Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby, who this season became the youngest player to win the NHL scoring title, is now the youngest team captain in league history.

The Penguins made the move official during a luncheon on Thursday.

Sidney Crosby, centre, notched 120 points in just his second season in the NHL.
(Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)

"Sidney has done so much for this franchise in his first two seasons, made so much history, that you have to keep reminding yourself that he is only 19 years old," Penguins general manager Ray Shero said on the team's official website.

"It is obvious to all of us — coaches, players, management, staff — that he has grown into the acknowledged leader of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It is only appropriate that he wears the 'C' as team captain.”

Crosby, who won't turn 20 until August, served as an alternate captain while topping the NHL with 120 points (36 goals, 84 assists) in his second season, earning him a nomination for the league's most valuable player award.

"I was always told that age is just a number," Crosby said. "I try not to let it get in the way of anything."

Crosby's precocious production also helped the Penguins to the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference and their first playoff berth since 2001, though they were brushed aside in five games in the first round by the Ottawa Senators, now in the Stanley Cup final against the Anaheim Ducks.

After Pittsburgh was eliminated, Crosby revealed he had played the final weeks of the regular season and the playoffs with a fractured bone in his left foot.

Crosby, a native of Cole Harbour, N.S., is the youngest-ever NHL captain by about two months. The Tampa Bay Lightning named Vincent Lecavalier captain in 2000, when he was 19 years 11 months old, but later rescinded the title.

The Penguins have not had a captain since Mario Lemieux announced his retirement in January 2006.

With files from the Canadian Press