Crosby looks to the future
Penguins star plans to play at least three more years
“I’m at, it’s a year to year thing. But I feel comfortable with my game and where it’s at and think I can still be productive.” Sidney Crosby Pittsburgh Penguins
Sidney Crosby may be getting older but he has no intention of hanging up his skates any time soon. The Pittsburgh Penguins captain said at his seasonending media session he plans to play at least until the end of the 2024-25 season when his current contract is set to expire.
“Three (more years) for sure and then we'll see after that,” said Crosby, who turns 35 in August. “I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but three definitely and then we'll see after that. I'm glad to hear Geno (Evgeni Malkin) said three more and Tanger (Kris Letang) said five-plus probably. And I'm not surprised by either of those answers. Those are pretty much par for the course right there. But I'm glad they're looking to keep playing. They're playing at a high level so that's great to hear.”
Crosby is coming off another excellent season that saw him produce 84 points in 69 games to lead the Penguins in scoring. He averaged 1.22 points per game, which is right in line with his career average of 1.27. He skates just as well as he ever did and has not eased his engagement in the physical part of the game so there is no visible deterioration in his athleticism or durability.
The Cole Harbour native is also famously driven in his off-season workouts so it wouldn't come as much of a surprise to see him play into his forties. But Crosby also knows age eventually catches up with every athlete so he has no way of predicting how much long-term wear and tear he'll be able to endure over the next few seasons, let alone how it will affect his ability to keep going at the level he expects of himself with each passing year.
“It's hard to say,” he said. “I think as you get older there are always different challenges, whether it's injuries you've dealt with or other things you need to take care of that way like taking care of your body. But as far as your experience and knowing the game and what to expect, that should be getting better with age so it's kind of a trade-off with respect to those two things.
“But it's a hard one to answer. It's hard to project where you're going to be year in, year out but you just want to have consistency and as long as that's there on both sides of the puck then that's the really important thing for me. I always look to get better and that's the challenge every year. But as far as age and where I'm at, it's a year to year thing. But I feel comfortable with my game and where it's at and think I can still be productive.”
More pressing in Crosby's mind at the moment is the status of longtime teammates Malkin and Letang. The three stars have been together since the 2006-07 season and Crosby clearly wants management to keep the trio intact for a while longer. But while Crosby is signed for three more years, the other two are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents on July 1.
“I think we all feel the same way,” Crosby said. “We've been fortunate enough to play together for a long time and have been through a lot. If you look at all those experiences, there's a lot of belief and a lot of trust in one another. And with that we've had a lot of success too so I think there's also a confidence level. That's very rare and we all appreciate that. But that being said, we understand it's not something that can happen forever but hopefully a little bit longer.”
Crosby also said again how much he'd like to see as much of this year's core as possible back in 2021-22. But as much as he'd like that to happen as well and notwithstanding his stature in the game, he has no intention of sticking his nose into management decisions.
“It's not my job,” he said. “I think everybody knows how I feel about my teammates and I think the fact we had a pretty decent season, even though I would've liked to continue to play (past the first round of the playoffs), the fact that we did play well speaks for itself. There's a lot of things that have to be balanced and I understand that but I wouldn't think I'd be telling them anything they'd be surprised to hear. But it's not something they necessarily have to ask me about anyway. I don't think I've ever been someone to try to influence the way the roster (is managed).”
Crosby also made time to shoot down a rumour from earlier in the week that suggested he was physically cleared to play Game 6 but the Penguins wouldn't allow it. Crosby left Game 5 after taking a hit to the head from New York Rangers defenceman Jacob Trouba and didn't play in Game 6.
“I was cleared (for Game 7) Sunday morning after the morning skate and just how I felt that day leading up to it,” he said. “There's a process you have to go through and I went through that process and wasn't cleared for Game 6 and was cleared for Game 7 so that's all there was to it.”