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Sidney Crosby’s Future, Pressure on Dubas, & Moving Parts
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- Sidney Crosby’s Future, Pressure on Dubas, & Moving Parts
Penguins 2025-26 Projection: Playoffs or Lottery Pick?
Sidney Crosby will remain with the Pittsburgh Penguins this season.
Beyond that, we can finally exhale and admit, we don't know. Crosby's steadfast insistence that he's not leaving remained in full effect Tuesday as he spoke at the players' media tour outside Las Vegas.
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Crosby deflected and shrugged off the talk that he could leave.
"I haven't seriously considered anything else," he said.
It's quite obvious he does not want to leave. He wants to wrap it up with the Penguins and ride off into the sunset, whenever that is.
If it ever happens, this will not be the year that Crosby leaves Pittsburgh. It is likely, though not guaranteed, to be Evgeni Malkin's final year . It could also be Kris Letang 's final season with the Penguins.
Letang loses his full no-movement clause next summer. He spoke with PHN last spring about his future and expressed that he fully understands hockey is a business and accepted that his career might finish somewhere else.
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Crosby won't bail before those goodbyes. But afterward?
As I've opined many times in the past, to expect Crosby to finish his career is to expect more loyalty than any of us would show, certainly more than I would give.
Going through a rebuild cannot be fun. Losing. Teammates coming and going. Music in the locker room geared for players who were born well into the 21st century. Losing.
Crosby has earned the right to call his shot. No one has worked harder, given more, and played for a salary beneath his value and done so for the team more than Crosby.
If he wants to ride this out, he's earned the right. Full stop.
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Next Summer is the Real Question
But what happens after this season when the Penguins have traded Erik Karlsson and likely one of Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust ? What will happen when Crosby sees that the next crop of players, such as Ben Kindel and Will Horcoff, is a couple of years away?
What happens if or when the losses mount, Malkin retires, and it is time for Letang to go, as well?
Even the greatest party ends.
Next summer is when the magnitude of his future–getting ever shorter–will land with Crosby. Next summer, he will have one year left on his contract, the Penguins' future will be much clearer (or cloudier), and Crosby will know both if the revival is close enough to stay or if he can tolerate the process.
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Crosby's People
Everyone around Crosby has foreshadowed his leaving. Former teammates and still close friends Max Talbot and Marc-Andre Fleury spoke at a Montreal golf outing earlier this summer. They tempered their comments with acknowledgements that Crosby does not want to leave Pittsburgh–then expressed opinions on exactly why he should leave.
Those comments were easily dismissible as guys talking casually.
However, when Crosby's long-time agent Pat Brisson opened the door Tuesday, everything changed.
"It's always a possibility," Brisson told TSN.
"We want Sidney to hopefully be in the playoffs every year. We want him to hopefully win another Cup or two," Brisson continued. "So, each year the team that he's playing for fails to make the playoffs, it creates a lot of speculation.
"In reality, he's not getting any younger. We're here to support him."
Tuesday, Crosby acknowledged that not even he knows the future.
"I go into the season trying to do my very best to be ready and to make sure that we give ourselves every chance. I don't think about that," said Crosby. "I know that if all my energy isn't towards what it needs to be, then I'm not giving myself the best chance for it to be successful.
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"If it ever came to that point, I would discuss it, but I don't feel like I'm there."
Adding Brisson's and Crosby's words together, the meaning is clear: if the rebuild isn't going well, if the losing becomes too much, Crosby will consider his options.
No pressure, Kyle Dubas.
Crosby vs. Crosby & Dubas
And this is where Crosby's presence conflicts with Crosby's goals.
His dominance keeps the Penguins in the middle of the league, rather than at the bottom, which provides those high draft picks where the next generation is most likely obtained.
While the media and fan speculation will explode, and every fan in Colorado and Montreal prays a little harder that Crosby will one day wear their team's sweater, the comments likely landed harder for Dubas, the Penguins' president of hockey operations and general manager.
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Crosby essentially served Dubas a fair warning.
And the situation could get complicated for Dubas, too.
Dubas is likely losing the boss who hired him. The Fenway Sports Group has all but packed up and rolled out, ready to profit from their franchise flip and get out of hockey.
Last week, sources told PHN that management does not expect new ownership to change the course of the Penguins' rebuild. Further, that some inside the Penguins organization already know this indicates that a conversation about the subject has been had at some level.
But … there's always a but.
Crosby becomes a very important variable. He sells tickets. He brings relevance. He IS the Pittsburgh Penguins .
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Would new owners instruct Dubas to keep Crosby happy–pushing to get back to the playoffs posthaste–thus indirectly changing the course of … everything?
Dubas's performance and ownership wishes are the other variables, but the bedrock remains. Crosby will leave only when he wants.
And there's no reason to ask again, at least until April.
The post Sidney Crosby's Future, Pressure on Dubas, & Moving Parts appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now .
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