The Future Is Here

In Canada, where the distinction between hockey and life is often blurred, fans have been wondering aloud about Sidney Crosby.

Is he the Nextky?

In the same way U.S. sports fans are eager to anoint the next Michael Jordan or Joe Montana, Canadian hockey enthusiasts think they’ve discovered the next Wayne Gretzky.

Or so says the Great One himself, who called the 16-year-old Crosby the closest he’s seen to being the Next One.

“We don’t have that one guy, that Michael Jordan or that LeBron James in the National Hockey League,” Gretzky told CBC. “He’s a kid that can come along and be that person for our sport.”

Others have noticed up north.

Crosby, all but assured to be the top pick in the NHL draft next June, plays in front of sellout crowds wherever he goes, with arenas scrambling to add extra seats in anticipation of his appearance with the Rimouski Oceanic. In a setting where most of the other skaters are two years older than he is, Crosby led the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 54 goals and 135 points in 59 games. Mario Lemieux had 30 goals and 96 points at the same age in the same league.

Everybody wants a piece of Crosby. After every game, autograph seekers hound him and players from other teams sheepishly ask for pictures with him as his teammates wait on the bus. The most misunderstood person in Canada might be Oceanic public-relations director Yannick Dumais, in charge of breaking up the swarming postgame Crosby sessions, all in a good-faith attempt to get the team heading toward the next city in time for the cycle to repeat the next night.

And yet, Crosby reacts with the refinement of a friendly veteran, never saying no to requests -- until Dumais hooks him away -- and looking fans in the eye after he signs whatever is thrown in front of him. He responds to Gretzky’s comments with equal parts awe and sophistication, acknowledging they are a “huge compliment” but saying in the same breath, “I don’t think anyone’s ever going to break his records, and I don’t think it’s going to be me.”

Crosby, who accepted an invitation to play in the Kings’ developmental camp until Tuesday at HealthSouth Training Center in El Segundo, has been playing hockey since his father, Troy, slapped a helmet and shoulder pads onto his 2-year-old son and set up a net in the Crosby basement in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia.

After years of use, the net has seen better days and the blue tarpaulin that surrounds it is in tatters. A nearby laundry dryer that bore the brunt of missed shots is pocked and cratered with black marks, a fair enough sacrifice to help Crosby get where he is today.

The raves have been building since Crosby did his first newspaper interview at age 7. He always has played a year or two ahead of his age group, his vision, hands and ability to maintain possession of the puck setting him apart from his peers. He is a stellar skater with anticipation that is “scary,” said his Los-Angeles-based agent, Pat Brisson.

“He has a little bit of everything,” Brisson said. “He has some of Peter Forsberg’s attributes. He’ll battle in all the one-one-ones, he’ll take the body. He sees the ice extremely well. And you can’t knock him off the puck.”

Two years ago, Crosby played his sophomore season at Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school in Faribault, Minn., where Coach Andy Murray worked before the Kings came calling. Crosby had 72 goals in 57 games and led the team to the 2002-03 national championship.

He then went pro, although he was too young to be drafted in the NHL. He entered the QMJHL draft and went No. 1 overall to Rimouski, where he makes $35 a game. Things haven’t been the same in the Quebec town, better known perhaps for its ice fishing before Crosby’s arrival.

Crosby scored three goals in his first game with Rimouski, and the fans and letters haven’t stopped pouring in. The Oceanic receives 200 letters a month about Crosby, most asking for an autograph or a photo, and a rock-band mentality seems to tag along on the road.

“Sometimes it gets a little crazy,” said Rimouski teammate Eric Neilson, a 19-year-old right winger drafted by the Kings in the fifth round of last month’s NHL draft. “It’s not uncommon in Halifax, his hometown, there’s probably 250 people waiting for him outside the rink, at a junior-hockey game no less. Other rinks, there’s 50 to 100 people waiting for him after the game. I’ve never seen him once get frustrated with it or get tired of it. He knows that’s part of his job.”

In the same sense that Gretzky had a bad day or two, not everything Crosby does is golden and revered.

In a home game last December against the Quebec Ramparts, Crosby skated out from behind the net, flipped the puck onto the blade of his stick and threw it into the net lacrosse-style, a legal move that counted as a goal.

It didn’t do much for opinionated Canadian commentator Don Cherry, who called it a hot-dog maneuver and predicted the Ramparts would seek retribution: “They’re going to grab the mustard and put it all over him.”

And, before Crosby’s hockey sticks are shipped to the Hall of Fame in Toronto, there are questions about his slender physique. He was 5 feet 10 and 175 pounds last season, and was a frequent target of opposing bruisers.

“It’s just something you have to be ready to take if you’re going to be a great player,” said Crosby, who has added at least 10 pounds during the off-season.

Gretzky can relate. He had a similar build as he was coming up through the ranks. He managed to accrue 894 goals and 1,963 assists in the NHL.

“Records are made to be broken,” Gretzky said. “All in all, I think that if there’s anyone out there that has the opportunity to excite the fans and take it to another level, he’s the guy.”