Sidney Crosby: By the Numbers

Before the season, certain naysayers and unbelievers were claiming that Sidney Crosby had already peaked, would face a sophomore slump, and lose the scoring race and MVP award to Alexander Ovechkin.

Well, woe to those who doubt the greatness of Sidney Crosby. While he sits tied for 4h in the NHL in scoring with 28th points (with at least 4 games in hand), Ovechkin sits down in 16th place with the riff-raff.

Let's break down the numbers.

Ice Time:
2006: 20:08
2007: 20:55

Points Per Game
2006: 1.26
2007: 1.55

Shots Per Game:
2006: 3.43
2007: 2.55

PIM Per Game
2006: 1.35
2007: 1.33

Face-Off %
2006: 45.49%
2007: 50.42%

Production (Minutes between points)
2006: 15:58
2007: 13:26

So, Sidney has really worked hard and improved on his weak face-off percentage of last year and has achieved a nice break-even ability. The only downside I see is that he still takes too many minor penalties and his shots-on-goal numbers are down. Other than that, Sidney just keeps on improving.

(cross-posted)