Photo credit: Steve Dunsmoor

By Regan Bartel

Hoping to meet Sidney Crosby

Meeting hockey royality

Mar 14, 2025 | 6:00 AM

Kelowna Rockets’ injured captain, Max Graham, has a chance to stand next to hockey royalty this weekend. 

The 20-year-old is headed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he will meet with his new team, the Penguins. His playing rights were acquired in an NHL trade on March 8th, with former Portland Winterhawks star Cody Glass among the players headed to New Jersey, the team that drafted Graham this past summer. 

While undergoing medicals with the Penguins on his surgically repaired knee, Graham is also hoping to shake hands with Sidney Crosby. 

Yes, that Crosby—the one who most recently captained Canada to a 4-Nations Cup title and is closing in on Mario Lemieux as the Penguins’ all-time leading scorer. 

“He was one of my favourite players growing up,” Graham told RocketFAN this week. “If I am able to meet him, that will definitely be pretty cool.” 

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Graham will likely have a good chance of running into Crosby, as the Penguins are currently in the midst of a five-game homestand. 

“I think if I was a random fan on the street, I would go up to him and ask him for a photo or an autograph, but I feel like I will have a chance to meet him while I am walking around in the dressing room, as part of the organization, so you don’t want to seem like a total ‘fan boy’. But deep down, that is kind of what I am,” Graham said with a smile. 

While Crosby may know little to nothing about Graham’s background, the 37-year-old is certainly familiar with Kelowna’s location. In fact, Crosby, just 17 years old at the time, was named the CHL Player of the Year in 2004 and accepted the award as a forward for the Rimouski Océanic at the Grand Hotel during the 2004 Memorial Cup in the city. 

“I will try to play it pretty cool,” Graham continued, referring to his potential encounter with ‘Sid the Kid.’ “I will act like one of his teammates.” 

Graham has multiple pictures of Crosby hung up in his room. “I have jerseys of his from when I was five years old. He was one of my favourite players growing up.” 

Crosby made his NHL debut with the Penguins on April 18, 2006, against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Graham was born on May 21, 2004, making him just a year and 11 months old at the time. 

Regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time, does Graham call him Mr. Crosby, or does he call him ‘Sid,’ as used by his teammates? 

“The first time I meet him, I will probably call him Mr. Crosby,” Graham said, envisioning how the encounter might unfold. “Hopefully he gives me the go-ahead…‘You don’t have to call me that, you can call me Sid or something like that.’ 

“I’ve never met him before, so I can’t be on a nickname basis with him yet,” he said.

“Hopefully soon.”