We know a huge talent when we see one. We see how many teammates you have played with. But whoever the new guys may be, you always find a common ground with them and a way to get on the same page. There is no such thing in the NHL as it used to be in the USSR, where the same five-man unit could play together for 10 years straight. If that were the case, you would have scored 1,500 points by now! But in the NHL coaches like to shuffle their lines. We remember how the guys who played with you would score 40 goals in a season. You have the impressive ability to make every teammate better.

Soon it will be 10 years since you won your first Stanley Cup … We did come to all of your Finals. We remember how hard it was to get past Detroit. In one of the games you guys even lost to them 5-0. When you see the kind of sweat and blood that goes into winning these trophies, you begin to appreciate them even more. Capturing even one Stanley Cup is an enormous body of work. We are so happy that you have a strong family now. Your beloved wife Anna cares about you with such warmth. And of course we couldn't be more thrilled to have our wonderful grandson Nikita! You have become more serious and focused, kinder and gentler. You have matured a lot. You adore your little boy, and Nikita wants to be by your side all the time. He looks just like you. It's uncanny, as if you were the same person. Anna says, "There is nothing of mine here." To which we say, "When Nikita laughs, he has your eyes, with a squint." For Anna's mom Nikita is the first grandson, too, as he is for us. We discuss every step and every word of our little boy. He is truly a source of joy for us. We have already bought him skates and the hockey equipment. We know that you play table hockey with him all the time, and that there are hockey sticks all around the house. And when there's hockey on TV, and Nikita is asked who scored a goal, he always shouts: "Dad!"

You are also a very kind person, son. On New Year's Eve, a terrible tragedy happened in Magnitogorsk. There was an explosion in a residential building, many people died. The building was on Karl Marx Avenue, the road we live on. Our building is just across the street. We know you'll never mention it yourself, but as soon as you learned about the tragedy, you called right away. "Mom, dad, what account can I donate money to? Find out for me right now!" and then proceeded to donate four million rubles. And then wrote on your skates before the next NHL game: "Magnitka, I'm with you!" People approached us in the streets just to thank you for not forgetting your fellow countrymen. Our dear son! Don't stop on what you've already accomplished. Always believe in yourself! And if you fall on hard times, we will definitely help you. The most important thing is that you stay healthy and avoid unnecessary incidents on the ice. We always remember that you missed two seasons because of injuries. Otherwise you would've scored these 1,000 points long ago. We were so worried when you were having that bad streak. We went to church and prayed and lit candles for your health. Zhenya, you are doing so, so well. We love you very, very much. We are proud of such a son. And soon we'll join you in Pittsburgh, hopefully, until June. Here's to everything being good again in the playoffs and in life. Love, Your mom and dad

[sidsrockingchair]

[sidsrockingchair]

New Brunswick | 7/25/2026

[circusheart]

No death cab for ugly? Ugly has to walk?