Hint surfaces that Sidney Crosby may not end his career in Pittsburgh!

Sidney Crosby is once again not taking part in the postseason and has since had the time to think about his contract extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The captain can negotiate one as soon as the next NHL calendar gets underway on July 1, 2024, though this deal will not go into effect until 2025-26. When discussing the developments on a Crosby’s extension, Rob Rossi of the Athletic hinted at the fact that this new contract is likely not to be Sid’s last.

And so does this mean that he could sign a shorter term deal in Pittsburgh for another shot at a championship, and if the Penguins fail, he could sign as a free agent in a few years, with a top contender to get one last chance at the Stanley Cup?

Rossi writes: “Crosby is not necessarily seeking his final NHL contract. However, he also hasn’t set a firm date for when he plans to retire, so a shorter-term deal than he’s signed in the past is appealing, a source said.”

I mean we’ve seen Zach Parise do exactly that when he signed with the Colorado Avalanche as a free agent to get a chance to hoist the Stanley Cup.

Oh. And I just did the unthinkable: mentioning the Avalanche. Some fans will already start dreaming of Crosby joining his close buddy Nathan MacKinnon in Colorado. I can already hear the whispers of the mock trades and crazy scenarios.

As for his next deal, more than likely in Pittsburgh, recent reports have indicated that Crosby could accept a massive discount to give his team the best chance to succeed, like we’ve seen both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci do in the past with the Boston Bruins. Rossi says:

“As previously reported, Crosby may command a higher cap hit than the $8.7 million from each of his past 16 seasons. But his new contract will not go into effect until 2025-26, and the Penguins project to have considerably more cap space to work with for that season and beyond — in part because the cap is expected to exceed $90 million by then, and also due to Malkin’s anticipated retirement after his current contract expires.”

The Penguins will want to keep Crosby, there is no doubt about that. They’ll also have enough salary cap space with eight players under contract for 2025-26 and a projected $42.5 million in cap space. Crosby will be dictating what his salary boundaries will be, but there’s a clear sense he could ask for way less in order to provide his team’s a thick wallet to get top line mates, hence another shot at the Stanley Cup.