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Most Valuable: How Sidney Crosby Became the Best Player in Hockey's Greatest Era and Changed the Game Forever
#1 National Bestseller
This hockey generation's brightest talent has been plagued by concussions. Now, the very style of play that has brought Crosby such success may be heralding the end of his career.
Sidney Crosby is arguably the best player ever to put on skates. You could argue that Bobby was better, or Wayne, or Gordie. But it would be hard to argue that any of those guys changed the game as much as Sid. No defenceman came along in Bobby's wake to play like him. There will never be another 99. But in Crosby's case, the entire league was re-made in his image.
The game can be divided into two before and after Sidney Crosby arrived in 2005, breaking Mario Lemieux's rookie scoring record. Says NHL star Matt Duchene, who entered the league in 2008, just three years after "Just in the time that I was going from peewee and bantam to junior, there was a whole other game before and after. You didn't have a choice really--you had to adapt and adopt the way he did things or get left way behind."
In an effort to keep up with Sid, the game changed. It's faster now, more skilled. There are more highlight-reel goals, and fewer fights. And in many ways, Crosby has thrived. Three Stanley Cups. Two Olympic gold medals. A World Cup. And enough individual trophies to fill a truck.
But then, if Crosby hadn't changed the league, he might expect a longer career. Today, Sidney Crosby is the first generational superstar whose every shift could be his last. He invented a faster game, and the faster game has taken its toll on its creator. Crosby has suffered several concussions, and missed most of an entire season with symptoms. He plays the game fearlessly, but he also plays it without a bodyguard.
The irony is that he created a league that made it harder for him to thrive. And the tragedy may be that he has created a league that will bring his career to an end in one fell swoop, in front of millions.
Telling the story of a generational talent and the way he has revolutionized the game, Gare Joyce will also bring into focus crucial questions about the way the game is played today, assessing fighting and concussions in the light of the way these issues impinge on arguably the greatest player ever to skate.
This hockey generation's brightest talent has been plagued by concussions. Now, the very style of play that has brought Crosby such success may be heralding the end of his career.
Sidney Crosby is arguably the best player ever to put on skates. You could argue that Bobby was better, or Wayne, or Gordie. But it would be hard to argue that any of those guys changed the game as much as Sid. No defenceman came along in Bobby's wake to play like him. There will never be another 99. But in Crosby's case, the entire league was re-made in his image.
The game can be divided into two before and after Sidney Crosby arrived in 2005, breaking Mario Lemieux's rookie scoring record. Says NHL star Matt Duchene, who entered the league in 2008, just three years after "Just in the time that I was going from peewee and bantam to junior, there was a whole other game before and after. You didn't have a choice really--you had to adapt and adopt the way he did things or get left way behind."
In an effort to keep up with Sid, the game changed. It's faster now, more skilled. There are more highlight-reel goals, and fewer fights. And in many ways, Crosby has thrived. Three Stanley Cups. Two Olympic gold medals. A World Cup. And enough individual trophies to fill a truck.
But then, if Crosby hadn't changed the league, he might expect a longer career. Today, Sidney Crosby is the first generational superstar whose every shift could be his last. He invented a faster game, and the faster game has taken its toll on its creator. Crosby has suffered several concussions, and missed most of an entire season with symptoms. He plays the game fearlessly, but he also plays it without a bodyguard.
The irony is that he created a league that made it harder for him to thrive. And the tragedy may be that he has created a league that will bring his career to an end in one fell swoop, in front of millions.
Telling the story of a generational talent and the way he has revolutionized the game, Gare Joyce will also bring into focus crucial questions about the way the game is played today, assessing fighting and concussions in the light of the way these issues impinge on arguably the greatest player ever to skate.
352 pages, Hardcover
Published October 29, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 30, 2019
Sidney Crosby has been the face of the National Hockey League (NHL) since his rookie season of 2005. While he may not have the statistical excellence of Wayne Gretzky or changed the play of a positing like Bobby Orr did for defensemen, but sports journalist Gare Joyce, who earlier had penned a biography of Crosby, makes the case that Crosby has transformed the entire league into a league that he may not have been able to succeed in.
If this sounds confusing, then one must read this book as Joyce covers all levels of hockey in which Crosby has excelled – pee wee hockey and the Canadian Junior league as well as his time at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Minnesota and of course his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the only NHL team for which he has played. As an American reader, I was appreciative of the description of Crosby’s time in juniors as it is very detailed about not only Crosby nearly single-handedly leading a less talented team to a championship but also the structure and the cut-throat nature of junior hockey.
