Sidney Crosby, Penguins to Discuss Contract Extension This Summer
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby plans to begin contract negotiations on a new deal this summer, the 10-time All-Star told reporters Thursday during the club’s annual locker cleanout.
The 36-year-old centre, set to enter the final year of his 12-year, $104.4-million contract next season, will be eligible to sign an extension as of July 1st. He’s slated to become an unrestricted free agent following the 2024-25 campaign.
“Obviously, I’m going to talk to [general manager Kyle Dubas] and have a conversation with him,” Crosby said during Thursday’s locker cleanout, per NHL.com’s Wes Crosby. “We’ll see. I think it’s just something that I’ll have conversations with him about.”
Crosby, selected first overall in 2005, has spent his entire 19-season NHL career with the Penguins and leads the franchise in both regular (1,272) and postseason (180) games played. He sits second all-time in goals (592) and points (1,596), trailing only Mario Lemieux in both categories.
Across 82 games this season, the left-hander scored a team-high 42 goals and 94 points, averaging at least a point per game for the 19th consecutive season. If he extends that streak to 20, he’ll pass Wayne Gretzky for the most point-per-game seasons in NHL history.
At 36, soon-to-be 37 this August, many outside the dressing room have begun to wonder how many years Crosby may have left in the tank. Inside the room, however, the three-time Stanley Cup champion limits his focus to a season-to-season basis.
“I don’t really think like that,” Crosby said. “I’ve always just gone year to year. That’s always kind of served me well, as far as how I evaluate my game and that sort of thing. There’s always a lot of factors. But I think that’s separate from talking contract.”
“Obviously, at my age, and things like that, there will be a lot of factors. But as far as my game, I don’t look any differently at how much longer I can play based off that. It’s always just evaluating my game for what it is, not my age.”
Crosby’s spectacular performance this past season certainly proved he remains near the top of his game. While he’s unsure about how long his playing career will continue, it’s clear he isn’t ready to slow down any time soon.
“There’s no point worrying about four, five years from now,” Crosby said. “There’s so many factors when you get to this point. … I don’t really think that far ahead, to be honest with you. That’s just how I feel and how I approach it.”
Despite selling at this year’s trade deadline, the Penguins made a surprising late-season surge toward the playoffs, a movement led by none other than Crosby himself. Ultimately, they fell short, finishing three points shy of the final wild-card seed in the East, missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
It’s a fate they’ve become all too familiar with after failing to qualify for last season’s playoffs by just a single point.
“It’s disappointing, especially with the way we finished the year. We were playing good hockey,” Crosby said. “You look, when you miss by a margin that we’ve had the last couple years, there’s so many games that you look at plays and things you want to redo. It’s a fine line. Unfortunately, we’ve been on the wrong side of that the last couple years.”
Along with hammering out Crosby’s new deal, Penguins GM Kyle Dubas may have to decide on forward Reilly Smith, who’s also entering the final year of his contract next season. Additionally, they’ll have to replace the recently retired Jeff Carter.
After featuring the oldest roster (30.6) in the league this past season, inserting a bit more youth will likely be near the top of Pittsburgh’s off-season checklist – a feat management will attempt to complete with a projected $12.7 million in cap space for next season, per Cap Friendly.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Michael Miller. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.