The Pittsburgh Penguins have made multiple franchise-altering decisions since the conclusion of the 2022-2023 regular season, and they will soon have to make another such call regarding Sidney Crosby’s future on the team.
Crosby has a mere two years left on the blockbuster 12-year, $104.4 million extension deal that he signed off on with the Penguins in 2012. The longtime center will have a cap hit of $8.7 million in each of the next two seasons.
During an end-of-season press conference on Friday, Penguins alternate governor David Beeston took some time to touch on Crosby’s future in Pittsburgh. Beeston made clear that it is “very important that Sidney Crosby never plays a game in another uniform.”
On Saturday, Crosby was asked about Beeston’s comments regarding his future with the Penguins. The eight-time All-Star noted that he would “love” to don a Penguins jersey for the remainder of his career in the NHL.
“I’d love to,” Crosby said. “That’s been the case since Day One. I feel really fortunate to have been drafted here and (have) great memories. Got to play with two teammates specifically (Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang) for a really long time. So I’d love that to be the case.”
The Penguins are coming off of quite a roller-coaster season, as in the end, they failed to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for just the second time in the Sidney Crosby era. In the big picture, Crosby hopes that the team will “learn” from its sluggish 2022-2023 campaign.
“I just hope that we learn from this,” Crosby said. “I think that's the biggest thing. Regardless of the situation, whether you win or you lose in the first round, second round, whatever, you've got to learn from it. That's something we'll have a lot of time to dissect it and learn from it. Hopefully, we're a motivated group because of going through this.”
On Crosby’s part, he managed to put together a sound 2022-2023 season for the Penguins. The three-time Stanley Cup champion recorded 90-plus points for the first time in four years, and he tallied 30-plus goals for the second consecutive campaign.
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