Entering the final season of his 12-year, $104.4M 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 Friday’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 noted.
“One thing I wonder,” the hockey insider said, “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.”
He then continued on the topic
“My prediction is he stays because I think he’s a Penguin and he wants to be a Penguin,” Friedman said, “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 agent 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 $8.7M cap hit, but he’s owed just $3M 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.
