Benefit from the subsequent three years of watching Sidney Crosby play for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Breathe it in. Cherish it. Get a little bit sentimental, if obligatory.
By no means in your lifetime will you see his variety once more.
I’m not speaking concerning the hockey, the backhand, the imaginative and prescient, the ability, the tenacity — you recognize, the entire stuff that has made him one of many biggest hockey gamers of all time.
No, that is about Crosby the particular person, an unselfish determine at a time when sports activities is infiltrated with such greed that skilled athletes are even farther from actuality.
Oh, certain, Crosby will earn more money subsequent season than the overwhelming majority of us will ever see in our lives. He’s not dwelling in a studio house anytime quickly. His new contract, nonetheless, illustrates a lot about Crosby the particular person and Crosby the captain.
GO DEEPER
Penguins re-sign Crosby to new 2-year contract
By signing a two-year contract that kicks in after this season on Monday, Crosby as soon as once more turned down more cash to stay compensated at his common salary-cap hit of $8.7 million per season. Whereas his numerous superstitions are the stuff of legend, we make far an excessive amount of out of them. Greater than something, he isn’t grasping and cares concerning the fortunes of this franchise.
Kyle Dubas had no leverage. The Penguins normal supervisor and president of hockey operations may be very effectively compensated and simply as highly effective, however he’s no more highly effective than Crosby.
It wouldn’t be like that in different cities and on different groups, however that is completely different. In Pittsburgh, the hockey stars are greater than the franchise. And Crosby isn’t simply one other star. He’s one of the vital hockey gamers of this century and among the finest. He’s nonetheless going robust and simply may have commanded many extra hundreds of thousands yearly. Dubas would have given him no matter he wished. He had no selection.
Crosby by no means chooses Crosby, although. His variety and unselfish persona illustrates the actual particular person. There’s nothing phony or insincere about him. Profitable is the one factor that drives him, which has been the case since he emerged as a 17-year-old 20 summers in the past.
By my estimation, Crosby has left roughly $43M on the desk taking $8.7M each season since 2008-09. https://t.co/JRn4vKFkLO
— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) September 16, 2024
The contract’s two-year time period is each bit as noteworthy as the cash.
This deal will take Crosby via his age-39 season, a few months shy of his fortieth birthday. Is that this the ultimate contract of Crosby’s profession? Perhaps. Forty is a pleasant, spherical quantity, and by that point, greater than half of his life may have been spent as Penguins captain. That will even mark the conclusion of his twenty second NHL season. That’s plenty of hockey, and it’s not like he has something left to perform.
The 2-year time period has some implications. Let’s break all of it down:
• At a minimal, you get to observe Crosby for at the least three extra seasons. That ought to present nice consolation for these of you dreading his retirement.
• The Penguins should not going right into a “full rebuild” for at the least three extra years. As Dubas has famous, they’re unlikely to be a bottom-five crew at any level with Crosby nonetheless on the roster as a result of he’s too good. We’ll see a mini-rebuild or a reload as a substitute.
• Crosby may have requested for extra years. The Penguins would give the captain as a few years as he wished. He opted towards it as a result of he didn’t wish to hamstring the crew. What if he had signed to play for 5 extra years, however after the primary couple of years, realized his ardour for the sport had evaporated? Or possibly his play will decline. That looks like a overseas idea as a result of he’s essentially the most persistently nice famous person within the historical past of the game. He seems to be ageless. However I guarantee you, he’s not. He’ll flip human sooner or later. Crosby is aware of that and doesn’t wish to negatively impression the Penguins if it occurs quickly.
The worst-case state of affairs is that Crosby will play in a Penguins uniform for 3 extra years, the crew doesn’t make the playoffs, Crosby retires in 2027 and Dubas has a boatload of cash — and younger belongings — to present him the liberty to show the Penguins right into a winner in a rush.
So, at worst, you get to see Crosby till the very finish. You get to get pleasure from his farewell tour. And all of the whereas, you’ll know a brand new wave of Penguins gamers is studying to be a professional from one of many biggest captains in hockey historical past.
That’s the fantastic thing about the two-year contract: It’s lengthy sufficient to get pleasure from him for a number of extra years however not so lengthy to color himself and the Penguins right into a nook.
If he’s nonetheless nice at 39 and needs to play longer, effectively, that’s even higher. Nobody has to point out Crosby the door. And by then, the Penguins could be able to win. Dubas is doing what he’s imagined to be doing. He’s fiercely dedicated to creating proficient younger gamers, nothing just like the occasional call-up from Wilkes-Barre that we’ve seen over the previous few seasons.
One of the best-case state of affairs could be if Crosby, who continues to be one of many 5 or 10 greatest gamers within the league, can preserve that degree of play for a number of extra years, simply as all of those younger belongings all of a sudden blossom.
Crosby’s ultimate act with the Penguins might be particular if these two potentialities converge. Watching him make a ultimate run or two at a championship with a bunch of children who will carry the torch could be one thing.
It’s hardly unimaginable. A lot of this shall be made attainable by the deal he signed. It saved the franchise vital cash to spend on different gamers and belongings. It retains Crosby in everybody’s life for some time, however not for too lengthy, simply in case the time to retire is close to. If he’s nonetheless nice and hungry at 39, he’ll signal one other short-term deal. Why not?
It’s so sensible, unselfish and clever. It’s so Crosby.
He’ll rightfully obtain huge quantities of affection from all of Pittsburgh and Penguins followers across the globe. It’s deserved.
However with this deal, Crosby reciprocates all of that affection proper again.
He actually is one among a form.
(Photograph: Steph Chambers / Getty Photographs)