Something else that was noted throughout the book is that Crosby is one of the very few players who have had successful hockey careers learning the game in a Maritime province – in Crosby’s case, he hails from Nova Scotia. While it is well known that the Maritimes have not produced many hockey stars, it was interesting to learn that many consider coming from that area a handicap in one’s hockey career.
Joyce gives Crosby a lot of credit for leading the NHL away from the defensive style of hockey it played in the 1990’s and early 2000’s thanks to the success of the New Jersey Devils with their infamous neutral zone trap and into a game that emphasizes speed, puck handling and skill. The transformation into this type of game has been so successful that players like Connor McDavid and Nathan McKinnon, the latter whose skills are described in great detail in the book. If there is a downside to reading the book, it would be that while Joyce writes about the hits that Crosby took in which he suffered debilitating concussions resulting in the loss of significant playing time, Joyce doesn’t write much about a possible solution or at least how the issues of concussions will be addressed.
Readers who are fans of Crosby or of today’s style of hockey played in the NHL will want to read this book. Even if they are Crosby critics, and Joyce acknowledges them and doesn’t dismiss all of the criticisms, this book is one to read to learn why Crosby has to be considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game.
I wish to thank Viking Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
If this sounds confusing, then one must read this book as Joyce covers all levels of hockey in which Crosby has excelled – pee wee hockey and the Canadian Junior league as well as his time at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Minnesota and of course his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the only NHL team for which he has played. As an American reader, I was appreciative of the description of Crosby’s time in juniors as it is very detailed about not only Crosby nearly single-handedly leading a less talented team to a championship but also the structure and the cut-throat nature of junior hockey.
Something else that was noted throughout the book is that Crosby is one of the very few players who have had successful hockey careers learning the game in a Maritime province – in Crosby’s case, he hails from Nova Scotia. While it is well known that the Maritimes have not produced many hockey stars, it was interesting to learn that many consider coming from that area a handicap in one’s hockey career.
Joyce gives Crosby a lot of credit for leading the NHL away from the defensive style of hockey it played in the 1990’s and early 2000’s thanks to the success of the New Jersey Devils with their infamous neutral zone trap and into a game that emphasizes speed, puck handling and skill. The transformation into this type of game has been so successful that players like Connor McDavid and Nathan McKinnon, the latter whose skills are described in great detail in the book. If there is a downside to reading the book, it would be that while Joyce writes about the hits that Crosby took in which he suffered debilitating concussions resulting in the loss of significant playing time, Joyce doesn’t write much about a possible solution or at least how the issues of concussions will be addressed.
Readers who are fans of Crosby or of today’s style of hockey played in the NHL will want to read this book. Even if they are Crosby critics, and Joyce acknowledges them and doesn’t dismiss all of the criticisms, this book is one to read to learn why Crosby has to be considered one of the greatest players in the history of the game.
I wish to thank Viking Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
June 14, 2019
Most Valuable is not my usual taste in books. However, I needed a break from the suspicious spouses and families in peril that populate the fiction I generally enjoy. Besides, I’m a huge fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ star center Sidney Crosby. I have been since 2005, his rookie year. I was very interested in reading what Gare Joyce, a longtime sports journalist, had to say.
Joyce did not set out to write a tell-all or sensationalistic account. Instead, he seeks to contextualize Crosby’s place in hockey history. Crosby has been described as the “face of the NHL” from the beginning of his career. It’s an attractive and usually soft-spoken face. Joyce had followed Crosby’s career from the time he was an attention-getting teenage player in Nova Scotia, a Canadian province that was not known for regularly turning out NHL stars.
The first half of the book is intriguing. Then again, Joyce had already written a book about Crosby when his NHL career first began. Joyce is well-versed in hockey history, and eager to share it. He points out how improvements in technology have made it easier for fans and aspiring young players to follow a team or player. He discusses the hockey history of Crosby’s family, of Nova Scotia, of Shattuck-St. Mary’s (the boarding school where Crosby attended for a year, now known to fans as “Hockey Hogwarts”), and, of course, of the NHL. Joyce didn’t think highly of the style of hockey being played in the 1990s, which emphasized preventing goals over scoring them. Then again, fans didn’t, either. Hockey needed an exciting young star, and Joyce convincingly demonstrates how Crosby filled the void.
