Sidney Crosby is on the verge of breaking the big Penguin franchise record

It’s early August, which means there’s not much going on in the hockey world AND it’s a great time to reflect upon Sidney Crosby’s status and place in history. Any time of year is a good time for that, but doubly so as his famous August 7th birthday again draws near.

This past season in 2024-25, Crosby accomplished something that probably 25-35 years ago that no one thought they would live to see: someone break one of Mario Lemieux’s major career statistical marks with the Penguins. Crosby accomplished that by recording his 1,034th career assist- going by Lemieux (albeit, with the disclaimer of playing 400+ more games).

Still, a record is a record and Sid took one from Mario. With the knowledge that so many like to speak in hushed tones and pre-superstitious ignorance of impending milestones when it comes to Crosby, it’s worth mentioning the biggest team record is within striking distance.

Crosby is just 36 points away from tying Lemieux’s franchise points record of 1,723. It’s a wonderful accomplishment and testament to the consistent greatness Crosby has shown over the last 20 years.

We’ve been talking about this for over a decade, when Crosby was almost 1,000 points behind Lemieux in early 2014. The prediction back then didn’t come true, but it wasn’t looking very promising back then that Crosby would be expected to have the success he’s had in the last 11 years:

Realistically, given how player point production drops in the latter years, combined with Crosby’s injury history, the betting odds say that Mario is safe as the Penguins #1 scorer of all time*.Crosby lost 113 games (or 160 points at his rate of scoring) due to injuries from 2011-2013 in what should have been the prime of his career, and that probably ended all doubt of whether or not Lemieux would remain number one.

Still, what we’re witnessing with Crosby- who’s 11 points up on everyone in the entire league right now in scoring- is special. Just as Mario Lemieux was special, especially considering how few games he was able to play, and just how well he played despite being in a lot of pain even when he was able to play.

 

Barring some Jagr-esque commitment to play the game until an extremely late age, it seems unlikely that Crosby will pass Lemieux. But as we’ve seen over the years, I sure wouldn’t bet against greatness.

The comparisons to Jagr are only going to grow for Crosby, who is showing that dogged and undeniable type of work ethic in order to fight off the hands of time for as long as possible.

Jagr, by the way, recorded 67 points in his age-41 season in 2013-14 and then added 66 more two years later at age 43. Crosby would surely chuckle and incredulously say there would be no way he could keep that going for that long, but would anyone else agree if that was how things went if he set his mind towards playing for that long? Almost no one decides to do that, but Crosby has done nothing but impress and exceed expectations since time immemorial, so who is to say?

The only thing certain is Crosby is closing in on team history in that major way of setting the all-time points record. It wasn’t always a foregone conclusion that he would make it, but he’s chugged along just the same with tremendous results. Let’s look at it over the years:

By the time each of Crosby and Lemieux had finished their age-31 seasons, Mario had a commanding 278 point lead on Crosby. It was at this point that Lemieux took a temporary retirement and Crosby kept steadily chipping away.

Another wild fact is that this season Crosby put up 91 points in his age-37 season. Mario Lemieux’s age-37 season? Also exactly 91 points back in 2002-03. The data runs together but at this point the score is Mario 1,692 and Crosby 1,687 based on total points through age-37, the same five-point difference that it was at the end of age-36 (Mario 1,601 - Sid 1,596).

The major differentiator is that Lemieux only scored 31 more career NHL points following his age-37 season. Between his back, hip and eventually a discovered heart issue, Lemieux’s body was completely beaten up and gone through the ringer, unable to continue. That stands in stark contrast to the tremendous condition and shape Crosby is in right now comparatively speaking to where Lemieux found himself. In the end, that will likely be the difference in where they end up for point totals (other than, you know, Lemieux only getting to appear in 915 career games and keeping the door open for Crosby to come close to his totals from the wide open 80s/90s..)

The next big question should already turn to whether or not Crosby and complete the clean sweep and erase Lemieux’s name from the third jewel of the big three (goals-assists-points) and take the goal mark as well.

Here’s the part where we’ll cast doubt on Crosby’s outlook, only to have it revisited to look foolish in the future. Crosby is 65 goals behind Lemieux, and Sid signed onto play two more seasons. Crosby’s goal totals in the last three seasons (33, 42, 33) suggest that this record is at the very least, in play. However, he is now about to turn 38-years old. Can he score (fittingly) the 66 goals in two seasons that would be needed to set the record? Will he sign on for more, especially if the Pens are going through a prolonged period of non-competitiveness? All reasonable questions with unknown conclusions at this point.

Sidney Crosby already has more assists than Lemieux, and he is rapidly approaching taking the biggest franchise record of ‘em all in total points. Whether or not Crosby can get that clean sweep and take the goal total will remain an open-ended question and give another little factor to watch for in the seasons to come.