What makes a good linemate for Sidney Crosby? And what makes him so great?

Thursday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast features Sonny Sachdeva. He’s the Sportsnet.ca writer who put together the piece about Sidney Crosby’s linemates over the years.

He chronicled the likes of Patric Hornqvist, Colby Armstrong, Chris Kunitz and many others — dating all the way back to juniors.

It’s a really interesting read into how so many of Crosby’s teammates viewed playing with one of the great players of all time.

For Sidney Crosby, glory came through a relentless, methodical infliction of effort on every aspect of his skill-set, until all that was left was greatness.

My feature on that journey, as told by the wingers who were out there with No. 87 as it happened:https://t.co/TTOlJ0Idpg

— Sonny Sachdeva (@SachdevaSonny) May 17, 2020

Sachdeva and I talked about the nuances of what goes into making a good linemate for Crosby and why some perceived fits didn’t work out.

The likes of James Neal, Jarome Iginla and Phil Kessel are in the latter category. The likes of Chris Kunitz, Pascal Dupuis and Jake Guentzel are in the former. We get into what the connecting threads are between all of those guys in both camps.

Also, there are some interesting personality traits within the group, too. For instance, Armstrong, Bill Guerin and Dupuis are all easygoing, fun-loving guys who have kept Crosby loose.

Kunitz and Hornqvist are wired about as tight as Crosby is. So, how do those dynamics work?

Then there are the highly skilled matches like Guentzel and Marian Hossa. How good can it get for Guentzel and Crosby if they stay healthy together? And how good could it have been if Hossa and Crosby stayed together longer?

In Sachdeva’s piece, he has an excellent summation of what makes Crosby so good. “Ask a room full of hockey lovers what it is that makes No. 87 great, and you might get 10 different answers. There’s a nuance to his talent that can be tough to parse.

“It’s the way Crosby can receive a pass at top speed regardless of where it happens to arrive, catching it in his skates or knocking it out of the air. It’s him wading into the corner with the puck and somehow grinding and dancing his way back into open space with it still on his stick. It’s the backhands, the deflections, the edgework.

“Making sense of it all requires time. Crosby isn’t a performance act at centre stage. He doesn’t give it to you all at once.”

That’s well said. An outstanding summation of how the whole is greater than the sum of the parts for Crosby. But the individual parts are all pretty darned good, too.

We breakdown that text. And we hit on Mark Recchi’s comments about Crosby being the Michael Jordan of hockey.

LISTEN: Tim Benz talks with sportswriter Sonny Sachdeva about Sidney Crosby's linemates over the years