Crosby, who turns 37 next month, just had one of his best seasons in a long time.
In his 19 years with Pittsburgh, he’s scored over 40 goals three times, including last year. He was in the top 10 for the Hart Trophy for the first time since 2021 and also placed top 10 in Selke Trophy voting for the first time since almost being a finalist in 2019. Though he hasn’t reached 100 points since the 2018-19 season, he still managed to score 42 goals and make 52 assists, totaling 94 points while playing all 82 games for two straight seasons—a first for him—leading the Pens in all offensive stats by a large margin.
Crosby is entering the last year of a massive $104.4M deal signed back in 2012. This contract has seen him play some of his healthiest hockey despite missing many prime years due to concussions. Between the 2010-11 and 2012-13 seasons, he only played in about half of the regular-season games due to injuries. Since then, he’s missed more than ten games only twice. The sooner they extend his contract this summer, the less speculation there will be about him finishing his career somewhere other than Pittsburgh—a commitment both Crosby and general manager Kyle Dubas want to assure fans .
Contract Details:
A new contract starting at $10 million per year would be Crosby’s richest yet. While it might seem odd given his age, it’s fair considering they can’t frontload this deal like before when he got just $3M each of the last two years. Evolving Hockey predicts a three-year deal worth $10.82M annually if signed this month. Fans might think it’s smart to keep their star player happy with a full no-move clause as before.
However, this extension will fall under special rules because Crosby is over 35. This means they can’t reduce his cap hit with signing bonuses or front-load it heavily.
Multi-year contracts for players over age 35 are rare but not unheard of; Ryan Suter recently signed such a deal that paid more salary later on rather than upfront—allowing cap benefits if bought out early on! Expect something similar or evenly spread compensation across three years for Crosby.
Team Strategy:
For Dubas and company trying hard to get Penguins back into playoffs after missing two consecutive seasons—their first miss during Crosby era since rookie season (2005-06)—cost certainty on Sid’s extension is crucial!
With Matthew Nieto expected on long-term injured reserve recovering from knee surgery giving them some extra cap space ($4.42M), they’ll likely stick mostly same top-six forwards & top-four defenders from end last season while hoping new additions like Anthony Beauvillier help bridge gap keeping them out wild-card spot East last year!
What do you think? Should they give Crosby another big contract?
