When Sid was out dealing with his concussions and a group of players tried to decide if they needed a new “C” and Geno had his famous line — was it truly that the team thought they needed a new captain or was it a dislike for Sid? For fun, who would have gotten the “C” if it happened?
It occurs to me that a whole generation of Penguins fans probably doesn’t know this story. So first, a fresh recap.
It was February 2012. The Penguins were mired in a six-game losing streak and Crosby had played in only eight games in 14 months because of a concussion. Some Penguins believed it was worth discussing if a new, temporary captain should be selected given Crosby’s absence. As the story goes, in all, eight players took part in a meeting. They were divided. The players who staunchly supported the idea of Crosby remaining captain were Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Arron Asham and Pascal Dupuis. The other four players in the conversation — they were hardly anti-Crosby but still thought it should be discussed — were Craig Adams, Brooks Orpik, Jordan Staal and Matt Cooke.
They discussed some ideas. The meeting abruptly ended when Malkin stood up and said, “This is fucking stupid. Sid captain.”
There was never a dislike of Sid. I doubt he’s ever had a teammate who disliked him. At the time, it was a very frustrated team and there was genuine concern Crosby was never coming back. Turns out, he was back a month later.
Funny thing … a former co-worker of mine wrote a column detailing some of this while I was at another place of employment. This article was written while I was on the road with the team in Florida. The next morning, the players all wore “C’s” on their chests during the morning skate, in a sign of rebellion and support. Malkin even famously wore a “K” on his sweater, which was priceless. Only problem was, the whole team was mad at me, even though I didn’t write the article. Guilt by association, I guess.
Cooke looked at me like he wanted to kill me. Not my most enjoyable morning skate. Ha.
-Yohe mailbag, 9 March 2021
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