Sidney Crosby is heading into another season with the kind of question that only comes up when a player has already done almost everything: how much more can he still pile up?
The Penguins center enters 2026-27 sitting seventh on the NHL’s all-time points list with 1,761. He already moved past Steve Yzerman and Mario Lemieux last season, and another strong year would keep pushing him up that ladder.
The math is straightforward. If Crosby matches the 74-point season he posted in 2025-26, he would jump ahead of Marcel Dionne and Ron Francis and grab fifth place. Push it to 90 points, and Gordie Howe would be next in line in fourth.
That backdrop was the focus on Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, where host Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton tried to pin down a realistic expectation for Crosby as he enters his age-39 season.
bet365 has Crosby’s points line set at 79.5, but Yaremchuk wasn’t buying the idea that a number that high is a major step down.
“ As for Sidney Crosby, bet365 has his over/under for points this year at 79.5, which I think is kind of crazy considering last year he missed 14 games and still had 74 points. And remember, there’s two more games on the schedule this year.
Before that, 91, 94, 93, 84 in 69 games. So again, they’re doing a little Father Time math here and saying he’ll probably come down a little bit.
So what’s your number for Sidney Crosby in points this season, Hutts? ”
Hutton went with 85, pointing to Crosby’s conditioning and the way he still drives offense.
“ I’m going to say 85. I think 85 is fair, like staying healthy, where he’s at.
You know how well he takes care of himself, and I think the factor is he still just generates offense. I think Pittsburgh is a team, in their division there’s going to be a lot of offense.
I think those teams aren’t going to be totally shutdown teams, a little bit weaker. I think he creates that, I’m going to go 85 points.
Sid does not seem to regress to much. ”
Yaremchuk actually landed a little higher, calling for 87 and noting that Crosby still looks capable of staying comfortably above a point per game even if he misses time.
“ I’ll give you a number that Sid would respect, I’ll say 87. I think 87 is a good number.
Even if he misses a few games and he’s at that 76-game mark, somewhere in that range, he misses a couple weeks with something at some point, I still think he’s more than capable of being well north of a point-per-game. ”
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