Crosby Proud of Malkin

Awww... isn't young love special?

From SHELLY ANDERSON of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

PITTSBURGH -- Having turned 19 this month, Sidney Crosby is too young to remember the days of hockey stars defecting from Eastern Bloc countries to play in the National Hockey League. But he has heard the stories.

The Pittsburgh Penguins' star got a sense of the old days by tracking the events surrounding soon-to-be teammate Evgeni Malkin, the Russian whose trip from Magnitogorsk this summer has been immersed in tension and foreign intrigue.

For Crosby, it provided not only a history lesson, but also some insight into Malkin.

"I can't imagine [going through that], but I know that for anyone who has a dream of playing in the NHL and a passion to play, this is the league you want to be in. For him, that's the way it is," Crosby said this week. "I think when you get that opportunity, you're willing to do whatever it takes and take those risks to get here. It shows that he wants to be here. He went through a lot of adversity to get here, so when he does come, I think he's going to want it bad and want to play well and expect a lot of himself.

"That's only going to make everyone around him better."

Translation: "I'll be glad to have someone around here who doesn't suck so much and can help me score another 40 points a season"