NHL

Sidney Crosby Is Dominating the NHL This Year

After winning the Stanley Cup, Sidney Crosby is dominating hockey once again.

In only 20 games played after missing the beginning of the season with concussion issues, Sidney Crosby is tied with Patrik Laine in goals scored at 17, and he's also recorded 10 assists, a plus-minus of +4, and a second-best-in-the-league 11.7 goals created. Currently, Crosby impressively leads the league in goals per game (0.85), points per game (1.35), and goals created per game (0.58).

Given these current numbers, Sid is sure to beat out his 36 goals and 49 assists over 80 games from last year. From here on out, we have projected Crosby to finish the season with 23 more goals and 31 more assists.

Additionally, Crosby has been an absolute cash cow in daily fantasy so far this season. Over 20 games, he's averaged an incredible 20.61 points per game on FanDuel along with 5.48 points on DraftKings.

Although NHL DFS bears the reputation of a high variance sport without a safe statistical floor for any player, Sidney Crosby is currently bucking that trend with his consistently strong performances this season.

Breaking It Down

Furthermore, the stats show that Crosby has maintained relentless production on the ice. So far this season, Crosby has recorded 71 shots over 385 minutes on ice, which leaves him at a shot per every 5 minutes or so on ice.

His 23.9% shooting percentage might appear unsustainable given his career average of 14.7%, but additional peripheral statistics show that this high shooting percentage is a testament to the Pens' motive to feed the puck to Crosby at every possible moment in addition to Crosby's ability to generate high-danger scoring opportunities.

Over 20 games, Crosby has a career-high Corsi For % of 58.7 and Fenwick For % of 60%, meaning the Penguins have possessed and shot the puck in the offensive zone more often than not while Crosby is on the ice.

Crosby himself has admitted that he is feeling especially confident and trigger-happy this season, but he's also acknowledged that he expects his shooting percentage to regress since he might not get a few of the same lucky bounces he's been getting.

The Penguins Moving Forward

In addition to his individual success so far this season, Sid's dominant performance demonstrates the fact that the defending Stanley Cup winners will prove stubborn title-defenders, and it will be difficult for any team in the league to dethrone them.

Here at numberFire, we currently have the Pens ranked second in our NHL team power rankings with a nERD score of 0.50, a 91% chance of making the playoffs, and an 9.4% chance of successfully defending the Stanley Cup.

In a new NHL marked by the emergence of starlets such as Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, and Jack Eichel, Sidney Crosby continues to assert his dominance.