Sidney Crosby says "a lot of people" to credit for Canucks' turnaround year

The Vancouver Canucks have so far, silenced plenty of doubters with their play this season.

Sitting at 71 points — tied for the NHL lead — heading into this weekend’s NHL All-Star break, few would’ve expected a team that missed the playoffs last each of the last three seasons to be among the class of the league.

And you can count Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby as among those a little surprised by the Canucks’ sudden turnaround this year.

With the Canucks having five players to have played for them to make the NHL All-Star game this year — and a sixth after the addition of Elias Lindholm via trade — there’s little denying these days how drastically the franchise has shattered nearly every preseason expectation to date.

“I don’t know if people before the year would be predicting where they’d be at, and some of the seasons the guys have had. I think that’s a credit to the players obviously, but also to the people around them,” Crosby said earlier today in response to a question asked by Daily Hive.

Two of Vancouver’s braintrust have a deep connection with No. 87 — general manager Jim Rutherford was in the same role in Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017 for Stanley Cup wins alongside Crosby, while head coach Rick Tocchet was an assistant coach on both those teams.

“They’ve done a great job,” Crosby added.  “I think Jim and Tocchet have done a great job helping them and their whole staff. They’re playing really well as a team and individually their players been performing well. I think a lot of people deserve credit for that.”

Crosby and the Penguins are slated to head to Vancouver later this month, when they take on the Canucks on February 27. Puck drop for that one is set for 7 pm PT.

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