Crosby credits one man with his improvement this season.

This past season really was a tale of two halves for Penguins captain and superstar forward Sidney Crosby.

Crosby kicked off the year with a very rough start, and his poor performance and that of his teammates was on of the contributing factors that led the Penguins to make a major change behind the bench and appoint head coach Mike Sullivan to the job. Since then Crosby's performance has improved tremendously, and he credits Sullivan for playing a major role in his improvement.

"When there's a coaching change, especially as a captain you take a lot of responsibility on your shoulders and you expect more," Crosby said as per NHL.com. "I wasn't happy with the way I started, and I think he just put me in situations and gave me opportunities to try to work my way back into things. He was just good holding everyone accountable, myself included, and making sure that I got better."

"It was pretty clear and he was very honest, and that's all you can ask for is for him to be straightforward like that and tell me what he thinks. … And it wasn't just me. I think he was very clear with everyone what he expected from each individual guy and, at that point, it was just a matter of us going out and doing that."

Crosby set a torrid pace in the second half of the season, and it played a major role in the Penguins securing a solid playoff position, and seemingly a good coach may have played a major factor.