Original author: Ken Campbell: Jul. 6, 2009
Across the street from the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh is the shell of the Consol Energy Center and you won’t find anybody there leaning on a shovel, no siree. There’s always noise and a whole bunch of guys in hard hats running around doing stuff. The steel girders are pretty much in place, and the way it’s coming up, it’s hard to fathom the Penguins still have to play another full season in their quaint but decrepit digs at Mellon, where minor hockey outfits from Ust-Kamenogorsk have better dressing room facilities than the visiting teams.
Not far from the cornerstone, the foundation of the franchise and the building hangs from the girders on the east side. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are not actually welding the steel together, but they might as well be. There is no doubt the new arena is The House That Sid and Geno Are Building, with a big assist from Mario Lemieux and the good folks at Majestic Star Casino.
If you look at the banner quickly enough and from a certain angle, it looks as though both heads are coming out of the same body. Sid and Geno – the two-headed monster with the steely resolve that is hugely responsible for both the steel that forms the Penguins’ future and the silver that defines their present.
When Crosby hoisted the Stanley Cup on a bad knee the night of June 12 in Detroit after a dramatic seven-game triumph, he became the youngest captain ever to do so in NHL history. When Malkin lifted the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP just minutes before, he became the second-youngest skater to win the trophy behind Bobby Orr – and the fourth-youngest player of all-time to take the bauble. He’s also the first Russian Conn man.
“They’re superstars and they’re 21 and 22 years old and we have them signed for a bunch more years,” gushed Penguins GM Ray Shero as the Penguins celebrated on the ice after Game 7. “It’s hard not to be excited. I’m glad I decided to come here.”
Those who follow the Penguins are thanking their lucky stars for the circumstances that landed two of the best players on the planet in their laps. In four successive drafts from 2003 through ’06, the Pens drafted Marc-Andre Fleury first overall (’03), Malkin second (’04), Crosby first (’05) and Jordan Staal second (’06). That’s four star-to-superstar players. (They also added Kris Letang, Tyler Kennedy and Alex Goligoski in those drafts.) It certainly does nothing to dispel the notion you have to be putrid before you can be great, as long as you’re all right with your team almost leaving town a couple of times and being plunged into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
But those days are long behind the Penguins now. They’re preparing to move into their revenue-rich digs in the fall of 2010 and look every bit the perennial Stanley Cup contender with Crosby and Malkin leading the way. Ovechkin might have the Hart Trophy and the cover of NHL 2K10, but Crosby and Malkin have the Stanley Cup. And they don’t appear ready to give it back anytime soon.
The Penguins have their three top centers – all younger than 23 – under contract for the next four years and Fleury committed until 2015. This will afford the Penguins every opportunity to be a force for years to come.
“We went to the cap two years before we were supposed to without our revenues in the new building,” Shero said. “But we’ve got those two signed long term and I think that says something about our ownership. They want to win and it’s great for the city of Pittsburgh.”
On and off the ice, Crosby and Malkin are a study in contrasts. After living with Sergei Gonchar for two years, Malkin cut ties and moved into his own house this year. He’s all on his own, not with standing the extended visit from his parents Vladimir and Natalia, who became almost as famous as their son during the playoffs, when fans clamored to have autographs and pictures taken with “the Genos.” Crosby, on the other hand, continues to live at Lemieux’s house and there appears to be no signs the tenant will be evicted anytime soon.
“No, I think we’ll keep him around,” said Lemieux when asked whether it was time for Sid to, you know, maybe get his own space. “He’s great for our family and our four kids – they love him. He’s pretty easy to take care of. He sleeps and he plays hockey and that’s all. He eats once in a while, too.”
Both Malkin and Crosby are consumed by all things hockey. Malkin’s parents once said that when Evgeni was a youngster, they would often find him in bed wearing his skates and clutching his hockey stick.
“I knew when his dad brought him to the ice and put skates on him for the first time,” said Natalia Malkin the day her son was drafted. “At that moment, we both said to each other, ‘He’ll be a great player one day.’ We saw it right away.”
When Crosby played junior hockey for the Rimouski Oceanic, the team would often hide his skates to prevent him from going out at night and playing outdoor pick-up hockey with the neighborhood kids. Crosby’s father Troy relayed a story that once when Sidney was in midget hockey, a fierce snowstorm cancelled school for the day, but the local arena in Cole Harbour, N.S., stayed open. Crosby showed up in the morning to play pick-up hockey and all day players came and went, but Crosby was still there playing eight hours later.
“He’s competitive in everything he does,” said Troy Crosby of his son. “And he’s stubborn. When he goes fishing, he won’t stop fishing until he catches something. He could be out there for eight hours. When he plays tennis or golf, he won’t stop until he wins.”
Both are brilliant players in different ways – Crosby with the determination to match his skill and a player who displayed a penchant during the playoffs for making breathtaking plays in tight and with little time or space. Perhaps not exactly what was originally advertised, but dangerous nonetheless.
Malkin, on the other hand, has the ability to dominate with sheer physical skill. He swoops through the offensive zone with authority and while he’s more physical and less skilled, there are similarities to No. 66.
“I do see some of myself in the way he carries himself on the ice,” said Lemieux of Malkin. “The way he carries the puck and the way he dekes and sees the ice.”
The similarities certainly don’t end there, though. For starters, both Crosby and Malkin come from humble surroundings. And they’re both scheduled to make $9 million next season when Malkin’s 1,000-percent raise kicks in. They were both born to fathers who were good hockey players, but not quite good enough to make a living from it. Troy Crosby played two years as a goalie for the Verdun Jr. Canadiens and was drafted 240th by the Montreal Canadiens in 1984, 189 spots after the Habs selected Patrick Roy. Vladimir Malkin played one year as a winger with Magnitogorsk in the Soviet Elite League and claims that while he doesn’t possess his son’s physical skills, he likes to think Evgeni inherited his ability to read the play from his father.
