The talk since Wednesday's overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins has been about how Philadelphia had a new villain to embrace. I thought of other past and present villains: Emmitt Smith, Tie Domi, Drew Rosenhaus, Scott Stevens, Joe Carter.

And then I thought of 18-year-old Sidney Crosby. "Sid the Kid," they call him. The "Rookie Sensation." The new face of the "New NHL." The polished ambassador of the new generation. "The Next One."

But villain? How could that be? Sure, Mr. Kid acted like a baby when he was hit in the mouth with a stick by Derian Hatcher, throwing his helmet on the boards and cussing out the referee. He had a case, with a cut lip and chipped tooth, but it looked as if Hatcher's stick came up inadvertently during a very advertent whack. It should have been a penalty just by definition of the high-stick rules, which dictates that players are responsible for what happens with the sticks they carry.

I mentioned in my game story the next day that when Crosby got an unsportsmanlike penalty on the next shift, complaining about another uncalled Hatcher whack, it was uncharacteristic of him, the celebrated ambassador of the "New NHL." But I passed on calling him a diver, of taking spills to get interferencelike calls.

Seriously, how could a kid that talented slip and fall, or dive on purpose, to get a penalty? Certainly someone with that kind of skating ability must be hard to knock off his skates. So if he falls down, well, he must have been assaulted. Right?

So I didn't write anything about it. Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock might have mentioned it in passing, or more to the point, when pushed — OK, nudged. He hates divers, he says. But he hates fines even more so he wouldn't say what was on his mind, even though he knows how to say stuff without saying stuff: Things like, "I didn't really notice" Crosby.

I got the expected "homer" e-mails from Pittsburgh fans. I even had a colleague on Comcast SportsNet's "Daily News Live" suggest I was being homerish with my interpretation of the Hatcher hit.

Then I read the accounts of the Saturday rematch in Pittsburgh, the one the Flyers won, 6-3, and I saw a lot more about the Crosby thing, the Hitchcock "didn't notice him" thing, about how the Pittsburgh media got involved in ripping the Philadelphia scribes and defending The Kid. I saw stories that contained the term "war of words" and the quotes from both sides about the Wednesday game and how Crosby is shaping up to lead a new lifelong rivalry between the two cities.

Still, I had trouble getting wrapped around the idea of Crosby becoming a Philadelphia villain so early in his career. He's too darn talented to be reduced to a villain. Or at least a mere ordinary villain.

But, since I appear to be the only one in the Philadelphia media who hasn't joined the fray, and far be it from me not to participate in some outright homerlike behavior, I suggest we elevate Crosby to supervillain status.

We'll need a better nickname for him in our corner of the hockey world. I'll be taking suggestions, but only those that can appear in a family newspaper and are not overly cruel or demented; well, maybe demented.

Just remember, he's only an 18-year-old Super Kid.

Speaking of the Penguins, it's baffling that Marc-Andre Fleury keeps getting sent to the minors. Just a day after he made 45 saves and backstopped the Pens to a 3-2 overtime win over the Flyers last Wednesday, he was sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, of the AHL, because Sebastien Caron was ready to return from a leg strain.

What does this kid have to do? The Penguins only made him the No. 1 pick in the 2003 draft and then signed him to an expensive contract under the old collective bargaining agreement. So now, under the new economics of the NHL, and with the Penguins facing continued losses, they appear to be trying to avoid paying some of the $3 million Fleury could earn by achieving a series of stipulated statistical levels spelled out in his contract.

"I know they have a job to do," is what Fleury says about his situation. "It's business. That's their call, and I do what they say. I'm sure we'll have a great relationship (in the future)."

It's lousy business. Play him or trade him. He's a young talented player, not just a business item.