For years, numerous Pittsburgh Penguins insiders have insisted that longtime captain Sidney Crosby will retire with the franchise regardless that they seemingly aren’t near competing once more.
However, Crosby remained the topic of trade rumors all through the summer time. Whereas he might’ve poured chilly water over such chatter throughout his Participant Media Tour availability on Monday night time, the three-time Stanley Cup champion went in a distinct course.
Sidney Crosby: “That’s the arduous half about dropping”
“I imply, I perceive it,” Crosby mentioned about hypothesis relating to his future, per The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun. “It’s not one thing you need to focus on. You’d relatively be speaking about who we’re getting on the [trade] deadline or, you realize, the place we’re at so far as, are we one or two or three within the division? However you realize, it’s a kind of issues. That’s the arduous half about dropping. I believe all people thinks that the buzzer goes and also you lose a recreation, and that sucks, however there’s a lot greater than that. It’s the [roster] turnover. It’s the unknown, the uncertainty, the query marks — that’s the stuff that’s powerful.”
Crosby grew up a Montreal Canadiens fan and has repeatedly been linked with them amid Pittsburgh’s ongoing roster rebuild. Following the 2024-25 marketing campaign, the Penguins replaced head coach Mike Sullivan with then-New York Rangers assistant coach Dan Muse, who had no prior expertise as a bench boss.
As of Tuesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Penguins as +600 betting underdogs to make the playoffs subsequent spring.
Crosby appeared to decide to Pittsburgh when he inked a two-year contract extension in September 2024 that runs via the 2026-27 season. Whereas talking with LeBrun on Monday night time, Crosby’s agent indicated that the 38-year-old has no real interest in merely going via the motions on a retirement tour with a staff that lacks a practical likelihood of successful even a single playoff sequence.
Sidney Crosby is “not getting any youthful”
“Initially, he’s been so constant for 20 years. He had one other nice 12 months final season,” agent Pat Brisson mentioned about Crosby throughout his chat with LeBrun. “He had one other nice 12 months final season. He simply retains going. The comparability is Tom Brady. We wish Sidney to hopefully be within the playoffs yearly. We wish him to hopefully win one other Cup or two. So, annually the staff that he’s enjoying for fails to make the playoffs, it creates a variety of hypothesis. In actuality, he’s not getting any youthful. We’re right here to assist him. It’s the start of the season right here. Let’s see how issues are going. Hopefully, they’ve an amazing season, and the hypothesis will go away.”
Crosby added that he needs “to compete for so long as I can.” He can nonetheless be a difference-maker as a part of a playoff-caliber squad, which the Penguins seemingly will not be capable to supply him anytime quickly.
LeBrun was positive to notice that “the likeliest final result” is that Crosby stays “a Penguin for all times.” That mentioned, it sounds just like the all-time nice is conserving his choices open.
