Gordie Howe was 80 years old and in Detroit for a banquet honoring the Red Wings teams he won four Stanley Cups with in the 1950s. Sidney Crosby was 20, in his third NHL season, and about to play Howe’s old club in the Stanley Cup Final.
The two had sat down together at some point before that, and what stayed with Howe wasn’t anything the kid had done on the ice.
“I sat down and talked to him for a little while and I was impressed because he could stare a hole through you,” Howe said. “There’s not a word goes by he doesn’t connect with.”
Then came the parting request, which was the whole of his advice.
“When he was leaving, I said, ‘Do me one favor and don’t change anything. Just be the kid you are, the player you are,'” Howe said.
He had a warning for everybody else, too.
“I met him and I’ve seen him play. Unless you put two guys on him, he’ll kill you in a game,” Howe said. “Don’t worry about him. He’s going to be successful in the long run. Everywhere you look you see Crosby’s picture, and it’s earned.”
What Sidney Crosby has won since:
| Trophy | Total |
|---|---|
| Stanley Cups | 3 |
| Conn Smythe Trophies | 2 |
| Art Ross Trophies | 2 |
How many Stanley Cups has Sidney Crosby won?
Detroit beat Pittsburgh in six games that spring, and Crosby went away and came back for them. He captained the Penguins to the Final again the following year, against the same opponent, and won it. Two more followed in 2016 and 2017, with the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP both times.
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Howe’s advice looks better with every year that passes. Crosby is now 38, still in Pittsburgh, and sits seventh in NHL history in points having never played anywhere else, which is exactly the outcome a man who spent 25 seasons in Detroit and Houston would have recognized as the point.
Howe died in 2016 at the age of 88, two months before Crosby lifted his second Cup.
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