In honor of this moment, we talked to some people from those days about what it was like to have both of them on the team at the same time, and, looking back, just how special that was.
THE COACH: ED OLCYZK
THE VETERAN: MARK RECCHI
THE ROOKIE: MAX TALBOT
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Mark Recchi had been drafted by Pittsburgh four years after Lemieux, and was a rookie when the Penguins won the franchise’s first-ever Stanley Cup in 1991, marveling at the magic that Mario created on the ice.
“With his size, you just didn’t see that. He was such a powerful skater, too. He looked like he was going in slow motion, but he was going really fast,” Recchi said. “Every night when he was in the lineup, it was just incredible and so fun to be a part of.
“I always laugh because I always say that with great players, you could never make a bad pass. That was so true about Mario, because I threw some sh*tty ones, I’ll tell you that. He’d end up with it on his stick for a breakaway or something, and I would get a helper and end up laughing the whole way to the bench like, ‘That was a great play!’”
As a fan watching, Crosby said it felt like Lemieux was in a completely different league.
“Just the way that he saw the game, the way that he could make plays, just his presence,” Crosby said. “And there were so many different things, whether it was here in Pittsburgh or internationally, playing for Team Canada. So many huge moments. I think when you think of him and Wayne Gretzky, you just think they're almost bigger than the game itself. That's how it felt.”
For Max Talbot, who grew up in Quebec and was 7 and 8 years old during Pittsburgh’s back-to-back championship runs, Lemieux was the guy.
“He was just a legend, probably one of the most talented, if not the most talented, hockey players that has ever played,” Talbot said.
Talbot was drafted by Pittsburgh in 2002, not long after Lemieux saved the franchise in 1999, buying the team out of bankruptcy to become the first player-owner in NHL history. Interactions with Mario in those days are reminiscent of the ones younger players have with Sid now.
“I remember my first couple of camps when you’re drafted by the Penguins, and you have a picture with Mario there and everything,” Talbot said.
But the Penguins began experiencing more financial struggles, and were in a difficult spot going into the 2005 NHL Draft Lottery. Talk of the team leaving Pittsburgh started swirling.
“There was a lot of speculation,” Olcyzk said.
But once that lottery ball fell and awarded Pittsburgh the right to draft Crosby first overall...
“It changed everything for the franchise to get a player like Sidney,” Lemieux said. “Gave us an opportunity to go out and get a new arena. The fanbase came back. We were struggling for a couple of years. We didn’t have very good teams... I still think we would have a team here, even though we wouldn’t have Sid, but it wouldn’t be the same.”
That day, Sidney’s father Troy spoke to reporters outside of their home in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, about his son getting the chance to be teammates with Lemieux.
“You probably won't believe it till you actually see him on the same ice with the same jersey on, playing on the same team (with Mario),” Troy said. “That's probably when it's going to really hit home that he’s playing with him.”
Around that same time back in Pittsburgh, Recchi remembers being on the golf course at Nevillewood with Lemieux, and the celebratory vibe that surrounded them.
“Everybody was so excited,” Recchi said. “It was just like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe we got it.’ We got the first pick, and Sid was going to be the guy. It was a lot of excitement.”
At that point, just like he is now, Lemieux was held in the highest regard. All you can do is marvel at everything he did both on and off the ice.
“Playing with Mario was obviously very special. You knew that he was not going to play for another ten years, right? I was like, ‘Oh my god,’ and pinching myself,” Talbot said.
Meanwhile, Crosby was carrying the highest of expectations. It didn’t take long for everyone to see that Sid the Kid would rise up to them, and then some.
“The pressure was on right off the bat, just as they were for Mario in ’84. Fast forward, and that’s what the expectations were for Sid,” Olcyzk said. “The first time he stepped on the ice, you just knew, I just knew, that he moved and breathed differently than everybody else. It’s the only way that I could really describe it, and I’ve seen that with very few players over my lifetime in the NHL as a player, a coach, and as a broadcaster.
