2024-25 Season in Review: Sidney Crosby

Time marches on, but Sidney Crosby remains inevitable.

Vitals

Player: Sidney Crosby
Born: August 7, 1987 (Age 37 season)
Height: 5’ 11”
Weight: 200 pounds
Hometown: Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia, Canada
Shoots: Left
Draft: 2005 first round (1st overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins
2024-25 Statistics: 80 games played, 33 goals, 58 assists = 91 points
Contract Status: Crosby played out the final season of a 12-year deal signed back in June 2012. In September 2024, Crosby signed a two-year extension worth $8.7 million against the salary cap. That deal begins in 2025-26 and carries a full NMC.

Monthly Splits

via Yahoo!

Story of the Season

It’s hard to believe, but 2024-25 was the 20th season of Sidney Crosby’s career, and even still the captain finds ways to wow the Penguins faithful as he approaches 40 years old. Second on the team in goals, first in assists and points, a third straight 90+ point season, and another point per game season to pass Wayne Gretzky for the most all time.

Just prior to the season, Crosby reupped with the Penguins for another two years after a summer of Canadian media speculation of Crosby wanting to leave Pittsburgh to chase another Stanley Cup. Though 2024-25 did not give Crosby another playoff shot with the Penguins, he was still his usual superstar self on the ice.

Crosby was the driving force on the Penguins top line which was one of the NHL’s best and one of the few bright spots in another disappointing season for the Penguins. Alongside linemates Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell, both who posted career years, Crosby remain a steady scoring force and posted his 20th career point per game season with relative ease.

Everyone waits for the time when Crosby starts to show real signs of aging and his game slows down, but 2024-25 was not that time and based on what we saw from Crosby this season, it doesn’t appear he has any plans of slowing down any time soon.

Regular season 5v5 advanced stats

Data via Natural Stat Trick. Ranking is out of 17 forwards on the team who qualified by playing a minimum of 150 minutes.

Corsi For%: 52.5% (5th)
Goals For%: 50.3% (2nd)
xGF%: 52.4% (3rd)
Scoring Chance %: 49.9% (10th)
High Danger Scoring Chance%: 51.5% (6th)
5v5 on-ice shooting%: 10.7% (2nd)
On-ice save%: .887% (15th)
Goals/60: 0.75 (8th)
Assist/60: 1.9 (1st)
Points/60: 2.6 (1st)

When Crosby entered the league back in 2005, analytics were still a few years away from entering the mainstream, but once they did, Crosby has proven to be a force well outside the typical box car numbers everyone sees. That was no different this season as Crosby continues to excel in the underlying numbers, especially on offense.

That Penguins first line this season was a force, led by Crosby who still drives play at an elite level and still scores at a level just the same. Like many other Penguins this season, he got no help from the goaltending but it was rough all around in that category.

Charts n’at

Via Advanced Hockey Stats and NHL Edge

Still an offensive force in his 20th season, Crosby produces at an elite level like we all know and the underlying numbers back that up. His play in the defensive zone is the weakest part of his game but that has been the case for a few seasons now, but even those numbers did jump in 2024-25 from a career worst a season ago.

Crosby saw a nine goal drop off from a season ago, but his assist numbers shot up this season, finishing 15th overall league wide and 10th overall in points. Even 20 years in he still doesn’t shoot enough, but assists have always been his bread and butter.

Crosby continues to excel across the board, playing at an elite level well past what one considers the prime for most athletes. He may not skate as fast as he did earlier in his career but he still can cut it loose when he’s on the ice. Crosby not only skates with speed but he covers a lot of rink when doing so as well.

Crosby may not have the top end speed of many of his elite counterparts, but his lower end speed bursts are enough to create issues for defenders going up against him.

Never one to wind up a let it rip, it’s not surprising to see Crosby’s shot speed to be on the lower when compared league wide. His wrist shot remains lethal as ever and when he does decide to wind up and uncork a clapper he can get the shot into the 80’s and even into the 90’s on the rare occasion. This lack of shot speed has never been a hindrance on his scoring ability.

Highlights

Question to ponder

How much longer can Sidney Crosby defy time and remain one of the best players in the NHL?

Everything we know about athletes and aging says Sidney Crosby should have dropped off or at least be showing signs of slowing down. He may no longer score with the likes of McDavid of MacKinnon, but Crosby remains and elite player by every measure.

This was his first full season without Jake Guentzel by his side, and all he did was elevate Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust to career high goal scoring marks and posted his second highest assist total since the turn of the decade.

There will be a time when Crosby is no longer Crosby and that feels like it will be the signal to him that it’s time to hang up the skates, but based on what we saw this season, that day may still be farther off than any of us believe.

Ideal 2025-26

The ideal scenario for Crosby in 2025-26 is a return to the postseason for another shot at one more Stanley Cup run. That doesn’t look to be in the cards for the Penguins and Crosby next season based on what Kyle Dubas seems to be planning, so we may have to settle for another ho hum Crosby performance where he puts up 90 points while still showing no signs that he will be a full year older.

Bottom line

Sidney Crosby’s greatness has now spanned two decades of Pittsburgh Penguins hockey after a historic 2024-25 saw him go over 90 points again, surpass a Gretzky record, and reach new career milestones for games played, goals, and points. Just a normal season’s work for the greatest player of his generation who continues to defy logic at 37 years old.

Anytime we get to see Crosby on the ice in a Penguins sweater is a blessing we all should enjoy and Crosby certainly makes it enjoyable to still tune in even when the full team product may be lacking. His ability to continue to elevate players around him like Rakell and Rust are one of Crosby’s great gifts as he pushed them to career highs this season.

Year in and year out Crosby continue to display his excellence and this season was no different. It’s a shame he doesn’t get a crack at the trophy he wants most, but still playing the game at this level means he’ll be hanging around a while longer to hopefully get a shot at one more run.