Pittsburgh Penguins: What Happened to Sidney Crosby’s Scoring?

After an 11-game slump—the second longest of his career—Sidney Crosby finally knocked in a rebound in a 5-4 overtime win against the Buffalo Sabres.

In the Penguins last five games before playing the Sabres (in which they were 1-2-2), Sidney Crosby had a whopping one point—an assist against the Vancouver Canucks. Not to say that he’s not been productive in other ways; his faceoff percentage is 53.1%. But while an 11-game scoring drought would be unremarkable in any other player, it tends to garner attention in a surefire Hall of Famer.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Stats

So far in the 2017-18 season, Crosby has had 6 goals and 14 points in 20 games, leaving him in 107th place in goals and 78th in points in the league as of Nov. 16. Not quite the production one would expect of a former Rocket Richard and Art Ross trophy winner. These stats are also despite Crosby averaging 20:30 in ice time this season.

Sid has had 65 shots on goal so far this season. His shot production has been relatively steady—his career average is 3.3, and his average this season is 3.25.

Below is a chart of Sid’s goals, assists, points, and shots in the first 19 games of every season of his career.

14

21

65

10

20

30

48

10

18

28

61

7

18

25

70

12

16

28

72

12

16

28

72

5

26

31

66

9

19

28

73

9

16

25

70

8

18

26

59

3

7

10

51

16

10

26

67

5

8

13

60

8.7

15.8

24.5

64.2

*season limited to 48 games due to lockout.

^season limited due to injury.

Crosby’s stats so far this year are well below average.

What caused this uncharacteristic scoring slump? Are Sid’s many linemates—including Jake Guentzel, Conor Sheary, Bryan Rust, and Patric Hornqvist, to name a few—helping or hurting his production? It’s hard to say for sure. The only thing we know is that now that Sid has ended his scoring drought, his production should pick up considerably.