Sidney Crosby became the youngest player in NHL history to capture the Art Ross and Pearson Awards after leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to the post-season. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

Sidney Crosby is now captain of the ship, and the ship is now on a more certain course.

While Crosby starred for a dismal Penguins squad in his rookie term and then led Pittsburgh's renaissance in his sophomore campaign in 2006-07, the franchise was on the selling block.

Crosby has been such a sensational constant the last two years in the NHL, it's easy to forget that the 2007-08 season promises to be his first playing without a large measure of surrounding uncertainty.

All of that has changed in recent months. City and state officials in Pennsylvania have finalized a deal for a new arena to replace the ancient Mellon Arena in 2010, which should keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh beyond the length of Crosby's career.

"The last couple years it's been talked about so much, so to know that we're here to stay, there's a lot of uncertainty that's gone now," Crosby told CBCSports.ca during a media conference call. "Obviously our focus can be on playing hockey, and that's it.

"Last year, we weren't really thinking about it, but it was brought up so much, it was hard not to think about it once in a while. So it's nice to know that moving forward we're going to be here."

With the baseball Pirates floundering for over a decade now, the city's sports fans are primed to have a reason to cheer come May and June.

A reported crowd of over 10,000 showed up to a question-and-answer session this pre-season featuring Crosby and several other Penguins, including emerging young stars like defenceman Ryan Whitney, forward Jordan Staal and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

The bar has been set high by the team and its star. Crosby totalled 36 goals and 84 assists in his super sophomore year, sweeping the Art Ross, Lester B. Pearson and Hart Memorial trophies.

At 19, he was the youngest in history to capture the Ross and Pearson honours and just a few months shy of Wayne Gretzky's age when the young Oiler won his first of nine MVP awards.

With Crosby leading the way, Pittsburgh made a 47-point improvement from the previous year. (Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images)

The Penguins finished with 105 points, a 47-point improvement that was the fourth-biggest jump in NHL history. Not even a first-round exit to the Ottawa Senators could dampen the enthusiasm surrounding the Penguins.

The supporting cast had learned from mistakes in previous years. Rookies Evgeni Malkin and Staal enjoyed tremendous rookie seasons and veterans Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts helped provide leadership.

Leading by example

Crosby, who turned 20 in August, said he was honoured to be named permanent captain for the Penguins in the off-season, replacing Vincent Lecavalier of Tampa Bay as the youngest in league history.

"I'm just gonna keep everything the same. I've always tried to lead by example, and as far as playing with emotion, I think I always have played with emotion [and] I need to keep playing like that," Crosby said.

Lecavalier had given up the captaincy to veteran Dave Andreychuk by the time the Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2004, while Gretzky was 23½ when Edmonton won its first championship 20 years earlier.

That would give Crosby until 2010 to become the youngest captain to lead an NHL team to a Stanley Cup win in modern history, but everything to this point suggests the Cole Harbour, N.S., native doesn't figure to be comfortable with such a leisurely pace.

Crosby is committed to excellence, remarking just before the season began that he wants to improve on faceoffs and defensive coverage.

The maturation process was obvious last season, with Crosby amassing 50 fewer penalty minutes than his rookie campaign.

"I wanted to make sure that I wasn't retaliating, just make sure I didn't let my emotions get ahead of me too much," he told CBCSports.ca. "You know, when you're winning, too, you're probably not pressing as much, hooking and things like that. First year we were losing some games, so it was probably easier to take penalties."

From a team standpoint, Crosby, unlike nearly all hockey prognosticators, hasn't even pencilled the Penguins in for a playoff spot come April 2008.

"I think we have to, first of all, make sure we're fighting and battling to get to the playoffs," he said. "We know our division's gotten stronger. We've got to make sure that we're ready from the start here."

The young nucleus that also includes Malkin, Staal, Whitney and Colby Armstrong is intact, and general manager Ray Shero signed a quartet of players in the off-season who have won Cups — Roberts, Recchi and newcomers Darryl Sydor and Petr Sykora.

"Any team that wins a Stanley Cup has great depth," Crosby said. "They have four solid lines, great goaltending, good defence. I mean, you need a complete team."

Having a full-fledged superstar doesn't hurt your chances, either.