Sidney Crosby spent the early part of his summer in Europe, playing the part of tourist in Spain, Austria and Germany and even making a cameo at Wimbledon in London.
Suffice to say, Crosby would’ve rather been somewhere else — still playing hockey — and was plenty happy Wednesday to skate with more than a dozen teammates for an informal workout at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
“I enjoyed [the European vacation],” Crosby said. “But I was excited to get back, get ready and start training again.”
That’s not the only thing Crosby seems ready to do. After two consecutive years hoisting the Stanley Cup, Crosby has a bit of a foul taste in his mouth and wants to make another run. With the team around him, that shouldn’t be a problem.
“There’s always things that motivate different guys,” Crosby said. “For us, it’s easy to find that motivation after having lost the year before.”
Many of Crosby’s teammates spoke of the benefits of a longer summer — getting healthy plus more time to train — but Crosby said it was “pretty standard as far as getting ready.”
Basically nothing new, nothing Crosby aimed to change for this season after producing 29 goals and 89 points in 82 games — the first time in his career he’s played every single game. Probably a smart move by Crosby to stick to the status quo.
But that’s the physical side. With Crosby, it’s easy to say that stuff is standard because he’s fairly consistent — he simply doesn’t leave the ice. A week is a long time for him. He was on the ice here in June. Even on his jaunt through Europe, Crosby name-checked the site of a Swiss hockey tournament — Davos for the Spengler Cup — as one of his favorite things.
But Europe, apparently — and this is a good thing — allowed Crosby the rare chance to get away from everything for a period of time. Or at least for as long as he’s capable.
“I was basically just sightseeing,” Crosby said. “Got to do some pretty cool stuff and get away a little bit. It was the first time in a couple summers that I was able to go on a vacation. It was nice to get away and see a different part of the world and unwind.”
While Crosby was touring Europe, Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was leading his team to the Stanley Cup, which was both the franchise’s and Ovechkin’s first.
Crosby didn’t really watch much of the final but said he noticed a change in the Penguins’ biggest rival after losing to Washington in the second round.
“They seemed to get another gear; getting over that hump past the second round was some weight off their shoulders,” Crosby said. “They continued to elevate their game and played really well. Obviously they deserved it.”
One of the things that resonated most with Crosby in Europe was hitting balls with Maria Sharapova and John Isner at Wimbledon. Crosby joked that “they definitely didn’t mistake me for a tennis player,” but the truth is that he’s no slouch, either.
Throughout his non-hockey athletic career, Crosby has fired a strike at PNC Park, hit a home run there as well and seemingly held his own on the tennis court.
“It was fun to be around that,” Crosby said. “You don’t have to be a huge tennis fan to appreciate the tradition of that place. To be able to spend the time I did with the people there and things like that, it was definitely appreciated.”
A little tour of #Wimbledon with Sidney Crosby 🎾🏒 pic.twitter.com/l5vYazaTFl
— Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) June 25, 2018
It should be appreciated by Penguins fans, too, for a couple reasons.
First and foremost, as Crosby and others said, exiting the playoffs did allow for any lingering injuries to heal. Even if Crosby didn’t tweak his training, his body was finally able to regroup.
Furthermore, there’s the sting of not winning, something neither Crosby nor any of his teammates has experienced for quite some time. Think Crosby’s not eager to do it again?
“It’s good to get a full summer in and train,” Crosby said. “I think probably more mentally than anything, it’s coming in fresh, knowing that you lost the year before and wanting to prove something.”
Crosby was pleased the Penguins added defenseman Jack Johnson and center Matt Cullen this summer — and really there was no doubt there. Johnson is a friend of his. Cullen is universally respected.
In assessing the moves, Crosby reiterated what is said often about the Penguins: They’re willing to do whatever possible to win.
“Guys are excited to be here and bring energy,” Crosby said. “That combined with youth helps a lot.”
Last summer was one of the toughest of Crosby’s career, having to watch so many friends and teammates leave, and he admitted as much during training camp.
This year has been different, Crosby said. It’s been a welcome change to keep mostly the same group together.
“We had a lot of turnover last year,” Crosby said. “To see a lot of similar faces is nice. It’s hard to do these days. It’s hard to keep teams together. The more you can do that, the better it is.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: September 5, 2018, 5:31 p.m.
