Ahead of Sidney Crosby's rookie debut in 2005, he felt the weight of the NHL on his shoulders. The league was coming off a yearlong lockout. The team that drafted him No. 1, the Pittsburgh Penguins, was in such peril that it was exploring relocation. The hype surrounding the 18-year-old Crosby was insane; he was already a hockey icon before stepping on NHL ice.
Crosby returned home from his first NHL morning skate and did something he rarely does: He botched his pregame nap.
"I didn't sleep at all," Crosby said in an interview last month at the NHL media tour in Las Vegas.