Will Sidney Crosby play in the NHL this season?

[Rustybender 0]

I know the easy answer is yes, I'm sure he will play some games in the NHL but what I'm really wondering is will Pittsburg have him split time between AHL and NHL or do you think he will play a full NHL season?

The reason I want to know is my wife and I like to make a couple weekend trips to various NHL cities to attend some games. If there is a strong chance Sid will be playing, I'm going to make sure at least one of those games is a Pens game. Otherwise there are other teams I would enjoy seeing more.

[Chadd 916]

I'm sure he's going to play most of the home games. Unless the NHL has a new agreement with the CHL he is either in the NHL or in juniors, not the AHL. Sending him to juniors would mean he is stuck there for the rest of the season and since they will be building their marketing around him, he isn't going anywhere.

[jjtt99 0]

Like most people here, I follow the hockey world very closely and based on everything I've seen I think it's extremely likely he'll play in the NHL this season.

JJ

[Rustybender 0]

Excellent point Chadd, I didn't even think about if he would be allowed to play down. Looks like I've got 2 of my 3 games planned now. :D

[jeffw 1]

Lemieux quickly said no when asked if there was any circumstance in which his Pittsburgh Penguins would send the 17-year-old back to his junior club in Rimouski, Que., next season.

''He's got a lot of talent and he's strong enough to play in our league right away,'' Lemieux said after the Penguins called Crosby's name first to kick off the 2005 NHL entry draft Saturday.

[Chadd 916]

Lemieux quickly said no when asked if there was any circumstance in which his Pittsburgh Penguins would send the 17-year-old back to his junior club in Rimouski, Que., next season.

''He's got a lot of talent and he's strong enough to play in our league right away,'' Lemieux said after the Penguins called Crosby's name first to kick off the 2005 NHL entry draft Saturday.

Not to mention a whole bunch of people just paid for season tickets.

I did enjoy the stories about selling so many season packages that they couldn't count them all. It's not hard, take the current number of packages and subtract the number you had the day before the lottery.

[chippa13 1844]

I don't think there is much question that he will spend the whole year in Pittsburgh. Except he will probably miss some games due to injuries.

Will miss games do to injury? What crystal ball told you this? Can you also apply it to the stock market because we could all make a killing and retire early.

[Chadd 916]

I don't think there is much question that he will spend the whole year in Pittsburgh.  Except he will probably miss some games due to injuries.

Will miss games do to injury? What crystal ball told you this? Can you also apply it to the stock market because we could all make a killing and retire early.

If he missed a few games playing juniors, why wouldn't he miss a couple at the NHL level?

[shootnscore19 0]

ur right, next wayne gretzky in the AHL....makes a lot of sense

[Rustybender 0]

ur right, next wayne gretzky in the AHL....makes a lot of sense

Thanks for your insight genius...

Sid not playing in the NHL for a season makes some sense actually. Yes he dominated his current league, but will he dominate the NHL? Being the next Gretzky/Lemiuex/whoever is a lot of pressure. Having him play in the NHL and AHL a season might actually do him a lot of good by allowing him to get used to the NHL, without having the pressure of carrying a struggling team back from the brink.

As talented as he is, he is still a kid and if you put to much pressure on a kid too fast who isn't ready for it, you can end up with damaged goods.

All that being said, Chadd has already pointed out that AHL is not an option for him. (IIRC he is too young for the AHL.) So it is either Juniors or NHL. He's proably not going to improve anymore playing in Juniors so the NHL is the logical next step.

If age wasn't an issue, I think the Pens would be wise to put him in the AHL for a bit of aclimitizing. They have something special, they would do well to take care of it.

[Rustybender 0]

Yeah, I know that. Sometimes the right decision is also the hardest one to make.

If you step back a bit, there isn't quite as much riding on him playing this year as appears at first look. Say, the Pens decide to leave him in juniors for a year. Now are you going to wait until next year to buy your season tickets and risk not getting any? Nope, you are going to get in while you can to ensure you have tickets next season. And since you bought those tickets, it sure would seem like a waste not to use them so you will go to more games than you would have gone to before.

Same goes for investors. It is much more profitable to invest in an undervalued company before their value goes up. Don't you wish you could buy stock in Pfizer before Viagra hit the market? (I can't believe I just compared Sid to a little blue pill...) Waiting a year for profit is nothing to a savy investor.

The Pens are risking potential long term rewards for short term gains. In other words they are choosing to cash in on all the hype today versus taking a short term hit to nuture their investment an ensure it retains it's value for years. I honestly can't imagine any team doing it differently and I hope it all works out for them. I'd really like to see "another Gretzky" play.

All being said and done, I am delighted that he will be playing this year because I will get to see him play.

[Nacho 0]

IMO Crosby will make an immediate impact on the Pens. He just has too much skill to not. The Pens will for sure keep Crosby around because no fans would show if they caught wind of him playing some games in the AHL. The Pens aren't going to waste this money making oppourtunity not to mention his skill. I don't think that Crosby will need to "develop" at the AHL level becasue he is already so far ahead skill wise of all people his age. A for the pressure that he will face; the camera has been in his face since he was at the young age of 12/13. Obviously he has handled that quite well and I think he will continue to be unfazed by the media attention.

[Cheechoo 0]

Everyone's been talking about whether or not the Pens will play him this season. But what about Bettman and the rest of the NHL goons? The NHL has a major marketing challenge ahead of itself and I bet Gary & Co. will turn the srcrews on the Pens to play Crosby no matter what, even if on crutches.

[Sniper15 0]

It's pretty damn obvious Crosby will play in all the Pens games unless injury or real odd circumstances arise. I mean come on, the guy is the reason they are selling so many season ticket packages and people actually are starting to give a damn about the franchise only because of him. I doubt the club seat sales are rising because Mark Recchi was signed.

[Fire0nIce228 1]

this should answer all

"As I said before, he's got a lot of talent and he's strong enough to play in our league right away." - Mario Lemieux on young phenom Sidney Crosby.

Lemieux, of course, leads that list and the Pens' player-owner said there is no doubt that Crosby, the incredibly talented center from Rimouski Oceanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, will begin the 2005-06 NHL season with the Penguins.

[hockechamp14 0]

The reason Crosby can't play in the AHL is the contract he signed in the Q. The contract says that he has to play in Rimouski unless he's playing in the NHL. So age has nothing to do with it. I know Jon Quick from my school who went third round was going to play in the AHL this past season, had there not been a lockout (he was going to sign with one of the AHL clubs I believe...).

[freq019 0]

Mario said at least twice during the lottery that he thought crosby could have played in the NHL last year so I am sure he'll play this year.