Getty Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins broke silence on his future.
The Pittsburgh Penguins‘ late-season efforts ended up meaning nothing for the franchise after they failed to clinch a postseason berth for the second season in a row.
With their campaign already over, all attention is now focused on what franchise cornerstone and Penguins living legend Sidney Crosby will do next as he heads into the final year of his deal with Pittsburgh.
With just one season of the 12 he signed up for left on his contract (on a 12-year, $104.4 million pact), Crosby finally broke the silence about how he will approach his future, whether that means staying in Pittsburgh or going away forever.
“I’m going to talk to [Penguins General Manager Kyle Dubas] and have a conversation with him,” Crosby told reporters on Thursday, April 18. “We’ll see. I think it’s just something that I’ll have conversations with him about.”
Crosby left the door open to what will happen after next season and didn’t confirm nor deny that he will be signing an extension with the team in advance of the end of his current contract, which runs through July 2025.
The future Hall of Famer is eligible to sign an extension with the Penguins on July 1, 2024, exactly one calendar year before he finds himself entering free agency barring an agreement between Crosby and the Pens getting signed before then.
Are Sidney Crosby’s Days in Pittsburgh Numbered?
Crosby said he plans to approach the team in the offseason about a contract extension but he didn’t make clear if he’s willing to re-sign with the Penguins or if he’d rather leave for greener pastures.
The center, who will turn 37 years old next August, has spent his whole career in Pittsburgh since the Penguins drafted him with the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NHL draft.
Considering how bad things have gone for the Penguins in the last two years as they have put together back-to-back failures when it comes to getting into the playoffs, it’s fair to assume that Crosby might be thinking about joining a contender for the final few seasons of his career.
“It’s disappointing, especially with the way we finished the year,” Crosby said. “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.”
Before the trade deadline on March 8, Crosby told Rob Rossi of The Athletic that he desired to finish his career in Pittsburgh. If he does that, he will become one of the greatest single-franchise players in NHL history.
“I’ve said that forever (that he only wants to play for the Penguins throughout his career),” Crosby told Rossi in March. “But right now I’m trying to focus on getting into the playoffs.”
It seems very clear that Crosby is certainly locked into staying put in Pittsburgh, but that will ultimately depend on what GM Dubas has in mind and is willing to offer Crosby, and what Crosby’s agent, Pat Brisson, will be demanding from the franchise to please his client both financially and on a sporting, contending basis.
The Penguins will enter this offseason with nearly $13 million in salary-cap space to address their roster, according to PuckPedia, but only with 17 players of the mandatory 23 in their squad.
Sidney Crosby Will Finish His Career as One of the Greatest Hockey Players Ever
Crosby wrapped up his second consecutive season without gracing the playoffs posting 94 points via 42 goals and 52 assists in 82 games this season.
He was the main catalyst for the Penguins’ late-season push toward clinching a postseason berth via the No. 2 wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. That honor ultimately fell on the Washington Capitals’ lap.
On a personal level, however, Crosby was as good as he’s ever been once again, tying Wayne Gretzky with his 19th season of averaging a point per game. Crosby’s 1.255 PPG throughout his career ranks eighth all-time, per Quant Hockey, and he only trails Connor McDavid (1.522) among active players.
Crosby brought three Stanley Cups to Pittsburgh in 2009, 2016, and 2017 and with the 2024 season already over, he’s piled up 1,596 points with 592 goals and 1,004 assists appearing in 1,272 games as a Penguin.