Sidney Crosby prepares for fifth career All-Star Game

Crosby has the second-most All-Star nominations in franchise history with 10, but he has been available for just half of those events.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby may have been named an All-Star ten times in his career, but next Saturday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto will mark just his fifth time participating in the event.

There was no All-Star Game in 2006, 2010 or 2014 due to the Olympics, and Crosby missed four other events due to injury. In 2008, despite leading voting with more than 500,000 votes, he had a high ankle sprain; in 2009, a left knee injury; in 2011, lingering concussion issues; in 2015, a lower-body injury.

In the times in between, there’s still been plenty of time for a few highlights. In honor of next weekend’s festivities, we’re looking back at one highlight from each of Crosby’s four prior All-Star Weekends.

2007: 19-year-old Sid makes his All-Star debut

Crosby and Alex Ovechkin headlined an All-Star weekend packed with young stars. Seven starters in Dallas that year were younger than age 27, and 20 players made their All-Star debut, while 11 more were there for a second time.

The teenaged Crosby went scored on two of three shots against former Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo in the individual shootout to lift the Eastern Conference to a 15-11 victory in the skills competition.

Crosby then scored on his one shootout attempt in the team competition against former Calgary Flames netminder Miikka Kiprusoff.

2017: Crosby adds an All-Star trophy to his Triple Gold

After winning the 2015 IIHF World Championship in Prague, Crosby officially became the only member of the Triple Gold Club to win the Stanley Cup, Olympics and worlds while captaining all three times.

In 2017 Crosby added one more trophy to that resume with the first All-Star Game victory of his career, a decade after his debut at the event. He was, once again, captain of the winning team in Los Angeles. The Metro team defeated the Pacific 4-3 in the final.

2018: Crosby earns his first All-Star point

The fact that Ovechkin and Crosby could play together during the All-Star Game was used to market it from the very first time they both showed in 2007. Eleven years later, the two of them lived up to that hype by combining for a goal on the first shift of the 2018 game in Tampa Bay.

2019: Crosby wins his first All-Star MVP Award

Crosby was named All-Star MVP thanks to an eight-point night in San Jose. He led the Metro to the second All-Star Game victory of his career with five points (two goals, three assists) in a 10-5 win over the Central.

2023: Crosby assists on Sergei Ovechkin goal

Crosby partners with Ovechkin to assist on a goal from four-year-old Sergei Ovechkin during the skills competition in Sunrise, Florida.

“It is definitely something that I appreciate more and more every year. Just being able to compete against him all these years and seeing what he continues to do, to just see that firsthand is pretty unique. It has been cool to kind of share over the years.” —Crosby on sharing the 2023 All-Star stage with Ovechkin, via Pittsburgh Hockey Now

2024: Crosby eyes a Lemieux All-Star record

Crosby’s 10th All-Star nomination gives him the most in franchise history, moving him past Jaromir Jagr’s nine invitations to the event. Now he is only chasing Mario Lemieux (13 nominations) for the most invitations ever received by a Penguin. Three more nominations and he’ll make franchise history, so here’s looking forward to 2027.