Mark Madden's Hot Take: Sidney Crosby is performing at MVP level, yet still underappreciated

Sidney Crosby sits 25th among NHL scorers with 31 points in 28 games. He’s fourth in goals with 17. Imagine what his statistics might be if the Pittsburgh Penguins’ power play didn’t stink most games.

He’s carrying a subpar Penguins team on his back, albeit not to great heights thus far. He won Wednesday’s game in Montreal almost single-handed: two goals, one assist, a shootout goal and a gutsy display of sheer will as the Penguins rallied from trailing 3-1.

Crosby leads the NHL in faceoff wins at 59.9%.

He’s playing responsible 200-foot hockey, like always, and living up to his tag as “the world’s best grinder.” (Crosby hates that description.) He’s probably the best grinder ever. (He won’t like that, either.)

Crosby is performing at an MVP level. Emphasis on the world “valuable.”

But nobody outside Pittsburgh is saying that or will say that. Crosby just won’t win the Hart Trophy (given annually to the NHL’s MVP) or come close in the voting.

Crosby has won just two MVPs despite being one of hockey’s five best players ever, the best of his generation and a three-time Stanley Cup champion.

Maybe it’s a Pittsburgh thing: Mario Lemieux won just three MVPs despite being perhaps hockey’s top performer of all time.

It reached a criminal level in 1988-89 when Lemieux had career highs in goals (85) and points (199). He had 31 more points than Wayne Gretzky, all of them goals. But Gretzky got his ninth and last Hart Trophy as a lifetime achievement award and to celebrate his first year in Los Angeles. (None of that is in the award’s criteria.)

As Lemieux famously said on my radio program, “I learned to judge myself by Stanley Cups and scoring titles because nobody votes on those.”

Perhaps Crosby does the same thing, with the vast majority of emphasis placed on the former. (I have never met an athlete so honestly unconcerned with stats or individual accolades. So, I like to get mad enough for the both of us.)

Crosby’s two MVPs give him one more than Taylor Hall and Corey Perry, who should get nowhere near the Hockey Hall of Fame. (Perry might, unless the Hall has a human resources department.)

Crosby has finished second in the voting four times. He should have won in 2012-13, when he had the same number of points as winner Alexander Ovechkin but played 12 fewer games. He could have won in 2009-10 when he had three less points than winner Henrik Sedin but 22 more goals.

If Crosby hadn’t had his campaign shortened by concussion in 2010-11, he’d have been MVP for sure: 32 goals and 34 assists in 41 games. He was headed for a career season.

It feels like Crosby isn’t appreciated enough by the NHL, or hockey’s media, or outside Pittsburgh, or even in Canada when he’s not winning them gold medals.

But playing well will be Crosby’s best revenge: As Pittsburgh hockey writer Josh Yohe noted, Crosby shapes up as being hockey’s Tom Brady, playing and producing into his 40s, probably long enough and well enough to reach second in career points. (Jaromir Jagr of this parish holds that spot with 1,921. Crosby currently sits 14th at 1,533.)

Crosby is 36, but I’m not at all surprised by how he’s playing. He’s been preparing to play into his 40s since he was 12. (Same goes for Kris Letang.)

Tack this onto his MVP credentials: Crosby is averaging more than a point per game for a 19th straight season, which would tie Gretzky’s NHL mark. (Gretzky fell short in his 20th season.) Maybe a lifetime achievement rub is due Crosby.