Pittsburgh Penguins longtime captain Sidney Crosby inked a two-year contract extension that runs through the 2026-27 NHL campaign last offseason.
Crosby is nevertheless the subject of trade rumors this summer, following Pittsburgh’s failure to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive season and the club’s somewhat controversial decision to replace head coach Mike Sullivan with then-New York Rangers assistant coach Dan Muse.
For a piece published on Tuesday, Penguins reporter Josh Yohe of The Athletic explained why it’s likely Crosby will remain a one-club man even though Pittsburgh is now in the middle of a needed roster rebuild.
“It’s all about loyalty for him,” Yohe said about Crosby. “Before he signed his new two-year contract with the Penguins last September, I asked a member of the organization if anyone was concerned. The response this person sent me was this: ‘Nope, none at all. He’s a Penguin.'”
Crosby has been a Penguin since he made his NHL regular-season debut in the fall of 2005. While the 37-year-old is a three-time Stanley Cup champion and one of the best players in franchise history, Yohe noted in a separate article that Penguins president and general manager Kyle Dubas is looking to trade veteran wingers Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell this summer as part of an unofficial strategy for the upcoming campaign.
As of Tuesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Penguins as +600 betting underdogs to make the playoffs next spring.
Few, if any, would blame Crosby for going ring-chasing in the final years of his career, and Yohe acknowledged that the future Hall of Famer would probably “prefer for Dubas to get a little aggressive and make this team better immediately.” There’s no indication Dubas will embrace such a mentality, but it also appears that Crosby won’t look to join an advertised contender before the expiration of his deal.
“He’s a Penguin,” Yohe added about Crosby. “He’s a Pittsburgher. He’s spent most of his life playing for the Penguins. Really. Twenty years out of the 37 in which he’s walked this planet have been as a member of the Penguins. He’s happy here. …Crosby deserves to live his life on his terms. And he wants to live his life being the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins.”
History shows Crosby could experience a change of heart if the 2025-26 Penguins are as inferior as outlets such as DraftKings Sportsbook are forecasting. It remains to be seen how Crosby will get along with Muse, who has never before served as a head coach at the highest level.