Vladimir Malkin worked as a machine inspector for Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, which has provided the mother country with much of its steel since it was established by Josef Stalin in 1929. Troy Crosby was a building superintendent for a local law firm and his wife, Trina, worked at a local newspaper until she stayed home to raise her children.
“We were below middle class when Sidney was growing up,” Troy Crosby said. “He had some tough times growing up and that’s why I think he appreciates everything, because of how hard it was when he was a kid. He didn’t go without anything, but it wasn’t easy. He had to work for it. He would deliver fliers on weekends to pay for skates and tournaments. We weren’t a well-to-do family by any means and we struggled at times.”
Perhaps it was the humble beginnings that have made Crosby the person he is. He is not perfect, to be sure, but there is no doubt he is remarkably grounded for a millionaire superstar. Yeah, he took too long to shake hands with the Red Wings while he celebrated on the ice after winning the Cup, but he’s 21, an age when many of us were too irresponsible to get to our college classes on time.
When Crosby was 16 and he won the Quebec League’s rookie-of-the-year award, he was so embarrassed about his lack of ability to speak French that he vowed to his agent he would accept his awards the next season in French.
He not only did it, but he now speaks the language with Maxime Talbot in the next stall when the two of them don’t want other people to know what they’re talking about.
When Crosby was just a wisp of a kid at Colby Elementary and later at Astral Drive Junior High in Cole Harbour, N.S., he forged a bond with another student by the name of Scottie Joseph. When Scottie was born, he weighed 1-½ pounds and bleeding on the right ventricle of his brain caused a series of strokes that left him developmentally handicapped. Doctors told his mother he would never walk or talk, but 23 years later, he does both incessantly.
Joseph and Crosby remain friends, years after Crosby began to look out for him at school. Scottie knows almost nothing about hockey and is vaguely aware that Crosby won the Stanley Cup, only because his mother went to his room to tell him the Penguins had won.
“Now he thinks because he won the Stanley Cup, Sid is finished with hockey forever and now he can come home,” said Scottie’s mother Becky. “We’ll have a Montreal-Toronto game on and Scottie will walk by the television and say, ‘Go, Sid.’ He doesn’t want anything from Sid and Sidney just thinks he’s a hoot.”
Just as Becky is speaking on the telephone about Crosby, Scottie comes into the house. Becky asks her son if he wants to say anything about Crosby.
“Just tell him I love him,” is the response.
For all we know, there could be stories just as heartwarming about Malkin. Maybe he helps old ladies across the street in his spare time. It’s just the language barrier makes it difficult for anyone to truly get to know Malkin very well. We do know Malkin can have quite a sense of humor, as he did after Game 3 of the final when he said of linemate and eventual Game 7 hero Talbot: “Little bit bad hands. He has lots of scoring chances, not score. Just empty net. It’s OK, he learns over the summer.”
We learned Malkin can play very, very well in crucial situations, unlike last spring when he essentially disappeared during the Stanley Cup final. We learned he is willing to get as goofy as most other players, as evidenced by the fight he started with Zetterberg late in Game 2 before his “automatic” one-game suspension was inexplicably rescinded and he responded with three assists in Game 3. If you look at him closely, you learn that he might just have the longest fingers in the history of the human race. We learned that Malkin at 22 is much more mature and battle-tested than he was at 21.
“‘Solid’ is the best word I can use for him,” said Bill Guerin, who came to Pittsburgh at the trade deadline. “He has gotten much better with his decision-making with the puck. He’s always great with the puck and he can try things, but he’s trying it at the right time now. He’s been more and more responsible as the playoffs have gone on.”
Back on Feb. 15, the Penguins were five points out of a playoff spot and seemed firmly ensconced in 10th place in the Eastern Conference. That’s when Shero fired coach Michel Therrien and replaced him with a relative unknown in Dan Bylsma. Both Crosby and Malkin bought into Bylsma’s north-south system, predicated on getting the puck at the defensive blueline and sending it back up the ice as soon as possible.
“There was risk in doing it,” said Shero of the coaching change. “But I always say there was more risk in not doing it.”
Crosby had 31 points down the stretch despite missing five games with a groin injury and Malkin had 33 points as the Penguins rattled off a record of 18-3-4 under Bylsma and entered the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the league. They became the first squad in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup after going down 2-0 in two playoff series and became the first team to win Game 7 on the road since the 1971 Montreal Canadiens. They also became the first team in any sport to do that since the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.
“When (the coaching change) happened, the players had to look at themselves in the mirror and say, ‘You know what? We’re at fault here,’ ” said assistant coach Tom Fitzgerald, who also joined the coaching staff in February.
Included in that group were Crosby and Malkin, even though both were doing their parts offensively. By the time the playoffs came around, the Penguins’ two best players were, in hockey vernacular, their two best players. And it showed.
Crosby proved in the post-season that he could be more net-directed and selfish (in a good way) when necessary, while Malkin showed a continued maturity and an ability to play like a superstar in games that matter most.
The day before the pivotal seventh game, Malkin spoke about his dreams of winning hockey’s biggest prize.
“The Cup is all I want. I will give everything. One win, the Cup,” he said to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I think about it a lot, especially in these last weeks. It’s my dream. Me and Sid, just like that.”
Malkin pointed to a picture of Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr celebrating the Penguins’ 1992 Stanley Cup in the visitor’s dressing room at the old Chicago Stadium.
Seventeen years later, Crosby and Malkin are living the dream far earlier than they, or almost anyone else, expected they would. Now after watching them over the past two months, the big question is, who is going to be able to take it away from them?
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