Sidney Crosby
Crosby is Pittsburgh's first-line center and first power-play unit forward, and nothing I found shows his role changing this season.
Role
Center on line 1 in the most recent lineup I found (Inside the Rink projected lines for Oct. 31 at Montreal): Tommy Novak, Crosby, Rickard Rakell. A Penguins beat-writer lines post (gamegaydaytweets aggregator, undated in the snippet) and Dobber's Frozen Tools page (Oct. 24 vs. Nashville) show the same trio. On the power play, Inside the Rink's Oct. 31 preview puts him on the first unit with Koivunen, Novak, Rakell and Karlsson. Malkin is on the second unit and Kindel is listed on line 2 beside him. ESPN's team page also lists Crosby at center between Novak and Rakell. I could not fetch Daily Faceoff's live line page (the fetch failed), so I am not reporting what it says today. I found no current ice-time figure for this season, so I give none.
Nothing in the reporting I found shows his role shrinking. He has held the first-line center job and the first power-play unit through the lineup versions I saw. Box Score Junkie, cited by Inside the Rink in early October, had him at 59.3% Corsi-for and 70.5 shot attempts for per 60 early in the season. That fits the case that he still drives play on a team with a thin supporting cast.
He is 39, and last season he played only 14 games, with 10 points (4 G, 6 A) and a -5 rating. The team is also struggling: it was 5-6-2 going into Oct. 31. His wingers have changed repeatedly, and the Oct. 24 Nashville game showed his line at 35.7% of shots at even strength in about 12:32 together (0 goals for, 1 against). A weak supporting cast and constant line churn could cap his output.
Where analysts split
broad agreement on his role. The only open question I could find is who plays on his wings. Rakell has been a constant on the right. The left wing has rotated among Novak, Chinakhov, Lapierre and Robertson, and Rust was on his line earlier but is listed on injured reserve on ESPN's page. I found no analyst disagreement about Crosby himself.
Research confidence: reported. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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