Entering the final season of his 12-year, $104.4MM mega-deal with the Penguins, franchise cornerstone Sidney Crosby became eligible to sign an extension on July 1 this year. A deal seemed close shortly after that, with reports suggesting the two sides would formalize an extension weeks into free agency. However, with no news yet, Elliotte Friedman said on today’s “32 Thoughts” podcast that Crosby is still weighing whether he wants to sign any of the multiple offers presented to him by Pittsburgh general manager Kyle Dubas.
Crosby’s uncertainty isn’t related to a desire to maximize his earning potential in the latter stages of his career – it’s simply about whether he’s prepared to spend the final years of his time as a top-of-the-lineup player on a retooling Pittsburgh club. The Penguins have presented him with multiple offers with varying lengths, all of which are acceptable to Crosby in theory, Friedman notes.
One thing I wonder is if Crosby is simply sitting here saying ’I’ve got no problem with the offers, I’ve got no problem with the Penguins, but if we’re not going to be making the playoffs, am I going to be able to handle that?’ I think that’s one of the things he’d kind of weighing. My prediction is he stays because I think he’s a Penguin and he wants to be a Penguin, but I’ve tried to ask around about why it isn’t done, and I think one of the reasons is it’s the summer and he doesn’t need to rush. He’s still got time. And I think the other one is what if it’s like that? Is [he] going to be able to deal with it, because he’s still at the top of his game and he’s competitive.
With the extension saga beginning to draw out into its third month, there’s been more discussion about contingency plans and ripple effects if he enters training camp in a couple of weeks without a deal in place. Travis Yost of TSN posited earlier this week that Crosby may accept a trade elsewhere at the deadline, allowing the Pens to bolster their future with a presumably gargantuan trade return before signing back in Pittsburgh as an unrestricted free agency next summer. Last month, Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote about the off-ice impact of Crosby not extending before camp.
Crosby has one season left on his deal at an $8.7MM cap hit, but he’s owed just $3MM in salary this year. It’s the same structure his extremely front-loaded contract has carried since the 2022-23 campaign.
If there’s a lack of urgency from Crosby’s end to the degree that Friedman implies, it’s becoming more plausible than not that he’s still not signed past 2025 when camp kicks off in less than two weeks. Pittsburgh still needs his best if they have any intention of closing the three-point gap that kept them out of the postseason for the second year in a row last season. The 37-year-old had 42 goals and 94 points in all 82 games en route to finishing ninth in Hart Trophy voting, his highest finish in the MVP tally since 2021.
Don’t tell me it’s just about winning then if he still wants to be paid at the top of the roster at his age. If he really wanted to win, since he’s already made more money than he’ll ever spend, take a big pay cut and let the team bring in some good players to help.
From a strictly business perspective, the best option for the Pens is if he waits until midseason.
If they’re in the playoff race, he signs an extension of his liking and everyone moves forward. If they’re out of the race (or trending that way), they trade him for a huge return. Then, he re-signs with the Pens in the offseason with additional assets to build a winner.
I think this is the best option whether he resigns or not. This team is stuck in a tough place
Well, wouldn’t him joining the Blue Jackets not be a match made in heaven?
Very likely win-win for both sides and a very emotional move…not that I want him to leave, but that would be something I’d approve…
Columbus is not a playoff contender, much less a cup contender-why would he go there? It’s not his obligation to do something emotionally soothing for the Jackets. It seems to me that Ohio would be one of the last places he would want to go to
I’m a Hans fan so I’m bias but I think if he signs as a FA anywhere it will be there. His childhood team and they drafted is dad, a goalie. I think what’s most likely his he gets traded to a team to bring a haul to the pens and signs back with them and not only got new players for himself to Likely play with but help set up the pens long term
So wait a minute here…the theory potentially is the Penguins will trade Crosby at the trade deadline to a team for numerous significant assets & then he’ll leave the team he was traded too only to re-sign with the Penguins that summer?!?…Haha what an idiotic theory.
No team is going to trade numerous significant assets for a player of Crosby’s caliber not to sign an extension with them. It’s just not happening. I get players get traded for rentals (a high quality players) to teams but someone of Crosby’s caliber isn’t going to be a rental asset. No way. Not buying it as that’s an utter joke.
He’s done all he can do in Pittsburgh. If he doesn’t want to deal with a rebuild then man up and see how he’d feel about a trade before the season.
Might rather see the sun explode than Sid in another jersey.
Luckily, his boyhood hero was Steve Yzerman and his mentor was Mario Lemieux. Don’t see it.
Further, it would pretty shady to insist on long term deals for Letang and Geno only to bail. Not at all Sid-like.
But, for fun….exactly which team can make a trade for Sid that he would accept to…? Has the assets, the cap space, the window of contention, etc.
The AVS! They would make room. Trade Mittelstadt for 1 year of Sid at $5.7M salary as a pure rental. (same cap hit as Casey). All for great shot at the Cup! And Sid is free to return next summer.
SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Yeah, that’s the only team I’d fear. He and McKinnon are so close and the team still has a window, especially with THAT 1-2 down the middle. Not sold on Georgiev, though.
No other team would make sense, though.
Canes pls.
Rumour around Pitt is that Sid doesn’t have the same faith in Dubas that the media seems to.
I don’t doubt this one bit. And I truly believe this has to do with ownership than Dubas. I believe Dubas has his hands tied much like Rutherford did before he departed.
There seems to be this belief that the big 3 must retire together having only worn one jersey, as if that is the goal more than a banner from another cup.
Dubas shot his load last offseason acquiring Karlsson and it failed miserably. And he’s tied to a HC that I’m not sure he really wants.
Dubas came here hoping to reshape his image and really he’s just a lame duck flapping in the wind
I don’t think that it’s so much that the Karlsson acquisition was a failure as it was that every other acquisition that Dubas had (except Eller) failed miserably. Every player that Dubas signed last offseason is on the trade block (and in the case of Reilly Smith, traded). Every use of cap space by Dubas has been terrible – and it’s hard to sit there as Sid and take less just to have that cap space wasted on bad signings/acquisitions.
When was the last time they actually had a good FA signing? Brandon Tanev who was wayyy over paid?
Sid wants out. He’s likely going to Colorado.
How has anyone concluded that this isn’t about money? Money seems the far simpler explanation. Has anyone other than reporters (or what passes for reporters in the NHL) said that?
He needs to go to Toronto.
Pretty simple, he should go to a contender. Pitt is going to keep dropping in the standings year by year. It’s just the way it goes in the modern NHL.
What a bunch of junk, wishful takes. Sid isn’t going anywhere.