from Gare Joyce of Sportsnet,

Even if his drive for excellence remained full bore, you couldn’t blame him if the state of the Penguins organization has dragged him down. He was sighted as an unhappy camper first when he chirped at Dan Bylsma on the bench during the playoffs a couple of years ago, a complete break from his image as the game’s ultimate Boy Scout (or, at least, a title he shared with Jonathan Toews). And since the firing of GM Ray Shero and Bylsma in the wake of the 2014 playoffs, the Pens organization has been one to rouse curiosity more than instill confidence, what with a GM, Jim Rutherford, who effectively signed on as something of a long-term interim, and Mike Johnston, previously the coach of the Portland Winter Hawks, who went straight from riding a bus with teenagers to working with Crosby, Evgeni Malkin et al. Crosby can say the right things about the team and the organization. He might even mean most of them. But somewhere deep down in his sub-conscious he has to question those running the organization.

Look, I’m not here to bury Crosby. I don’t imagine that it’s over for him. Still, it does seem like he’s moving into a different stage of his career. Something like an athlete’s mid-life. Whether this is the proverbial crisis or not is another thing. It might turn out that he wins more Stanley Cups on the back nine than on the front. It might turn out that he can reinvent himself as a player, becoming less spectacular but more effective overall than at his physical peak. That’s exactly the career path of his favourite player growing up, Steve Yzerman. There’s no doubt that Crosby understands the game well enough to find a different game to play. But will he prove too proud to do anything but be carried out on his shield?

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