August 7 NHL History
1987: Sidney Crosby is born in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia.
Crosby, a high-scoring center, is the big prize available in the 2005 NHL Draft after finishing with 135 and 168 points in his two seasons with Rimouski of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The Pittsburgh Penguins win the draft lottery and select him with the No. 1 pick.
Crosby finishes his rookie season with 102 points (39 goals, 63 assists) despite playing on a last-place team. At age 19, he becomes the youngest player to win the NHL scoring title when he finishes the 2006-07 season with 120 points (36 goals, 84 assists). He’s named captain in 2007 and helps the Penguins advance to the 2008 Stanley Cup Final, where they lose to the Detroit Red Wings in six games.
But Pittsburgh avenges that loss a year later, and at age 21, Crosby become the youngest captain in NHL history to hoist the Stanley Cup.
He scores an NHL career-high 51 goals in 2009-10, wins another scoring title in 2013-14 and sparks the Penguins to a second Stanley Cup championship in 2016; this time, he wins the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. He wins MVP honors while helping Canada win the World Cup of Hockey 2016, leads the League with 44 goals during the 2016-17 regular season, then takes home the Conn Smythe Trophy for the second straight year after the Penguins repeat as Stanley Cup winners by defeating the Nashville Predators in a six-game Final.
1992: Goaltender Dominik Hasek is traded to the Buffalo Sabres by the Chicago Blackhawks for goaltender Stephane Beauregard and a fourth-round pick in the 1993 draft. The trade gives Hasek, then 27, his first chance to be an NHL starter after going 13-4-2 in two seasons as a backup to Ed Belfour.
Beginning in 1993-94, Hasek wins the Vezina Trophy five times in a stretch of six seasons and takes home the Hart Trophy as League MVP in 1997 and 1998. He helps the Sabres advance to the Stanley Cup Final in 1999, although they lose to the Dallas Stars in six games.
Buffalo trades Hasek to the Red Wings on July 1, 2001; he wins 41 games during the 2001-02 regular season and 16 more in the playoffs to help the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup for the third time in six seasons. Hasek finishes his NHL career in 2008 with 389 wins, a 2.20 goals-against average, .922 save percentage and 81 shutouts. He is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014.
