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 vital.
By no means in your lifetime will you see his sort once more.
I’m not speaking concerning the hockey, the backhand, the imaginative and prescient, the facility, the tenacity — you realize, all the stuff that has made him one of many best 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 condo anytime quickly. His new contract, nevertheless, 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 extra money 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 common supervisor and president of hockey operations could be very nicely 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 necessary hockey gamers of this century and probably the greatest. He’s nonetheless going robust and simply might have commanded many extra thousands and thousands yearly. Dubas would have given him no matter he wished. He had no alternative.
Crosby by no means chooses Crosby, although. His sort and unselfish persona illustrates the true particular person. There may be nothing phony or insincere about him. Successful 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 by 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 could have been spent as Penguins captain. That may also mark the conclusion of his twenty second NHL season. That’s quite a lot 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 look at Crosby for at the least three extra seasons. That ought to present nice consolation for these of you dreading his retirement.
• The Penguins will not be 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 group 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 an alternative.
• Crosby might have requested for extra years. The Penguins would give the captain as a few years as he wished. He opted in opposition to it as a result of he didn’t need to hamstring the group. 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 perhaps his play will decline. That looks like a international idea as a result of he’s probably the most persistently nice celebrity within the historical past of the game. He seems to be ageless. However I guarantee you, he isn’t. He’ll flip human sooner or later. Crosby is aware of that and doesn’t need to negatively influence 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 group 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 best captains in hockey historical past.
That’s the great thing about the two-year contract: It’s lengthy sufficient to get pleasure from him for just a few extra years however not so lengthy to color himself and the Penguins right into a nook.
If he’s nonetheless nice at 39 and desires to play longer, nicely, that’s even higher. Nobody has to point out Crosby the door. And by then, the Penguins is perhaps able to win. Dubas is doing what he’s imagined to be doing. He’s fiercely dedicated to growing 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 can be if Crosby, who remains to be one of many 5 or 10 finest gamers within the league, can keep that stage of play for just a few extra years, simply as all of those younger belongings all of a sudden blossom.
Crosby’s remaining act with the Penguins may very well be particular if these two potentialities converge. Watching him make a remaining run or two at a championship with a bunch of children who will carry the torch can 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 monumental 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 in all a sort.
(Picture: Steph Chambers / Getty Pictures)
