'The Kid'

I made a comment on my twitter last night stating that Sidney Crosby is overrated.

Let me explain.

I at one point was yet another teenage girl swooning over the 16-year-old superstar that was named to the World Junior team in 2004. I will be the first to admit, it was a bit of an obsession. Thankfully I grew out of that phase, but I have come to understand his skill and talent on a different level (this time not based on 'how cute' he is).

Crosby has often been compared to The Great One, and rightfully so in some respects. I mean, he's only 22 and he has already captained his team to a Stanley Cup victory, and now he has scored possibly the biggest goal in recent Canadian memory (in OT, against the USA, for Olympic gold, on home soil. How much more cliche can you get?). He broke numerous scoring records during his junior career, and is always atop the NHL standings for points.

However. I still believe he is overrated.

Not overrated in the sense that he isn't as good as the hype surrounding him, just that everyone expects Crosby to be the only one who is capable of bringing home the big victories.

I saw many tweets over the past week or so saying that Crosby was essentially Canada's only hope, and that everyone was waiting for him to carry Team Canada to the gold medal game. As essential to Team Canada as Crosby was, this bugs me for a few reasons.

The Canadian Olympic roster was made up of 23 players. Three of these goalies, leaving 20 skaters who were hand picked from the NHL. This means approximately 15 of them were capable of scoring big goals (minus perhaps the Shark line, who we all know fold under pressure). Obviously they didn't quite have the lethal sniper power of the Russian team, but they were players picked to work together as a team and create offence and play the game hard on defence.

Players picked with the expectation to win Olympic Gold.

They faced some adversity. The managed to survive it. And they did this in the quarter- and semi-finals without any offensive power from Crosby.

So why was everyone pointing at Crosby saying that he was the only one who could possibly bring this team the gold medal?

Babcock's decision to let Crosby take the penalty shot originally awarded to Rick Nash in the game against Germany in the elimination round I thought was ludicrous. Here you have a player in Nash, who has spectacular offensive ability, who is in a bit of a drought. The game is already firmly in hand. Why wouldn't you let Nash take the shot and gain some confidence back, and instead put in Crosby? Other players on this team were capable too.

Canada beat Russia 7-3 in the quarter-finals. Crosby had zero points.

Canada beat Slovakia 3-2 in the semi-finals. Crosby had zero points.

Crosby's only goal came in OT of the gold medal game. Arguably the biggest goal he will ever score in his entire career. However, where is the credit for Jarome Iginla and all the work he did on the boards to ensure that Crosby had that chance to score that goal?

Crosby proved that he can answer the call when the team needs a goal most.

I still think Crosby is an amazing player.

I think he was still the easiest first pick for that Olympic roster.

I just think that everyone needs to stop focusing on Sid and give the rest of the team a little more credit for what they accomplished. He didn't carry the team through the tournament. It was a 23-man effort to win that Gold (plus the members of the Team Canada brass, trainers, doctors...)He bought into the system, working as a team to accomplish one goal. Not the Sidney Crosby Show. The Team Canada Show.

The Show that has everyone in this country hoping that Bettman will get his act together and allow the NHL players to participate in Sochi 2014.