Sidney Crosby

Crosby is the son of Troy and Trina Crosby. Troy was a goaltender who was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in 1984, and Crosby has a younger sister, Taylor, who played hockey at Northeastern University and St. Cloud State University. His father helped him learn the sport, and Crosby began skating when he was three years old.

Crosby has been in a long-term relationship with model Kathy Leutner since around 2008. Leutner appeared in the 2011 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and attended Crosby's 1,000th NHL game in 2021.

Crosby grew up in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, and played in local leagues by the age of five. At 10, he scored 159 goals in 55 games for his hometown youth club. He later played AAA minor hockey for the Dartmouth Subways before attending Shattuck-St. Mary's prep school in Faribault, Minnesota.

At Shattuck-St. Mary's, Crosby recorded 162 points in 2003 and helped his team win a national title. He then returned to Canada to play for the Rimouski Océanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Over two seasons, he scored 120 goals and added 183 assists in 121 regular-season games, while being named Canada's top junior player each year.

Crosby also played for Canada's national junior team. He became the youngest player to score a goal for the team and the youngest player to score in the World Junior Championships. He won a silver medal at the 2004 World Junior Championships and a gold medal in 2005.

The Pittsburgh Penguins selected Crosby first overall in the 2005 NHL Draft, and he made his NHL debut at 18. He recorded 102 points in his rookie season and became the youngest NHL player to reach 100 points in one season. In 2006-07, he led the league with 120 points, winning the Art Ross Trophy, the Hart Memorial Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award.

Crosby was named Pittsburgh's captain in 2007 at 19, making him the youngest captain in NHL history at the time. The Penguins reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2008 but lost to the Detroit Red Wings. In 2009, Crosby led Pittsburgh past Detroit in seven games and became the youngest captain to lead an NHL team to a Stanley Cup championship.

Working alongside Penguins ownership figure and retired star Mario Lemieux, Crosby helped establish a long period of success in Pittsburgh. He won additional Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in both seasons. His 2017 consecutive Conn Smythe victories placed him alongside Mario Lemieux and Bernie Parent as one of the few players to win the award in successive years.

Crosby has also formed a prominent Penguins partnership with center Evgeni Malkin. The two were key members of Pittsburgh's championship teams and combined to create a major offensive presence for the franchise.

Crosby's career was interrupted by concussion-related problems after an on-ice hit in January 2011. He missed the remainder of the 2010-11 season, returned briefly in November 2011, and was then sidelined again before returning in March 2012. He also missed 12 games during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season because of a broken jaw.

Despite those setbacks, Crosby won a second Art Ross Trophy and a second Hart Trophy in 2013-14. He led the NHL in goals in 2009-10 and 2016-17, and he reached 500 career goals during the 2021-22 season, becoming the second Penguins player to reach the mark after Lemieux. He reached 1,500 points in 2022-23 and 1,600 points in 2024-25.

In 2023, Crosby became the first NHL player to record a 30-goal season at age 18 and another after turning 35. In 2025, he surpassed Wayne Gretzky's record by completing 20 seasons with a point-per-game average above one. He also became Pittsburgh's all-time leading scorer, passing Lemieux's franchise record for points.

Crosby won his first Olympic gold medal with Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He scored the game-winning goal in overtime against the United States in the gold medal game, taking a pass from Jarome Iginla.

He won a second Olympic gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Crosby was also named the most valuable player of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey after leading the tournament in scoring, and he captained Canada to victory in the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

At the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games, Crosby served as Canada's captain and recorded six points in the tournament. A lower-body injury kept him out of the semifinal and gold medal games, and Canada won the silver medal.

In 2009, Crosby founded the Sidney Crosby Foundation. The organization raises money for charities focused on children.