McGuire Calls Sidney Crosby ‘Most Disrespected Player in Our Game’

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is not exactly Rodney Dangerfield, but sometimes Crosby can be downright disrespected, and we’re not talking about Philadelphia Flyers fans.

A couple of weeks ago, retired Columbus Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky, who seemed to delight in inflicting pain upon Crosby when the two squared off, disparaged Crosby’s on-ice presence and called him a whiner. Crosby took the high road and didn’t respond. 

Crosby has won just two Hart trophies despite nearly 15 years of dominance. In his 16th season, Crosby is again in the top-10 of NHL scoring and has carried the Penguins as injuries have crumpled the lineup, including a significant injury to Evgeni Malkin.

On Saturday, NBC color analyst Pierre McGuire heaped praise on Crosby during the Penguins 3-2 win and chided his compadres across hockey.

“This guy’s career has been amazing, and not enough people show enough respect,” McGuire said during the first period of the broadcast. “He’s the most disrespected player in our game in terms of star power. I really believe it.”

McGuire’s broadcast partner John Forslund, the Seattle Kraken play-by-play next season, also chimed in.

“You don’t want to say a superstar is taken for granted, but occassionally but Sidney may because of consistency and others who have emerged over time,” Forsland said.

Crosby has captained three Stanley Cup winners, won two gold medals, including scoring the Golden Goal for Team Canada in 2010, won the world championships, world junior championships, as well as a bevy of individual honors.

In 16 NHL seasons, Crosby has 1313 points in 1027 games after one assist on Saturday.

But let’s come back to the trophies. Crosby has only two Hart trophies, despite being arguably a top-five player in NHL history. That seems like a low total.

This season, Sidney Crosby has 50 points in 43 games, including 17 goals. He tied Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand for the top-scoring player in the East Division.

The broadcasters also hyped Crosby’s Hart trophy bonafides for this season. We won’t argue.

In Crosby fashion, teammate Jared McCann scored a goal that Crosby has made famous by shooting the puck off the goalie’s back from below the goal line.