He was being touted as the greatest player since the Great One himself.
It all began on Jul 22, 2005. Because of the season being cancelled due to the lockout, each team had a chance to pick the most anticipated young player to grace the NHL entry draft in more than a decade. Every franchise was given three balls in the lottery, with one being removed from those teams that had been to the playoffs or had drafted first overall in the previous four years.
The New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins went into the 2005 NHL Draft Lottery with the best shot at the first overall pick — and a generational talent.
That young player was #87 Sidney Crosby, born on the 7th day of the 8th month of 1987, and the team that got him was the Pittsburgh Penguins.
5 Best Conspiracy Theories Regarding Penguins’ Sidney Crosby
1. The NHL rigged the 2005 Draft Lottery
When Pittsburgh won the right to draft the best player of the new millennium, hockey fans everywhere immediately formed a grudge fueled by pure, green envy. This jealousy gave life to the stories that the NHL had rigged the lottery in favor of the Penguins — the thinking being that, because Crosby and Lemieux were work-out partners, it was arranged for the kid to end up on Mario’s team.
With Crosby, their third top-two pick in three years, Pittsburgh would be one step closer to building a powerhouse dynasty. What better way to spur hockey interest in the United States and create new American markets than with a young, electrifying team in classic Penguins silks?
2. There’s something in the water in Coal Harbour, Nova Scotia.
The town of Coal Harbour has a population of roughly 25,000. Sidney Crosby, arguably the best player in the game today, grew up there. But he isn’t the only first overall pick to have come from the small maritime town. [sc:NHL250 ]
Earlier this year, Nathan MacKinnon — also from Coal Harbour — was drafted first overall by the Colorado Avalanche. Could it be that this quaint Nova Scotian coastal village is a super hockey breeding ground?
Since 1969, the NHL Enty Draft has seen 10,178 players get picked, and since then, there have been 47 first overall picks. If the players were selected randomly, the odds of being the first player chosen in any given year are roughly 0.5%. It’s a slim shot, even before factoring in the genetic lottery you’d need to win to be that naturally gifted.
74% of the first overall picks since ’69 have been Canadian. Consider that Coal Harbour represents about 0.07% of the population of Canada. That means that, genetics aside, there’s roughly a 0.026% of a first overall pick coming from Coal Harbour, Nova Scotia.
The odds of two coming from that town? Roughly 0.000007%.
3. Gary Bettman Loves Crosby, Hates Ovechkin
Though it’s widely believed that much of the hoopla about the NHL favoring Crosby in this modern rivalry is generated by Caps fans, one might wonder whether or not the league is actually rooting for The Kid in some fit of anti-Russian bias.
Who can say for sure if Bettman really does want Crosby to win and OV to lose? All we can point at is the fact that the Pens have been to the finals twice in the last decade and have a Cup to show for it. The Capitals have zilch.
Apparently, cracked neck vertebrae produce many of the same symptoms as concussions, and doctors thought they had found a healed-but-never-treated crack in Sid the Kid’s neck when they were doing some tests in 2012.
Could it be that doctor’s never detected the injury, and instead wrongfully diagnosed it as a concussion? Had it been treated correctly, would Crosby have missed less time and possibly won another cup to the enjoyment of his pal Gary Bettman?
And the most obvious question of all: Was Alexander Ovechkin the one behind such malpractice?
5. Crosby is an Egomaniac, Chases Away Other Star Players
In 2008, Marian Hossa joined Crosby’s penguins in an attempt to help them to a Stanley Cup. That year they were defeated by the Detroit Red Wings — the team that Hossa would eventually join the following year.
During the 2012-2013 season, fellow Canadian Olympic hero Jarome Iginla joined his pal Sidney in another attempt to claim a cup, but they were thwarted by the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference final.
Believe it or not, Iginla did exactly what Hossa had a few seasons before, and jumped ship for the team that beat the Penguins in the playoffs, joining up with the Bruins for the upcoming 2013-2014 season. Apparently he and Sid weren’t so close after all.
When he joined the league, Crosby quickly earned the reputation of an entitled, whiny jerk, as well as the moniker of “Crosbaby.” Were players and fans simply jealous of the young man’s sublime talent? Or were they pointing towards one of The Kid’s true character flaws?
Apparently the only star player who can stand to be around Crosby is Evgeni Malkin.
But he’s obviously working undercover for Ovechkin.
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