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This Day In Pens History: Sidney Crosby Named Captain

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On May 31, 2007, the Pittsburgh Penguins named Sidney Crosby the 13th Captain in Franchise history, succeeding the owner and Crosby’s then landlord, Mario Lemieux.

The move made Crosby the youngest Captain (19 years 297 days) in NHL history. He eclipsed Tampa Bay Lightning Forward Vincent Lecalvier, who became the Lighting captain in 2000, by 27 days.

Crosby had a monster of a season in 2006-07. He set career highs in points (120). assists (84). and took home the Hart, Pearson, & Art Ross Trophies. Yeah, a monster season.

Crosby’s dominant play helped the Penguins reach the post-season for the first time in four seasons and the team achieved a 57-point increase from their 2005-06 point total (58). The Penguins also broke the 100-point mark for the first time in almost a decade.

It wasn’t the first time Crosby was offered the position from Penguins management, either. GM Ray Shero offered Crosby the captaincy in January 2007.

Shero discussed the initial offer, “Part of what makes Sidney not your average 19-year-old kid is that he gave it some thought for two or three weeks and came back to us and said he didn’t feel the time was right. He didn’t really turn it down. He deferred it, basically.”

Crosby added, “I thought I needed some time to grow a little bit more,”. “I couldn’t be in a better situation than what the team has with a mix of young guys and older guys.

“We talked about it probably midway through last year. I just thought it wasn’t the right time. We were playing great. You don’t want to disrupt that and I felt I wasn’t ready to accept that responsibility quite yet.”

When Crosby finally accepted the Captaincy it brought to fruition the hopes and dreams of the Penguins nation, that the team finally had a new superstar to get behind, ending a beautiful chapter in Penguins history and ushering a new era of success and bringing spoils to a team that had seen some of the darkest days put behind it.

Story quotes are from original news reports including NHL.com:

(https://www.nhl.com/news/pittsburgh-penguins-sidney-crosby-celebrates-10-years-as-captain/c-289684744)