Sidney Crosby Puts NHL's Interests First By Attending All-Star Game

Be sure Pittsburgh Penguins center, superstar and captain Sidney Crosby has plenty of selfish reasons to be in Montreal this weekend for the National Hockey League's All-Star Game festivities.

Likely first among those reasons is that it has to feel good to be validated as the most popular hockey player on the planet on the merit of nearly two million fan votes. Although a player of Crosby's humble nature would never say as much, it's got to be an ego trip of the highest degree.

Also high on the list of personal motivations is that Crosby, a native of the Atlantic-coast province of Nova Scotia, rooted for the Canadiens as a boy and presumably still reserves a spot in his cardiac tissue for Le Club de Hockey Canadien. The Canadiens are currently commemorating their 100th year of existence, with the All-Star Game and surrounding hoopla serving as the crown jewel.

But if Sid really wanted to look out for number one this weekend, he would stay back in Pittsburgh to rest his ailing left knee.

Instead, No. 87 will be there for the NHL during its annual showcase. Despite the increasingly audible complaints about seemingly every part of the All-Star package, the NHL places a great deal of emphasis on the event because of the opportunities for corporate synergy and outreach to casual sports fans.

By putting the interests of Gary Bettman and Co. ahead of his own health, Crosby is simply continuing a trend of off-ice selflessness that he has taken great care to maintain. For a young man who has been a Canadian celebrity since his childhood and an international sporting icon since his 2005 arrival in the NHL, he has handled the subsequent attention and demands for his time with consistent professionalism.

Crosby was forced to miss last year's All-Star Game due to a serious high-ankle sprain, and there is no doubt the prospect of not being present for two straight league extravaganzas weighed at least somewhat in his decision to play this time around.

So should Penguins fans be concerned the team's leader is putting his wellness and consequently the prospects of his team returning to the playoffs at risk because the NHL "needs" him to be there?

I say no, simply because no one who has followed Crosby's career would have reason to believe anything but the Stanley Cup is his ultimate goal. Still, as the most visible player in his sport, Sid has to strike what can often be a tenuous balance between competing at the highest possible level on the ice and selling the game away from rink.

Of course, probably the best way for Crosby to promote hockey to an audience that is becoming more resistant to traditional public relations and advertising is to put up bushels of points while leading his team to increasing levels of success. 

That being said, it certainly can't hurt for the NHL to have its most renowned commodity and one of the top talents in the game on the ice in arguably the best hockey city in North America. The promise of youthful talent plus the gravitas of tradition is a formula sure to be appealing for an event that is losing ground in the court of public opinion.

With Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk, the only two members of the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings invited, opting out due to nagging physical issues, the NHL front office should be especially grateful for Crosby showing up and suiting up this weekend.

No matter what the ratio of self-interest to selflessness was, Sidney Crosby has once again made the right decision for the National Hockey League.

No need to thank him, Mr. Bettman.