Sidney Crosby: Where Does He Rank Among the 15 All-Time Penguins Greats?

When Sidney Crosby returned to the Penguins lineup, much discussion has been had on where he stands among the greats of the game, how he stacks up to the other players in the league, whether he is a vampire and many other issues of great importance.

Yesterday, the news broke that Sid would miss the next two Penguins games as a precaution. You can check out James Conley's article on that for more information.

While this news is not exactly great, it may not be totally unexpected. For example, when news of Sid's return broke, I wrote this article. Stay patient, Pens fans. Winning games in December is not our goal.

But back to the positive with Sid. One thing we have not been discussing is how he stacks up to the great players in Penguins history. For that discussion, I step forward to offer the following slides.

I have take then 15 players from the All-Time Team, and rather than do a simple "better than/worse than" analysis, I have tried to find similarities between Crosby and each player.

Some were easier than others, but take a look to see how he fares. Also, if you have never viewed the Penguins All-Time Team, then this slideshow will familiarize you with these greats.

As a reference point, here are Crosby's career stats.

Games: 420

Goals: 217

Assists: 367

Points: 584

PIM: 395

Playoff Goals: 30

Playoff Points: 82

*Active player, totals as of Dec. 6, 2011

Dave Burrows

Games: 724

Goals: 29

Assists: 135

Points: 164

PIM: 373

Playoff Goals: 1

Playoff Points: 6

The Comparison: Burrows is best described as one of the most dependable defenseman in Penguins history. He ranks second in games played all-time by Penguins defenseman.

Crosby, while having been injured a few times in his career, is generally very dependable when on the ice. More often than not, you are going to get strong play out of him. Even if he does not turn up on the score sheet, he will add to the team's play with face-off work or defensive zone effort.

photo courtesy of penguins.nhl.com

Les Binkley

Games: 196

Wins: 58

Losses: 94

Ties: 34

Goals Against Average: 3.12

Playoff Wins: 5

The Comparison: Binkley was one of the anchors to the Penguins when they were in their infancy in the NHL. His stable play in goalie led the franchise for many years, until Tom Barrasso was able to break them.

Crosby helped lead the Penguins out of the lockout and out of the dark years of the early 2000s.

photo courtesy of penguins.nhl.com

Syl Apps, Jr.

Games: 727

Goals: 183

Assists: 423

Points: 606

PIM: 311

Playoff Goals: 5

Playoff Points: 10

The Comparison: Apps led the Penguins in scoring three times in his career. Crosby has led the team in points three times as well.

While it seems very likely Crosby will go on to pass Apps in this category, the similarity can be drawn between the players for their abilities to put up points consistently, which a player must do to lead the team in scoring most times.

photo courtesy of penguins.nhl.com

Jean Pronovost

Games: 998

Goals: 391

Assists: 383

Points: 774

PIM: 413

Playoff Goals: 11

Playoff Points: 20

The Comparison: Jean Pronovost is third on the Penguins all-time goal scoring list with 316 goals. It will take Crosby about two to three more seasons at best to reach Pronovost. In his 10 seasons with the pens, Pronovost scored less than 20 goals in a season only once. He became the first Penguins player to reach both the 100-point and 50-goal plateau in the same season, proving that he could not only score goals at a prolific pace, but make players around him better.

Sid has proven to have the same trait, often tweaking his game based on the needs of the team or his linemates' abilities.

photo courtesy of penguins.nhl.com

Pierre Larouche

Games: 812

Goals: 395

Assists: 427

Points: 822

PIM: 237

Playoff Goals: 20

Playoff Points: 54

The Comparison: Pierre Larouche was the first Penguin to score 100 points in a season. Crosby has four 100-point seasons so far in his career.

Larouche set the standard for high scoring Pens, Crosby carries that torch today and should be in the hunt for the Art Ross any season that he is healthy.

photo courtesy of penguins.nhl.com

Rick Kehoe

Games: 906

Goals: 371

Assists: 396

Points: 767

PIM: 120

Playoff Goals: 4

Playoff Points: 21

The Comparison: Kehoe had the misfortune of playing for the Penguins in the pre-Lemieux era. But in many ways, he was one of the first faces of the franchise. One thing that you cannot deny is Kehoe's abilities as a goal scorer. He had nine seasons with 27 or more goals during his time with Penguins.

Many people associate the Penguins with highly skilled forward play. Kehoe helped define that reputation on the ground floor. Sid may never have to truly compare to Rick Kehoe because the Penguins are such a high profile team, he will never have to lead the team through dark days.

Ulf Samuelsson

Games: 1,080

Goals: 57

Assists: 275

Points: 332

PIM: 2,453

Playoff Goals: 7

Playoff Points: 34

The Comparison: There may not be a player on the list of Penguins all-time greats that is more of an opposite from Sidney Crosby than Ulf Samuelsson. Ulf was a Cult hero that earned his fans with hard work and a Terminator-like approach to destroying opponents. He was often referred to as "Jack Lambert on skates."

The legendary Steeler linebacker himself even proclaimed himself a fan of Ulf's. Ulf's game was not pretty, it was even dirty at times. What fans appreciated was the effort put in the by Samuelsson.

Crosby is a hard-working player, but because of his skill, he just does not have to do the things the Ulf did.