Joyce also lovingly documents Crosby’s unusual seriousness and work ethic. He was derided as working too hard and as being a “hockey nerd” by older players. Joyce describes how the league grew to embrace Crosby’s obsessive hard work and attention to detail, as well as his speed. Younger players, Joyce contends, must now all be hockey nerds and gym rats. He especially concentrates on Crosby’s concussion history, particularly the hits in early 2011 that would remove him from the game for over a year. Sidney Crosby has an unique and interesting brain, Joyce constantly reminds the reader, but it is in danger from the game he loves so much.
Most of the stories in here will not be new to fans of Sidney Crosby or the Pittsburgh Penguins. The book suffers in the second half from lack of access to Crosby himself. Joyce interviews many people to talk about him but appears to have not spoken to him very much since his early twenties. He will be turning 32 in August. This means that there is very little insight into the adult man that Crosby has become.
Joyce does not attempt to delve into how the concussions or lengthy recovery time may have affected Crosby, even as he disapprovingly describes some of his petulant behavior and dirty play. He does not discuss the medical effects very much at all, and seemingly assumes that all readers would already understand them. There is very little on his relationships, even with coaches and teammates. (Joyce simply alludes to a few disputes.) While there is no need for gossip or anything prurient, it would have been interesting to learn more about how Crosby and the people around him live and work with his rare, gifted, and obsessive mind on a daily basis. It would also have been intriguing to read whether Crosby intends to continue affecting the game of hockey after he stops playing—for example, as a coach, trainer, or agent.
Last year, Penguins fans (and Penguins team members) laughed when Jake Guentzel, a 22-year-old winger, revealed that as a teen, he wrote a report on a book about Crosby. It could very well have been Joyce’s earlier book. This one will likely be of great interest to young hockey fans and players. The history alone is valuable. Few people love hockey more than Sidney Crosby or Gare Joyce. If nothing else, Joyce makes it abundantly clear that hockey will not love anyone back.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.
Joyce did not set out to write a tell-all or sensationalistic account. Instead, he seeks to contextualize Crosby’s place in hockey history. Crosby has been described as the “face of the NHL” from the beginning of his career. It’s an attractive and usually soft-spoken face. Joyce had followed Crosby’s career from the time he was an attention-getting teenage player in Nova Scotia, a Canadian province that was not known for regularly turning out NHL stars.
The first half of the book is intriguing. Then again, Joyce had already written a book about Crosby when his NHL career first began. Joyce is well-versed in hockey history, and eager to share it. He points out how improvements in technology have made it easier for fans and aspiring young players to follow a team or player. He discusses the hockey history of Crosby’s family, of Nova Scotia, of Shattuck-St. Mary’s (the boarding school where Crosby attended for a year, now known to fans as “Hockey Hogwarts”), and, of course, of the NHL. Joyce didn’t think highly of the style of hockey being played in the 1990s, which emphasized preventing goals over scoring them. Then again, fans didn’t, either. Hockey needed an exciting young star, and Joyce convincingly demonstrates how Crosby filled the void.
Joyce also lovingly documents Crosby’s unusual seriousness and work ethic. He was derided as working too hard and as being a “hockey nerd” by older players. Joyce describes how the league grew to embrace Crosby’s obsessive hard work and attention to detail, as well as his speed. Younger players, Joyce contends, must now all be hockey nerds and gym rats. He especially concentrates on Crosby’s concussion history, particularly the hits in early 2011 that would remove him from the game for over a year. Sidney Crosby has an unique and interesting brain, Joyce constantly reminds the reader, but it is in danger from the game he loves so much.
Most of the stories in here will not be new to fans of Sidney Crosby or the Pittsburgh Penguins. The book suffers in the second half from lack of access to Crosby himself. Joyce interviews many people to talk about him but appears to have not spoken to him very much since his early twenties. He will be turning 32 in August. This means that there is very little insight into the adult man that Crosby has become.
Joyce does not attempt to delve into how the concussions or lengthy recovery time may have affected Crosby, even as he disapprovingly describes some of his petulant behavior and dirty play. He does not discuss the medical effects very much at all, and seemingly assumes that all readers would already understand them. There is very little on his relationships, even with coaches and teammates. (Joyce simply alludes to a few disputes.) While there is no need for gossip or anything prurient, it would have been interesting to learn more about how Crosby and the people around him live and work with his rare, gifted, and obsessive mind on a daily basis. It would also have been intriguing to read whether Crosby intends to continue affecting the game of hockey after he stops playing—for example, as a coach, trainer, or agent.
