Just what hockey needs
OTTAWA – Welcome to the NHL, Sidney Crosby.
As expected, the Pittsburgh Penguins took the teenage phenom from Canada with the No. 1 pick on Saturday.
“This is amazing,” Crosby said. “I’m just really relieved. It’s unbelievable. I’m so happy right now.”
The arrival of the young superstar, who’s already been compared to Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, is just what the NHL needed after the lockout that erased the 2004-05 season. For Crosby, the waiting is finally over.
Crosby, who turns 18 next week, is a 5-foot-11, 193-pound forward with surprising strength and masterful vision on the ice. A prolific scorer, Crosby won nearly every trophy the last two seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
He had 66 goals and 102 assists in 62 games, after a rookie campaign that featured 54 goals and 81 assists in 59 games, and was the Canadian major junior player of the year both seasons.
“He creates a lot of excitement,” said Lemieux, Crosby’s boss and possible linemate with the Penguins. “He has all the tools to be a great player. He sees the ice well, he’s a great skater. He says he needs to work on his shot, but it looks pretty good to me.”
Crosby will share the spotlight in Pittsburgh with Lemieux, the No. 1 pick in 1984, and will be looked upon to rescue the franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2001 and desperately needs a new arena in which to play.
Pittsburgh’s luck is already changing as the Penguins won last week’s draft lottery that determined the picking order of the first round.
“I’m not really thinking about it right now,” Crosby said of the expectations. “I want to come and play in the NHL next year. That’s my goal, that’s my focus right now. I’m going to put everything into that and try to move on from there.”
The Anaheim Mighty Ducks picked Bobby Ryan with the No. 2 pick. The rugged forward from Cherry Hill, N.J., had 37 goals and 52 assists for 89 points in 62 OHL games last season.
The Carolina Hurricanes drafted third and took Jack Johnson, a defenseman in the U.S. national program. Scouts have compared him to a young Scott Stevens. Johnson, who played prep school hockey in Minnesota with Crosby, plans to enroll at Michigan.
Ryan and Johnson are the first American duo to go in the top three picks since 1983, when Brian Lawton went No. 1 to the Minnesota North Stars and Pat LaFontaine was taken third by the New York Islanders.
There were eight U.S.-born players chosen in the first round, topping the American record of seven set in 1986 and matched in 2003.
The Minnesota Wild chose fourth and selected left winger Benoit Pouliot. The 6-3 Pouliot had 67 points – including 29 goals – in the OHL last season.
With the fifth pick, the Montreal Canadiens took goalie Carey Price, and the Columbus Blue Jackets followed by choosing center Gilbert Brule.
The Chicago Blackhawks took forward Jack Skille with the seventh pick. Skille, of Faribault, Minn., was a teammate of Johnson’s on the U.S. squad.
Atlanta swapped the No. 8 spot with San Jose, getting the 12th, 49th and 207th picks from the Sharks. San Jose used the pick on right winger Devin Setoguchi.
Minnesota high school defenseman Brian Lee was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the ninth spot, and the Vancouver Canucks took defenseman Luc Bourdon to round out the top 10.
The Los Angeles Kings used the 11th pick to grab Slovenian center Anze Kopitar, the first European selected. It was the first time since 1987 that the top 10 didn’t feature a player from Europe.