2 seasons lost: Predicting point totals of a healthy Crosby
In an all too familiar sight, the Pittsburgh Penguins iced a Sidney Crosby-less lineup on Monday night.
With his latest absence from play, Crosby has now missed 164 regular-season games - or the equivalent of two full seasons - during his 12 years in the league. Now while his numbers still remain envious of onlookers of all sorts, one can't help but envision where exactly Crosby would sit if he had played each of those 164 matches.
Crosby currently sits tied for 98th on the NHL's all-time scoring list with 938 points, in just 707 games, giving him a ridiculous 1.327 career points per game total.
A quick calculation using his career points per game over 871 games - the amount of games he would have played - gives you 1,155 points, pushing him right up to 52nd all-time.
However, given the way numbers can vary year to year, for various circumstances, to get a more accurate total, let's use each season's points per game total on its own to try and get a more accurate depiction of just where Crosby would be.
| Year | Games Played | Games Missed | Points | Projected Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05-06 | 81 | 1 | 102 | 103 |
| 06-07 | 79 | 3 | 120 | 124 |
| 07-08 | 53 | 29 | 72 | 111 |
| 08-09 | 77 | 5 | 103 | 109 |
| 09-10 | 81 | 1 | 109 | 110 |
| 10-11 | 41 | 41 | 66 | 132 |
| 11-12 | 22 | 60 | 37 | 137 |
| 12-13 | 36 | 12 | 56 | 74 |
| 13-14 | 80 | 2 | 104 | 106 |
| 14-15 | 77 | 5 | 84 | 89 |
| 15-16 | 80 | 2 | 85 | 87 |
| Total | 707 | 162 | 938 | 1 182 |
Given this projection, Crosby would now slot 49th on the all-time scoring list. Though without this year counted, and Crosby just two points behind Rod Brind'Amour's 1,184 career points, one can assume Crosby would have hit two points in the first three games of the season, passing that mark.
In all, Crosby sits with the fifth-highest points per game total in NHL history, behind only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy, and Bobby Orr.
Sid could very well sit among those men when his career concludes, it will just be whether he can stay in the lineup or not.