Coming into the ultimate season of his 12-year, $104.4M mega-deal with the Penguins, franchise cornerstone Sidney Crosby grew to become eligible to signal an extension on July 1 this yr. A deal appeared shut shortly after that, with reports suggesting the 2 sides would formalize an extension weeks into free company. Nevertheless, with no information but, Elliotte Friedman said on Friday’s “32 Thoughts” podcast that Crosby remains to be weighing whether or not he needs to signal any of the a number of affords introduced to him by Pittsburgh common supervisor Kyle Dubas.
Crosby’s uncertainty isn’t associated to a want to maximise his incomes potential within the latter levels of his profession — it’s merely about whether or not he’s ready to spend the ultimate years of his time as a top-of-the-lineup participant on a retooling Pittsburgh membership. The Penguins have introduced him with a number of affords with various lengths, all of that are acceptable to Crosby in idea, Friedman famous.
“One factor I ponder,” the hockey insider mentioned, “is that if Crosby is solely sitting right here saying ’I’ve bought no drawback with the affords, I’ve bought no drawback with the Penguins, but when we’re not going to be making the playoffs, am I going to have the ability to deal with that?’ I feel that’s one of many issues he’d form of weighing.”
He then continued on the subject
“My prediction is he stays as a result of I feel he’s a Penguin and he needs to be a Penguin,” Friedman mentioned, “however I’ve tried to ask round about why it isn’t finished, and I feel one of many causes is it’s the summer time and he doesn’t must rush. He’s nonetheless bought time. And I feel the opposite one is what if it’s like that? Is [he] going to have the ability to take care of it, as a result of he’s nonetheless on the high of his sport and he’s aggressive.”
With the extension saga starting to attract out into its third month, there’s been extra dialogue about contingency plans and ripple results if he enters coaching camp in a few weeks with no deal in place. Travis Yost of TSN posited earlier this week that Crosby might settle for a commerce elsewhere on the deadline, permitting the Pens to bolster their future with a presumably gargantuan commerce return earlier than signing again in Pittsburgh as an unrestricted free agent subsequent summer time. Final month, Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote about the off-ice impact of Crosby not extending earlier than camp.
Crosby has one season left on his deal at an $8.7M cap hit, however he’s owed simply $3M in wage this yr. It’s the identical construction his extraordinarily front-loaded contract has carried because the 2022-23 marketing campaign.
If there’s a scarcity of urgency from Crosby’s finish to the diploma that Friedman implies, it’s changing into extra believable than not that he’s nonetheless not signed previous 2025 when camp kicks off in lower than two weeks. Pittsburgh nonetheless wants his greatest if they’ve any intention of closing the three-point hole that stored them out of the postseason for the second yr in a row final season. The 37-year-old had 42 objectives and 94 factors in all 82 video games en path to ending ninth in Hart Trophy voting, his highest end within the MVP tally since 2021.
