The Pittsburgh Penguins are officially in offseason mode, and the work has begun for general manager Kyle Dubas. There are several difficult decisions ahead regarding the clubs multiple pending free-agent players, including team icon and future Hall of Famer Evgeni Malkin.
Speaking of Malkin, whose contract officially expires at midnight on July 1, his longtime teammate Sidney Crosby is set to enter the final year of his contract. Crosby will be 39 years old when next season starts, and as the old saying goes, Father Time eventually comes for everyone.
Crosby and the Penguins both know he can’t play forever, but according to his most recent comments, it doesn’t sound as though he’s ready to think about hanging up his skates just yet.
Pittsburgh Penguins Icon Sidney Crosby Discusses His Future In The NHL
When asked by Josh Yohe of The Athletic if he believes that next season could potentially be his last in the NHL, Crosby shot the idea down.
“Not at all,” Crosby said. “I said year to year because of where the team is at,” he said. “It just makes sense, whether it’s our cap, who we have coming in and out, just to have that flexibility. It’s important.”
Crosby, who scored 29 goals with 45 assists for the Penguins this year before missing a chunk of the schedule because of an injury suffered during the Winter Olympics, has shown no signs of slowing down offensively.
He also indicated that he’d be open to doing year-to-year style contracts.
“Yeah, I’m saying year to year based on contracts,” he explained. “It just seems to make sense. I mean, it could change. We’ll see. Kyle (Dubas) and I haven’t even talked about it. But I’ll talk with Pat (Brisson) and Kyle later this summer. We’ll talk about it and do what makes sense. If it does make sense to sign for a couple of years, then we’ll do that.”
“It’s pretty obvious why I would just go year to year with the contracts,” he said. “At the end of the day, I’m just going to do what’s best for the team. It’s got nothing to do with how long I want to play. It’s not like that at all.”
Sidney Crosby Wanted Time To Regroup After The Playoff Loss To The Flyers
Crosby and the Penguins came within one goal of forcing a Game 7 in the opening round of the postseason, instead losing Game 6 by a 1-0 final score in overtime.
Crosby said that afterward, he just needed time to regroup.
“I just needed a few days to get some time off, to be honest,” he said. “It was a busy year. one of the busiest I’ve ever had. Sometimes, when you’re coming off a playoff loss, your mind is just in so many different places. You want to keep playing, but then sometimes, you relax a little bit and just need some rest. So I was just taking my time.”
However, he reiterated that his preference is to play as long as he’s able to.
“I definitely want to keep playing for as many years as possible,” he said.
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