Mark Madden: Penguins' Sidney Crosby making deserved case for 3rd Hart Trophy

Sidney Crosby doesn’t split the defense as often as he used to.

If you’re looking for things the Pittsburgh Penguins captain doesn’t do at 35, that’s it. Everything else is business as usual. Crosby has maintained his skills and style at the same level he has kept up his conditioning.

So, perhaps, if Crosby’s statistics keep adding up, the NHL’s writers can right past wrongs by voting Crosby the Hart Trophy winner as league MVP. Kind of a lifetime achievement thing.

Crosby is seventh in NHL scoring with 12 goals and 19 assists. That’s 31 points in 23 games. He trails leader Connor McDavid of Edmonton by eight points.

Crosby’s stats are kept down by the Penguins’ power play. It ranks a pathetic fifth from bottom in the NHL at a 16.2% conversion rate, and it looks even worse.

Coach Mike Sullivan could fix that by using Crosby at the right half-wall instead of down low. Crosby would reorganize, get more touches and make more plays.

He’d also get more points. Not playing the right half-wall costs Crosby eight to 10 points per year. Evgeni Malkin plays there to facilitate his one-timer, which he rarely takes.

Crosby leads the NHL with 26 even-strength points. That seems valuable.

It’s early days for MVP talk. But given how Crosby has been hosed in the past, it’s best to get the ball rolling.

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In 2009-10, Crosby had 51 goals and 109 points. Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin got MVP. He had three more points than Crosby but 22 fewer goals.

The 2012-13 season was shortened by a lockout. Crosby missed 12 games with injury, but had 56 points in 36 games. Washington’s Alex Ovechkin got MVP. He played 12 more games and also got 56 points.

Crosby would have gotten MVP in 2010-11 had he not been concussed, then had a series of complications. He had 66 points in 41 games.

Crosby has won the Hart Trophy just twice, in 2006-07 and 2013-14. Comparative ham-and-eggers like Sedin, Corey Perry and Taylor Hall have won MVPs in Crosby’s era.

Crosby gets short shrift despite his career accomplishments, status as one of hockey’s top five players ever and being one of the NHL’s very rare drawing cards.

Not one person ever bought a ticket or turned on a TV specifically to see Sedin, Perry or Hall play.

If Crosby’s numbers aren’t enough evidence, watch him play. At 35, he’s still absolutely electric.

Crosby has scored the first goal of the game a league-high five times this season, including Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime loss to visiting Carolina. He has netted the first goal of the game 101 times in his career. Crosby almost never comes out flat.

Watch video of Crosby as a rookie, then video of him now. He plays the same. If he has lost an eighth of a step because of age, he has gained at least that much because of guile. He still combines creativity with system, coloring outside the lines at exactly the right times.

Crosby has been the NHL’s cumulative MVP over his 18-year career.

So how the heck has he only won the Hart Trophy twice?

Possibly because the voters are idiots and/or nurse certain prejudices.

Witness Wayne Gretzky getting MVP in 1988-89 despite having 31 fewer points — all goals — than Mario Lemieux.

That taught Lemieux to judge himself by Stanley Cups and scoring titles because nobody votes on those.

Full disclosure: I bet $200 on Crosby to win MVP this year. The payout would be $7,200. Crosby should take such long odds as a personal insult.