DETROIT – The comparisons were inevitable.

Sidney Crosby has been hearing them ever since he put on his first pair of ice skates: He’s the second coming of Wayne Gretzky, the player who comes around once a generation, the “Next One.”

Sidney Crosby

“I have dealt with that my whole life. To be compared to Gretzky is always a compliment, but I have never really put a whole lot of thought into those,” Crosby said. “I try to worry about what I have to do and try not to let comparisons change the way I think or add pressure or anything like that.”

So far, he’s done a pretty good job of living up to that billing. Crosby is the youngest player to capture a scoring title in any major North American sport. He’s the youngest player to win the Lester B. Pearson Award as the NHL’s best player as voted by his peers. He’s the youngest player ever named captain in the NHL. He’s the youngest to...well, you get the point, right?

Now, at the ripe old age of 20, Crosby is leading his teammates to the Stanley Cup Final where his Penguins battle the Detroit Red Wings for hockey’s ultimate prize.

And, the comparisons have spread from Crosby to the rest of the young Penguins. Over and over the 2008 Penguins, with young stars like Evgeni Malkin, Ryan Whitney, Marc-Andre Fleury. Jordan Staal and Crosby, are being likened to the 1983 Edmonton Oilers, a team loaded with players like Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Gretzky in the beginning of their storied careers.

That Edmonton team burst onto the scene and stormed into the Stanley Cup Final with only one loss.

Wayne Gretzky

Sound familiar?

This Penguins squad caught fire in the second half of the regular season and raced through the playoffs – becoming the first team since those Oilers to win 11 of their first 12 playoff games. These Penguins headed into the Stanley Cup Final with a 12-2 mark.

“Well, we have a lot more to prove, I think, before we can try to put ourselves in that category.” Crosby said. “But I can see the comparisons with the youth of our team with the group of exciting players we have and, maybe, the style of play. We have a lot of guys that are fun to watch, starting with Marc-Andre, some young players along with Gonchar and Whitney on defense, and up front, obviously, Geno and [Bugsy], and all these guys. There are a lot of people on our team that are fun to watch.  I'm sure with that Oilers team that was the case, too. But, I think it's more so the youth and the excitement around our team that's probably comparable to that.

“I guess we’re used to those comparisons since we’ve had them a lot. But, I don’t think we’re putting a lot of thought into that. It doesn’t change anything.”

Penguins coach Michel Therrien agrees that it’s an unfair comparison.

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have been quite the duo at center for the Penguins.

“It's really tough to compare. Honestly, I'm not a big fan about comparison, about if it is teams or players. I think it's unfair,” he said. “Are you going to compare Rocket Richard to Jean Beliveau? And, Jean Beliveau are we going to compare to Guy Lafleur? And Gordie Howe? And all those type of players?  And the list could go on and on to Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, and now we have Sidney Crosby and all those type of players.

“I think we're not quite there because we haven't won anything yet. But, we're a good bunch of young players that, first of all, they're having a fun time to be together, and they're having a fun time competing. And they're having a fun time with their work ethic, and they've got success with it.”

That 1983 Oilers team ran into the New York Islanders dynasty in the Stanley Cup Final and was swept, 4-0. However, those young Edmonton players learned from that setback and proceeded to claim the Cup four times in the next five seasons to establish a new dynasty.

Could the same thing happen to this Penguins group?

“I have been asked that question many, many times. It’s flattering for our team. For all the respect for Edmonton, first of all, those are teams that won the Stanley Cup. We haven’t won anything yet. We’re four wins away,” Therrien said. “For me, I am not going to compare our team to the Edmonton Oilers because they are Stanley Cup winners. It’s tough to compare that dynasty because of the way the game was played at that time. There were great teams and great dynasties like the Edmonton Oilers and the New York Islanders and the Montreal Canadiens had a dynasty in the 1970s.

“I grew up watching those Canadiens and that was my first time I was playing for a Stanley Cup when I was 10 years old on the street. I played for the Stanley Cup when I was 10 years old like we all did,” he continued with a laugh. “I don’t like comparisons, but there is no doubt we have a good young group and they have been fantastic so far and they are learning really quickly. They are a mature group and they are focused right now. They have talent, but they are focused and they are working really hard.”

Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal

Therrien learned from the Oilers’ experience in that 1983 Final.

“I read Wayne Gretzky's book and we'll approach it with our players," he said. "I remember a quote of Wayne's that they thought they had given everything. But when they [the Oilers] crossed in front of the [Islanders] dressing room, there was not much celebration because they had ice packs on their bodies. That's the price you've got to pay to win the Stanley Cup.

“Right now, we've got a young group that's paying the price, and there's a lot of bumps and bruises.”

In a way, the Penguins are going against a dynasty as well. The Red Wings have won the Stanley Cup in 1997, ’98 and 2002 and are coming off their eighth-straight 100-point season. They led the NHL with 115 points in the regular season.

So, the fact that Pittsburgh faces a perennial juggernaut in Detroit forces the team to focus on the present and not the future.

“During the course of the season, we didn’t focus too much on the end of the season, where we were going to finish. When we started the playoffs, we were not thinking about the end result. That’s been our philosophy,” Therrien said. “If we’re not thinking about the end result, we’re not thinking about what’s going to happen next year or two years or three years from now. We’re fortunate to be part of the Stanley Cup Final. As a coach, I am fortunate to coach a good team. But, I am more fortunate to coach good people. That’s the No. 1 reason why we’re here. We have good people and we have good athletes. It’s a great opportunity for everyone, so there’s no doubt we want to take full advantage of it and it’s the same thing for the Red Wings. This is a great opportunity for both teams to win the Cup, but in the meantime, we’re going to stay focused on what we have to do and not worry about what’s going to happen next year or two years from now.”

Nevertheless, the parallels to those Oilers teams persist, almost eerily.

Just look at the first lines, which feature a Canadian center paired with a high-scoring and defensively responsible European right winger. For the Oilers, it was Gretzky and Kurri. For the Penguins, it’s Crosby and Marian Hossa.

Marc-Andre Fleury and Sidney Crosby.

“I can see the similarities, for sure,” Crosby said. “The difference is Hossa and I played 30 games together and did OK. Kurri and Gretzky played a lot more and won a lot of Cups, so we have a long ways to go. For sure I can see the similarities and I feel very fortunate to play with a guy like that, someone who is as offensively gifted and plays defense as well as he does. I am very comfortable with him and I have enjoyed my time playing with him.”

Then, you have the second-line centers who are pretty good, too, in Messier and Evgeni Malkin. There’s the offensively-talented young defensemen – Coffey and Whitney – and the youthful and talented goaltenders – Fuhr and Fleury.

However, the Penguins aren’t taking anything for granted.

“Yeah, you just take it one at a time,” Crosby said. “You can't get caught looking ahead. In a series, in a game, period, your focus has to be on what you have to do and your task, and if you worry about that, you hope you get the results, but you can't look far ahead.”

Yet, the team remains confident in each other and the system it plays, just like those Oilers teams.

“We're confident in each other. I don't think we're cocky,” Crosby said. “Maybe that team wasn't cocky either; maybe that's just how they were portrayed. But, we're a confident group of guys who believe in each other and we push each other. But, you can't afford to be cocky.

“It might have been different back then, too. You know, the league is so competitive now,” he continued. “Maybe then they were going into a building that night and they knew they could play OK and still win. That's not the case in the league anymore. You can't get away with that. So I think for us, we're confident in each other, but nothing beyond that.”

That said, the Penguins know they have unfinished business ahead of them despite their youth and relative inexperience.

“The pressure we feel is what we put on ourselves. We think we have a lot of individual players who have been in pressure situations. And even though they're young, I think we all try to apply that to any situation now,” Crosby said. “We’ve earned the right to be here. We beat three tough teams in the playoffs and had a tough regular season. We’ve earned the right to be here and give ourselves the opportunity and we want to do the most with it.

“People aren’t going to tell you who the Eastern Conference champion was in 1990 or 2000-whatever,” he continued. “That’s not why we play. I don’t think we’re happy just to be here.”