At 38 years old, Sidney Crosby has seen it all. Three Stanley Cups. Two Olympic gold medals. Twenty years as the face of the NHL. But watching him with Macklin Celebrini at the World Championships, you see something special happening - the passing of a torch from one generation to the next.
And Sid sees himself in the kid.
"Definitely there are similarities," Crosby said when asked about comparisons between himself and Celebrini. "I can see why people would say that."
That's about as high praise as you can get, folks. Sidney Crosby doesn't hand out compliments lightly. When he sees himself in a 19-year-old, you better believe that kid is special.
According to The Athletic, what Crosby admires most about Celebrini is his competitiveness. "More than anything, I love how competitive he is," Crosby said. "That's what I see when I pay attention to him. He wants to get better every day, and he wants his team to get better every day. He has a passion for those things. To me, that's leadership."
That's the Crosby mentality right there. It's not about the highlight reel goals or the individual accolades. It's about the daily grind. The obsession with improvement. The refusal to accept anything less than excellence.
For Celebrini, getting to know has been surreal. he said when asked if it's been like a dream.