The search for someone to play with Sidney Crosby was not short.
Perhaps the Penguins were simply fishing in the wrong part of the lake.
Since moving past players such as Marian Hossa or Zach Parise, only one of whom the Penguins actually landed, the age of Crosby’s wingers has skewed much younger, with Conor Sheary, Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Daniel Sprong and Dominik Simon between 20-25 years old.
We’ve seen it over and over pretty much since Mike Sullivan became the Penguins’ coach in December 2015. Sullivan has never been shy about trying Crosby with some of the youngest players on his roster, and the results have been really good.