“To see that up close, it’s remarkable when you think about the expectations that were asked of him and to see what he has accomplished now.”
So, in the locker room at Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey ahead of Pittsburgh’s season opener against the Devils, Talbot had to take it all in for a moment.
“We’re sitting there, and I see Sid and Mario sitting across the room, and I’m like, ‘Wow, this is pretty special,’” Talbot said before adding with a laugh, “Imposter syndrome! Like, there’s no way. It was special to be a part of that season and to look at the dynamic between them, like Sid living at Mario’s. You look at the personality of both guys, and I feel like Sid was the perfect student for Mario to be able to mentor. It’s like a Jedi, you need the right master. It was a match made in heaven.”
There are so many similarities between Lemieux and Crosby when it comes to how they conduct themselves. They understand their place and the impact that they have, and Lemieux knew what it meant to take Crosby under his wing.
“I think Mario is the perfect role model,” Olcyzk said. “For a young player like that, and Sid is such a historian and always has been, to have Mario open up his door for him... I mean, you want young players, regardless of where they’re drafted or their street cred, you want them to be comfortable and just worry about playing.
“I think that’s what Mario and his wife Nathalie did by bringing him in and letting him just worry about learning, playing, and talking to Mario anytime that he wanted.”
Sid would invite guys over, with Max saying they would play mini sticks with Mario’s young son Austin.
“What I always think about when I went and visited Sid at Mario’s house was that people assumed that he lived in his own private quarter. He just had a normal bedroom on the floor,” Talbot said. “I mean, it is a big house and everything, but in perspective, it was a normal living situation. It was not his own little casa in the corner. I feel like it worked out very well for both of them.”
Crosby said he would ask Lemieux ‘every question in the book’ on the way to the rink, where Olcyzk said they played together a little bit at even strength, but more so on the power play, and late in games.
“We made a lot of headlines back in the day, but we put Sidney on the wing to start, just to let him worry about playing,” Olcyzk said. “We put him on the wing for a little, and then played him with Mario, and eventually we needed him to play, and then we moved him back to his natural position.”
They first appeared on the scoresheet together in a game against the New York Islanders on Nov. 3. Lemieux got an assist on a power-play goal from Crosby. They joined forces again later in the contest, helping to set up Recchi for a tally.
“Having the opportunity to play on the same line and connect on a few goals, those are things that always remember,” Crosby said. “So, that's really special.”
For all of the similarities Lemieux and Crosby have when it comes to leadership, their playing styles are quite different.
“Sid’s a workhorse. I mean, everybody knows that about him now, that doesn’t go unnoticed,” Recchi said. “He gets the puck, and he’s just an extremely highly skilled grinder who has a will to be so good. On top of it, both of them are just amazing people. That’s the icing on the cake with both of them, they’re just incredible people.”
Lemieux ended up retiring for good in January of 2006, while Crosby went on to become the first Penguins rookie to hit the 100-point mark since, you guessed it – Mario.
“You get to play with two guys as special as that. Mario is probably arguably one of the best to ever play, and Sid is not far behind that,” Recchi said. “To be on a day-to-day basis with them and get to know them and be around them, it’s a special feeling. You’ve truly got to appreciate it. I think everybody that did play with them really appreciated what both of them brought. Mario, at that time, was in ownership and was trying to come back to play a little bit. It was pretty neat, I’ll tell you that.”
Lemieux truly couldn’t ask for anyone better than Crosby to receive the torch, with No. 87 winning three more Stanley Cup championships for the franchise and being the consummate teammate, captain and ambassador.
“Mario probably saved hockey on a number of times in Pittsburgh, but getting Sid, it was just another Mario, but Sid. We’ve been very fortunate,” Recchi said. “To have that in a city and to have two players like that, people dream about that. Organizations dream about getting people like that, it’s something pretty incredible. To be able to see it and be part of it, it was a ton of fun.”
