THE MVP: From superstar to all-timer in 12-month tour de force taken in Nashville, Tenn. (Stanley Cup)

Sidney Crosby raises the Cup in Nashville. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- When it was over, and Sidney Crosby had finally completed his 12-month mastery of the hockey world, he skated toward Mario Lemieux on the Bridgestone Arena ice and grinned.

A smiling Lemieux nodded knowingly back in Crosby's direction. After all, it's not every day that someone joins that club.

"He's the best," Lemieux said.

And now, it can objectively be stated: He's one of the best ever.



Crosby has played his final game in his 20s, as age 30 will arrive on the seventh of August, so the unofficial first half of his career ended with an unprecedented flourish over a 364-day span that might be unrivaled in NHL history:

• He led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup on June 12, 2016, in San Jose while being named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP.

• In September, following the briefest of summers, Crosby utterly transcended the World Cup of Hockey, being named MVP of the tournament after leading Canada to an undefeated championship.

• On June 11, 2017, Crosby again led the Penguins to a Stanley Cup championship and again was named Conn Smythe winner, this time by a landslide vote.

Through it all, Crosby was leveled with two concussions, stalked by a precocious group of young stars around the NHL, and was constantly under attack in a league that showed less concern for his health than at any point during his dozen seasons. Yet, he persevered and elevated his game to a remarkable high.

It was the kind of dominance that produced the undeniable conversation of Crosby and his place in hockey history.

"Oh, I don't want to talk about that stuff," Crosby said, shaking his head a few days after the championship was complete.

He never does. That's part of his legacy, too, the humble nature that never changes.

Those around him, including one guy who's been around the NHL for five decades, chimed in.

“I haven’t seen anyone like him,” Jim Rutherford said. “He’s now in the conversation with the top three or four players of all-time. He’s in the group. I’m not surprised he’s there. But he’s a young guy. People don’t usually talk about them when they’re that young, but he’s in the group with the all-time greatest.”

Lemieux. Wayne Gretzky. Bobby Orr. Crosby.

That's the list Rutherford was referring to. The numbers and eye-test back it all up.

• Despite a rash of injuries through his prime years, Crosby is sixth all time in points per game at 1.313, this in one of the sport's lowest-scoring eras.

• Crosby has won three Stanley Cups, more than Lemieux or Orr and one behind Gretzky.

• Crosby has played in the Olympics twice, and has led Canada to gold each time, in Vancouver and Sochi, Russia, He was the overtime hero in the former. He also led Canada to the World Cup last September and the World Championship in 2015.

• He's almost universally been regarded as the greatest player in the world for a decade now. Even Gretzky, because of Lemieux's emergence in the late 1980s, and Lemieux, because of his early retirement in 1997, struggled to dominate the game for that lengthy of a stretch.

Crosby's curious slump from a couple of years ago unquestionably ended when Mike Sullivan took over as Penguins' coach on Dec. 12, 2015. The two had a conversation that day. Whatever Sullivan said clearly worked.

What Sullivan now says about his captain is echoed around the hockey world.

“I would have to believe that what Sid has been able to accomplish in his career to this point would put him in the company of the all-time greats,” Sullivan said. “You know, he’s arguably the best player of his generation, and he’s a guy that just knows how to win. And so he’s done it in all different venues, whether it be the NHL and Stanley Cups, to the World Cup. to the Olympics. And he’s a player that — and I believe this — what separates him from others is his work ethic and his willingness to do what it takes to be the very best.”

What Crosby has done since the Christmas break in 2015 is simply stunning. Including the World Cup, he has scored 91 goals and registered 207 points in 176 games:

• In 48 regular-season games to conclude the 2015-16 season, he had 30 goals and 63 points in 48 games.

• In the 2016 playoffs, he had six goals and 19 points in 24 games and was the playoff MVP.

• He led the World Cup in scoring with three goals and nine points in five games, as well as a plus-8 rating, against the world's best competition.

• He racked up a league-leading 44 goals and 89 points during the NHL's 2016-17 regular season, finishing 11 points behind the Oilers' Connor McDavid in the scoring race. Crosby missed six games with a concussion and also didn't play in the last, meaningless regular-season game.

• Crosby played likely the best two-way hockey of his career during the 2017 postseason, overcoming a concussion to finish with eight goals and 27 points in 24 games, earning yet another Conn Smythe.

“Not too bad,” Ian Cole said. “I don’t know what else anyone can say about him. He’s the best hockey player in the world, and he keeps going out there and proving it every single game. He’s just incredible in every way right now.”

As always, Crosby's intangibles receive as much praise as his otherworldly talent. While he isn't gifted like Lemieux -- no one ever has been -- Crosby does possess rare physical attributes. He's probably the greatest grinder of all-time, his lower-body strength as dominant as ever. He may showcase the best backhand shot of all time. He's among the greatest playmakers. Even though it's rarely discussed, he's still among the fastest players, too.

Whether it's scoring one-handed backhand goals in Buffalo ...



... or setting up Chris Kunitz's double-OT winner against the Senators ...



... or putting on a three-assist show for the ages in Game 5 against the Predators ...



... Crosby's physical skills have never looked better.

And yet, still, those intangibles seem to transcend everything else.

“His work ethic, in my experience of being around the game for as long as I have, either as a player or as a coach, I don’t know that I’ve been around a hockey player that has the work ethic that Sid has,” Sullivan continued. “So, he has a willingness to go the extra mile, to control what he can, to be the very best, and he cares so much for this team and this organization and helping us win. And so, that being said, I have to believe that it would be hard not to have him in that conversation of the all-time greats.”

Rutherford is grateful that he accepted the job as Penguins general manager three years ago for many reasons. First and foremost, though, he knew the Penguins could win championships because they had Crosby.

The two embraced after the Cup was won.

“You know, I congratulated him,” Rutherford said. “I said more than that. I’ll have a lot more to say about him. God … you can’t say enough about him. I’m just glad I’m part of this organization, because that means I get to watch him play all the time. He’s special.”

Crosby finally had time to soak it all in, long after the Cup was raised in Nashville. He's played an enormous amount of hockey with his 30th birthday only about seven weeks away.

The man from Cole Harbour doesn't plan on taking it easy, though. He despises talking about his legacy, but don't think for a minute that his legacy isn't on his mind.

Lemieux never won three in a row. Neither did Gretzky or Orr. Neither did Steve Yzerman, Crosby's boyhood hero.

Crosby isn't about to rest now.

"Well, maybe for a couple of weeks," he told me with a smile. "But I find it's not so good if you take too much time off. So I actually think it's best just to keep working."

And why not?

Crosby just emerged from the most hectic, whirlwind 12 months of his life. He won a Cup in California, another in Tennessee, he defended his homeland as only he can in between. Then there were two concussions and a number of gruesome attacks from the Senators, which even prompted a furious Orr to phone Gary Bettman on Crosby's behalf.

Nothing, not a Matt Niskanen cross-check to the head nor any number of cheap shots, could stop Crosby on his quest for greatness.

It's a quest with no end in sight.

"We don't want to be done yet," he said. "I can tell you that much. Soon, it's back to work."

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY

Sidney Crosby's Conn Smythe Trophy run, 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs. – MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

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