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PHN Extra: Tyler Kennedy says Crosby ‘Best in the World at Everything’

Pittsburgh fans will have to forgive the comparison to Tom Brady.

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Photo Credit: Sarah A Photography. https://www.flickr.com/photos/butohmedusa/

Sidney Crosby would never admit to pacing himself early in the regular season, even subconsciously, as has been suggested about the Penguins superstar center. It’s true that Crosby has played a heck of a lot of hockey the past few years, with two Stanley Cups and a World Cup of Hockey tournament.

It’s best, though, if you don’t question him, according to a former teammate. He’s just, well, that good.

“I feel like Sid’s the best in the world at everything,” Tyler Kennedy, a winger on the 2009 Penguins Cup team, proclaimed.

“No one judges his game more than him. No one tries to get better every day more than him. He is so in tune with everything he does.”

Kennedy didn’t stop there.

“He’s like the Tom Brady of hockey. He knows what to eat. He knows how much rest. He knows when to practice. He knows how certain game flow is going to, when he has to turn it on. He’s a special human being. He doesn’t cut corners with anything. I texted him after the Stanley Cup (last year), and he texted me right back and I was like, ‘You don’t have to text me right now.’ That’s just the guy he is.”

(Also read: In a New Development, Kennedy Back on the Ice; and PHN Extra: Tyler Kennedy Believes in Postseason Penguins)

If there is one thing Kennedy thinks Crosby needed to work on, it was the way he and fellow superstar center Evgeni Malkin dovetailed. That has happened, with both able to play at the highest level without blunting the other, Kennedy said.

“Geno’s really come into his own, and they’re really starting to work together the last three years,” he said. “Before, they used to butt heads a little bit, or Sid would be on or Geno would be on, and now they both bring it.”

Many, many players, coaches and others who have had contact with Crosby have raved about the detail-oriented, grounded superstar. Kennedy can’t help but gush just as much.

“The best role model in Pittsburgh is Sidney Crosby,” he said. “If there’s someone for kids to look up to here, it’s Sidney Crosby. Even with the goals and this and that, he’s the real thing from start to finish. Your kid’s pretty lucky to have a signed Sidney Crosby jersey on.

“Put it this way. I have a daughter (Cookie, 2 ½). If she looks up to Sidney Crosby if she plays hockey, there’s no one better that I would want her to … besides me.

“He knows how to win.”