Autika

Your Captain does not have to be your enforcer, and no one is going to poke fun at a good Captain for not dropping the gloves (Case in point, Lidstrom, Yzerman, Niedermyer... ok that was a joke, please don't kill me). Having someones back is not a leadership trait, it is a team sport trait. And when Ballard knocked the hell out of Malkin (clean hit if I recall correctly, don't quote me on that one) it just shows the tout that Malkin has on that team. Don't get me wrong, I'm no where near big enough to play hockey, but even I know that if someone drops the team's favorite player on his head, you do something about it and you do it fast. You don't need a C or an A on your chest to do it though because that isn't a leadership role. The real question here is, how often do you see people going after players for knocking Crosby down (clean hit mind you)? I don't claim to know for sure because... well, I watch the wings not the pens. Every times I've been watching though it seemed to me like Crosby was on his own.

I finally got motivated enough to make an account for this thread, so be gentle with me and keep the skates on the ice. I cannot claim to have ever been a Sid fan, and I really do like what Hossa has accomplished with us this season. The way I see it Crosby is a bigger liability on the ice than we need. I know I'm gunna catch flak for this, but I'm going to cite everyone's least favorite statistic... the +/-. Regular season he might have had 103 points, but he is only +3 overall. That is abysmal. Hossa on the other hand only had 71 points, but was still +27. I also think that Crosby's current career path has been detrimental to his growth as a player. He is good, I can't say anything to the contrary, but he would be amazing if he weren't being piled on top of with all this crap Gary has come up with. If he weren't the league's golden boy, and if he started out with a coach who wouldn't stand for his Holier than thou style, put him in his place and strip his C, he would be fine. Yes, I know, stripping the C may seem a little extreme...ish, but you can't tell me that Crosby is a leader on pens. Statistics leader yes, but in the locker room? not a chance. If you don't believe me go and look at some of the interviews in which his teammates talk about him. They always say he is a great player, we are lucky to have him or something along those generic lines that everyone says about their teammates aside from Avery. On the ice his team doesn't stick up for him (much like the Caps Pens game a couple months ago when Ovie was getting the better of him verbally and physically) which says a lot about how they feel about him as their leader. In contrast when the team is talking about Malkin they have wonderful things to say about him, they love having him on their side, and they love having him in their locker room. So as is? I would not want to risk introducing Crosby to the Wings. BUT If we formatted his hard drive THEN brought him on, I wouldn't miss Hossa.