Last year, Penguins fans (and Penguins team members) laughed when Jake Guentzel, a 22-year-old winger, revealed that as a teen, he wrote a report on a book about Crosby. It could very well have been Joyce’s earlier book. This one will likely be of great interest to young hockey fans and players. The history alone is valuable. Few people love hockey more than Sidney Crosby or Gare Joyce. If nothing else, Joyce makes it abundantly clear that hockey will not love anyone back.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.
October 30, 2021
This was a very easy book for a hockey fan to speed-read. Gare Joyce has such an intelligent knowledge of the game of hockey, that I was mesmerized by his astute analysis of how the game has changed in recent times. So intellectually, I was stimulated to not put it down. As a life-long fan, I loved reliving the big games retold with insider gusto; as a Canadian, I loved the polite pride beaming from the author as well as the other Next (Great) One; and as an aging player, I loved the acknowledgment and sadness that comes with declining balance, endurance, and skills… but wait, is there hope… Sid still strong as he can be at 32? 😂… LOL okay 62 is beyond hope. But seriously and honestly, even before this book, I’d exercise watching Sidney Crosby YouTube workout videos for inspiration. His work ethic might be the strongest in the NHL. If you watch the pregame warmups, that’s already worth the price paid for your ticket, eh. That was a big focus of the book.
Interesting to hear about Subban, Niskannen, Lemieux, Hughes, and others, but I thought it could have had more depth on their stories. The last half seemed to be caught in a neutral zone trap (translation: Not that exciting.) So this book brought to the table inspiration, great memories, education, and hockey history, but not the oomph that actual autobiographies provide. Hockey autobiographies may be stilted with poorly written stories that suddenly end, but those stories exude more realism and authenticity. Good writer though.
Interesting to hear about Subban, Niskannen, Lemieux, Hughes, and others, but I thought it could have had more depth on their stories. The last half seemed to be caught in a neutral zone trap (translation: Not that exciting.) So this book brought to the table inspiration, great memories, education, and hockey history, but not the oomph that actual autobiographies provide. Hockey autobiographies may be stilted with poorly written stories that suddenly end, but those stories exude more realism and authenticity. Good writer though.
February 18, 2022
I’m a huge Sidney Crosby fan. I love the way he plays.
I once heard him described as a player with first line talent and fourth line work ethic. That is exactly what I love about him. He plays in the corners, in the slot and is so strong on the puck. Once he gets the puck, his vision and skill his at an elite level. Over time he has also becomes defensively responsible.
The book reminded me of the era that Crosby arrived into the league…
-coming into the league from a lockout and a 30 team draft lottery
-the league/game was committing to allowing the skilled players play and start to remove the clutch and grab, and thus the slower heavier players in the league
-Crosby started to emerge as the poster boy for this transition
Some new insight I gained
-Crosby grew out of his ability to play at a level to challenge him but was not granted exceptional player status to the Q, so he went to play at SSM
-his role at SSM, albeit one year, started a new wave of competitive prep school hockey programs or improving of existing ones
-reminded me that he went through a phase of having a bad rap of looking for calls (provoking Don Cherry)
-his training and work ethic and the accessibility to his programs almost makes everyone think like they have a shot at the professional level, if they could work equally as hard… it replaced(?) the conventional idea that elite athletes have god given talent. Not sure I agree entirely, but definitely think his training methods are more available to be used by others.
-reading this in 2022, there is an entire generation of NHL players who have idolized him and mimicked his methods (Nathan Mackinnon, Connor McDavid, the Hughes brothers, etc…)
-concussion protocol is so much more of a science now and his absence in the league in his most prime years to ensure he had fully returned to health is such a good thing and role model for future players. In the past hockey players played through it and negatively impacted their personal lives post-hockey career.
I once heard him described as a player with first line talent and fourth line work ethic. That is exactly what I love about him. He plays in the corners, in the slot and is so strong on the puck. Once he gets the puck, his vision and skill his at an elite level. Over time he has also becomes defensively responsible.
