Crosby named captain of Team Canada at World Hockey Championship
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Pittsburgh Penguins veteran forward Sidney Crosby will captain Team Canada for the second time in 2025, this time at the World Hockey Championship.
Crosby, 37, also wore the "C" for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, where he helped guide Canada to a gold medal.
This tournament will mark Crosby's fifth time serving as captain for Canada, having also done so at the 2014 Olympics, the 2015 World Championship and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Crosby captained the team to championships at each of those tournaments and won an additional Olympic gold as an alternate captain under Scott Niedermayer at Vancouver 2010.
Crosby will get another chance to play alongside friend and neighbour from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Nathan MacKinnon, who earlier was also named to Team Canada after his Colorado Avalanche were eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The two were together on the team that Crosby captained to gold at the 2015 worlds.
The two major stars are in Europe for the worlds' opening on Friday across the Swedish capital of Stockholm and Denmark’s city of Herning.
It is the final men’s international test before the 2026 Winter Games in Italy, where NHL players return to the Olympics after a 12-year absence.
By winning the tournament in Prague then, Crosby joined hockey’s Triple Gold Club, a small group of players who have won the Stanley Cup, the Olympics and the worlds.
These are the third worlds, and first since 2015, for Crosby, a three-time Stanley Cup winner (2009, ’16 and ’17) and double Olympic champion (2010 and ’14). He’s captured gold for Canada at every international tournament, including the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and the 2005 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Crosby just finished another brilliant season for the Penguins, setting an NHL record with his 20th consecutive point-per-game campaign after scoring 33 goals and finishing with 91 points in 80 games.
Given his illustrious career - three Stanley Cup titles, two Hart Trophies, two Rocket Richard trophies, two Conn Smythe Trophies, and numerous international titles - it was no surprise that Crosby would be selected as captain, just as it wasn't at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
“It should be Sid. It should be Sid for sure, that’s not even a question,” Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid said back in February regarding the captaincy for Canada at the 4 Nations.
“It’s just how it should be. He’s Sidney Crosby and he’s been there so many times and he’s the guy. It’s not like I thought about it a lot, it’s just such a no-brainer.”