I'll defend Crosby. He has done the best with "the next one" status of anybody. If you think of all the "next Jordan's" I give Lebron similar credit for not cratering under the pressure and hype. For those not in Canada it is hard to explain the idea of an 11 year old celebrity, but it happens in Hockey all the time. I used Lebron because my experience with hoops leads me to see the AAU middle school superstars as being a good comp to the preteen phenoms that grace hockey north of the border. first of all, like any elite endeavour the exponential odds facing people at each step up the ladder eliminate almost everybody. Despite the thinly veiled racism of the "hockey guys are so much better citizens than the NBA and NFL" a lot of these kids, families, etc become unbearably arrogant.
I have never met Crosby but have talked to many people, literally 100s of people that have had various levels of contact with his through the years. I mean meeting 12 year old Syd Crosby was big deal. He was also, as far a Canada goes, a great bseball prospect and played ball a lot longer than hockey star would normally dabble in a second sport. Not one time have I heard a negative thing about him. He is always reported as being blandly polite, more giving of his time than other guys in the same situation. You may think this is because of hero worship, but NHL fandom in Canada runs deep, and few Canadians are long term Penguins fans. there are a few that grew up in the Mario era, but it is mostly original 6( 5 maybe I don't know any Ranger fans), plus the Canadian teams. For example, I like that Price was dominant and Canada won the gold but I would prefer a non-Hab was in the net, So a lot of Hab , Bruin, WIngs, Canucks fans would like a 'Syd was dick" story to tell (as a Bruin fan I was pleased to learn from a guy I know that played with Lafleur, that 'the flower' was exceptionally selfish) they come away impressed. I get he doesn't compare to them as a player but there are a lot of 'Gretzky was a dick' stories, and even some'Orr was a dick' but the latter's status as the only scientifically proven case of God's existence renders him immune from criticism.
Plus there was the time he scored that overtime winner that temporarily delayed the inevitable ascension of USA hockey.