The Pittsburgh Penguins opened the 2026 calendar year with a strong 3-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings, getting two big points in the standings and getting another huge game from captain Sidney Crosby. He scored two goals in the first 10 minutes, assisted on Kris Letang’s overtime winner and factored into every goal the Penguins scored.
He is now up to 23 goals and 43 points in 39 games.
Only five players in the NHL have more goals.
He is in the top-20 in total points.
He is also 38 years old.
That
latter point is what makes those numbers really pop off the page, because players in their late 30s just generally do not still produce like this. Not even most of the all-time greats. Ever since Crosby started his age 35 season he has been defying everything we know about NHL aging curves when it comes to offense, and he is still not slowing down.
After Thursday’s two-goal, three-point effort, he is currently on a pace for 48 goals 90 total points this season.
In the history of the NHL no player has ever scored 48 goals in their age 38 season or older.
The high mark for players in that age bracket is 44 goals, scored both by Gordie Howe (age 40) and Alex Ovechkin (age 39).
Nobody else has ever scored more than 37 in that age range.
Heck, it is worth pointing out that Crosby’s career high for goals in a season — at any age — is 51, and that 48 goals would be the second-highest total of his career.
It is just another testament not only to his greatness, but also his durability to still be able to produce like a superstar at an age when most players are calling it a career. Or have already called it a career.
If you look at just age 35 and beyond seasons, Crosby already has three of the top-15 seasons in terms of total points all-time. He is on pace for a fourth this season. If you just go with total goals and accumulated points in the NHL after turning age 35, he is already 21st in total points despite being just 87th in games played. He is 11th in goals scored.
Assuming he maintains the current paces that he is already on for the rest of this season, he could potentially climb as high as 15th in total points and seventh in goals scored out of that group.
He is one of the best players of all time. He is still playing like it into his late 30s. He is one of the biggest reasons the Penguins are surprisingly in the playoff hunt approaching the halfway point of the season, and if they somehow get in he is going to be one of the biggest reasons for it.