The book reminded me of the era that Crosby arrived into the league…
-coming into the league from a lockout and a 30 team draft lottery
-the league/game was committing to allowing the skilled players play and start to remove the clutch and grab, and thus the slower heavier players in the league
-Crosby started to emerge as the poster boy for this transition
Some new insight I gained
-Crosby grew out of his ability to play at a level to challenge him but was not granted exceptional player status to the Q, so he went to play at SSM
-his role at SSM, albeit one year, started a new wave of competitive prep school hockey programs or improving of existing ones
-reminded me that he went through a phase of having a bad rap of looking for calls (provoking Don Cherry)
-his training and work ethic and the accessibility to his programs almost makes everyone think like they have a shot at the professional level, if they could work equally as hard… it replaced(?) the conventional idea that elite athletes have god given talent. Not sure I agree entirely, but definitely think his training methods are more available to be used by others.
-reading this in 2022, there is an entire generation of NHL players who have idolized him and mimicked his methods (Nathan Mackinnon, Connor McDavid, the Hughes brothers, etc…)
-concussion protocol is so much more of a science now and his absence in the league in his most prime years to ensure he had fully returned to health is such a good thing and role model for future players. In the past hockey players played through it and negatively impacted their personal lives post-hockey career.
October 5, 2019
Firstly, thank you to Net Galley for the advanced review copy of this book.
As a Sidney Crosby fan, I thought that this would be a must read book for me. Unfortunately, there is not all that much new information to be gained from reading it. The early chapters charting Sidney's passage through junior hockey were interesting but after that it becomes a little bit of a love fest from the author. The pacing of the book was a little bit off as well with one chapter talking about his first year in the NHL and then quickly jumping to the latest Hockey World Cup in the following chapter.
Unfortunately I would only recommend this to absolute die hard Penguin and Sidney Crosby fans
As a Sidney Crosby fan, I thought that this would be a must read book for me. Unfortunately, there is not all that much new information to be gained from reading it. The early chapters charting Sidney's passage through junior hockey were interesting but after that it becomes a little bit of a love fest from the author. The pacing of the book was a little bit off as well with one chapter talking about his first year in the NHL and then quickly jumping to the latest Hockey World Cup in the following chapter.
Unfortunately I would only recommend this to absolute die hard Penguin and Sidney Crosby fans
August 15, 2022
This is a very good book for any hockey fan. I don’t get in any debate with people about hockey players just that each generation has good and greats. Here is a book about a great player and you really get a good look at all that he does on the ice and now for many years, he has continued to keep it going at such a high level. I really enjoyed this book and learning about Sidney Crosby and now have even a greater appreciation for his game and the person, an excellent book.
i received this book from Netgalley.com
i received this book from Netgalley.com
March 21, 2023
Great read. Well written with relevant insight. Balanced and fair. I don’t agree with his assessment of the Niskanen incident and the use of slow motion replay. Minor mistake referring to Gretzky and Lemieux combining to win the 1987 Canada Cup in overtime. Game 3 was won in regulation. I think he had it mixed up with the previous game which went to OT. Otherwise this was better than expected.
March 13, 2024
A decent non-fiction book, read in 2021. I don't have much to say about it, it's a story of a stars life, where he is now-and how he got there. I usually have no attraction to non-fictions, especially with this one being written with the nature of being rushed. I don't feel like this book was executed with quality, and I think the story of such a culturally significant person should have been narrated with more respect.
February 17, 2020
This is not a simply biography of one of the greatest to play the game, but rather and interesting read on how Crosby has affected the game through his dedication, training, and play from his early days through his third Stanley Cup. The author explores the game of hockey and how it has changed, especially since Crosby arrival, and how it continues to evolve today.
December 25, 2021
The author began following Sid prior to his entering the NHL and had many interesting stories to tell from that era. I also appreciated his detailed description of the context of Sid’s major injuries and what people said and thought at the time. Overall I thought the book lacked a good flow, but I enjoyed reading it.
April 21, 2024
Kindle. Lots of interesting information about Sidney. A bit tedious in his pre NHL days, too much talk of future starts (Hughes - McKinnon) and too much time on concussions. Not organized well either.
August 20, 2025
Very interesting read and perspective offered by the author (Joyce). Crosby definitely impacted how players prepare themselves to become elite. Considering 2015, they had 87 on the down slide, and he is still performing at an elite level to date. Enjoyable read.
May 20, 2024
Amazing book about Sidney Crosby as well as how the league changed in the past 20 years. I'd definitely recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews