3 reasons Sidney Crosby has NOT signed with the Penguins.

There seems to be a growing sense of worry surrounding the future of Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby among the Penguins fan base, and according to one National Hockey League insider those concerns may not be entirely unfounded.

Recently, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman shared his insight into the ongoing contract negotiations between Crosby and the Penguins and he listed a number of reasons why he believes a new deal has not yet materialized between Crosby and the Penguins.

First and foremost, Friedman believes Crosby is taking his time with a very important decision in his life.

"I believe that he thinks its not the biggest deal he hasn't made a decision yet," revealed Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast. "He is a guy who puts a lot of effort into his decisions and he looks at it as 'I have time to make a call.'"

The second reason the process may not be moving along as some would like is a lack of pressure from the Penguins. Friedman believes that, due to what he has meant to the city and the organization, the Penguins have not pressured Crosby into signing a new deal as of yet.

"I think the Penguins are like 'This is Sidney Crosby, he has the right to make a decision as he sees fit' and they are not pressuring him," revealed Friedman.

Where things get a little more concerning however is the third reason why Crosby has yet to sign, with Friedman indicating that the team may simply not be good enough for Crosby to want to return.

"Here's my theory based on what one player said to me about him," began Friedman. "He is still a great elite player and one of the things that they think he is coming to grips with and trying to recognize is, what if the team isn't that good?"

"One thing I wonder is if Crosby is simply sitting here saying 'I've got no problem with the offers, I've got no problem with the Penguins, if we're not gonna be making the playoffs am I gonna be able to handle that?' and I think that's one of the things he's kind of weighing."

According to Friedman the Penguins have made Crosby a number of different offers of varying term, but as of the time of this writing no deal has yet been signed.

"I think they've made him a bunch of different offers," admitted Friedman.

The thought of Crosby entering the season on an expiring contract once seemed extremely unlikely, if not outright impossible, but he may wish to evaluate the team around him and the direction that team is trending in before making one of the biggest decisions of his career.