Tom Barrasso

Games: 777

Wins: 369

Losses: 277

Ties: 86

Goals Against Average: 3.24

Playoff Wins: 61

The Comparison: Tom Barrasso is an underrated goalie in the overall history of the league. He won the Vezina and Calder Trophy in his first season. There was a fire behind that mask that may be only rivaled by Ron Hextall.

Another similarity to Hextall was his excellent puck handling abilities. When people think of the keys to the back-to-back Stanley Cups won by the Penguins in the early 1990s, sometimes Barrasso is overlooked.

Chances are, if the Penguins win another Stanley Cup, Crosby will be considered one of the main reasons why. In that aspect, Crosby and Barrasso can never compare.

Unfortunately for Barrasso, he only gets his due from the people that really look past the surface of what was going on at the time.

Joe Mullen

Games: 1,062

Goals: 502

Assists: 561

Points: 1,063

PIM: 241

Playoff Goals: 60

Playoff Points: 106

The Comparison: Joe Mullen was a natural goal scorer. He had the knack of finding open spots at the right time to bury the puck. Despite being small in stature, his hard work and ability made him an all time great.

Crosby has these traits and then some, but would need to keep at it for many more seasons to match Mullen's career. One thing that Crosby would not be able to match is what Joe Mullen means to the sport of hockey in his country.

Sure, Crosby is at a disadvantage due to the overwhelming amount of greats from Canada, but Mullen will always be one of the most influential players in American hockey history.

Larry Murphy

Games: 1,615

Goals: 287

Assists: 929

Points: 1,216

PIM: 1,084

Playoff Goals: 37

Playoff Points: 152

The Comparison: Larry Murphy is one of the best players to ever lace up skates, regardless of position. Murph could think the game as well as any of his contemporaries, many of whom were the talented forwards he was in charge of minimizing.

Crosby also thinks the game at a high level, which is something that is not always true of highly skilled players. Some guys get by on talent alone, others can go deep in to the game. Sid could only hope to have the longevity that Murphy did, but it would be neat to listen to each dissect them game in conversation.

Kevin Stevens

Games: 874

Goals: 329

Assists: 397

Points: 726

PIM: 1,470

Playoff Goals: 46

Playoff Points: 103

The Comparison: Kevin Stevens had a stretch where he was one of the best power forwards in the NHL. Crosby does not have the size to be a power forward, but that does not stop him from getting in to the gritty areas between the faceoff circles and near the crease.

On the surface, you would think that Crosby is not the sniper that Stevens was. The season where Sid scored 51 goals changes that opinion a bit though.

Paul Coffey

Games: 1,409

Goals: 396

Assists: 1,135

Points: 1,531

PIM: 1,802

Playoff Goals: 59

Playoff Points: 196

The Comparison: If there is one player in Penguins history that you want racing the puck up the ice for one last rush, it would be Paul Coffey. He was an incredible playmaker and obviously made his mark throughout the league as one of the best offensive defenseman to ever play.

Crosby compares favorably to Coffey in terms of skill, skating and puck handling. The overall body of work clearly does not stack up, but it would really cool to see these two players on the same sheet of ice in their prime.

Ron Francis

Games: 1,731

Goals: 549

Assists: 1,249

Points: 1,798

PIM: 979

Playoff Goals: 46

Playoff Points: 143

The Comparison: Ron Francis is one of the greatest talents in NHL history, yet he does not get recognized for it as much as he should. He was low key, but ended up as a point per game player. A true gentleman, any comparison to Francis has to acknowledge his leadership abilities.

Even if there was not a negative perception of Crosby throughout the league, he would still fall short of Francis as a leader. That is not so much a knock at Crosby as it is praise for Francis. His contributions to the Penguins franchise may always go overlooked because they were not flashy, but for my money, I consider him the clear third best player in franchise history.

Jaromir Jagr

Games: 1,294

Goals: 654

Assists: 966

Points: 1,620

PIM: 919

Playoff Goals: 77

Playoff Points: 181

The Comparison: In his prime, Jagr was unstoppable at times. There may never have been a player that was as strong on his skates as Jagr was.

Crosby is an overall better skater, but despite his strength, it does not match Jagr's. While his tenure in Pittsburgh may be damaged beyond repair with the fanbase, Jagr remains the clear second best player in the history of the franchise.

Yes, it ended badly, but he kept the franchise afloat between the Lemieux eras. Crosby would need to show a stretch of scoring titles to match Jagr's talent. 

*Active player, totals as of Dec. 6, 2011

Mario Lemieux

Games: 915

Goals: 690

Assists: 1,033

Points: 1,723

PIM: 834

Playoff Goals: 76

Playoff Points: 172

The Comparison: No disrespect intended towards Sid, but the comparison is not even close. Lemieux has meant everything to the franchise and has carved out a legacy as one of the most beloved figures in the history of the city of Pittsburgh.

While Sid is a remarkable talent, for much of Lemieux's career he appeared to be rivaled by only one, Wayne Gretzky. Crosby may go on to win more scoring titles, Stanley Cups, heck he could even end up owning the Penguins one day. I'm sorry to say that no matter what he does for this team, it will never equal the Lemieux legacy.

If you are interested in further coverage from Ernest, follow him on Twitter @shootinthepuck.