Crosby ‘not getting credit he deserves right now,’ Marchand says

BOSTON -- Brad Marchand says the headlines about the 2024 NHL All-Star Game will be about the young players dominating the leaderboards across the League, about Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid and Connor Bedard, the faces of the current and future NHL.

But the Boston Bruins forward doesn’t want anyone to sleep on Sidney Crosby.

Crosby, who was named to his 10th All-Star Game on Thursday (he has only played in five due to injury), scored the go-ahead goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins and had two assists in a 6-5 win against the Bruins at TD Garden on Thursday. Crosby has 41 points (22 goals, 19 assists) in 38 games this season and the 36-year-old has worked his way up to No. 12 on the all-time points list with 1,543.

Matthews, 26, the Toronto Maple Leafs center, leads the NHL with 30 goals, while McDavid, 26, of the Edmonton Oilers, is tied for fifth in the NHL with 54 points this season. Bedard, 18, of the Chicago Blackhawks, leads all rookies in goals (15), assists (18) and points (33).

“I think he’s still obviously one of the best in the world, but he’s not really getting the credit he deserves right now,” Marchand said. “A lot of the attention is on the younger guys, but if you look at the details of the game, and full 200 feet, he’s by far the best player in the League, him and (Colorado Avalanche forward) Nathan MacKinnon.”

He added, “Two good Nova Scotia boys.”

Marchand has long admired Crosby’s game, playing on a line with him and his then-Bruins teammate Patrice Bergeron at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

“It’s all in the way that he prepares and the way he has for years,” the 35-year-old said. “I think what a lot of players don’t understand, especially young players, is that the work that you put in when you’re younger and early in your career and even throughout your career, it doesn’t benefit you for the next season, it’s a continuation of building it for down the road.

“That’s something that he’s done so well for such a long time is the way he trains and takes care of himself and is always trying to get better, his competitiveness on and off the ice, it’s unmatched.”

Marchand and Crosby traded goals in the third period Thursday, with Marchand scoring the game-tying goal, shorthanded, at 3:08 of the period and Crosby doing him one better at 11:19.

Which, Marchand admitted, would give Crosby bragging rights. Not that he takes them that often.

But Marchand doesn’t want Crosby -- with whom he trains in the summer in Nova Scotia -- left out of the conversation. He doesn’t want him forgotten. He knows Crosby’s history and that he remains an unbelievable player.

“He’s not as flashy as some of the higher-end guys,” Marchand said. “He’s direct. He plays safe but he plays hard and direct. He plays a winning game. I think he’s learned how to play the right way that you need to play in playoffs to have success. He plays that the entire season. He’s not trying to beat somebody one-on-one every time he gets the puck. He tries to find open space and find the open man, he moves it quick.”

Crosby has played 19 seasons in the NHL, ever since he was the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NHL Draft and has won the Stanley Cup three times with the Penguins. Bedard, who was the youngest-ever player named to the All-Star team, was taken No. 1 in the 2023 NHL Draft. He will be 18 years and 201 days old when the All-Star Game is played at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Feb. 3. However, Bedard is out indefinitely with a fractured jaw, sustained Friday against the New Jersey Devils.

“That’s the way that the game is going,” Marchand said. “The young guys are getting the attention now. There’s a lot of flashy young guys coming to the League but if you look at the attention that Bedard’s getting compared to Sid, they’re not on the same level right now. Bedard’s a [heck] of a player for his age, but Sid’s one of the best to ever play the game, one of the top couple players in the League now and Bedard probably gets more attention than anybody.

“They’re trying to grow the game. They use the young names to do that. That’s great for the game of hockey, but you sleep on a guy like [Crosby], he uses that too. He feeds off of that. He’s got that drive, he wants to prove people wrong. We’ve seen it.”