Major update on contract negotiations direct from Sidney Crosby today

Sid 'The Kid' ain't much of a kid these days.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby turned 37 years old earlier this offseason and is entering the final year of a massive 12 year contract that he inked way back in 2012.

Penguins reporter Mark Madden reported back in early August that he believes Crosby and the team will announce a new deal prior to the start of training camp. If not then the speculation will begin on the captain's future in Pittsburgh.

“If he doesn’t, I think we can start wondering,” Madden said.

“If he’s not signed, this is something that drags on all year. It’s gonna drive him crazy, so he will sign the contract, just to avoid that,” Madden predicted. “Honestly, if he doesn’t sign the contract, they should trade him this year.”

“If he doesn’t sign the contract and they start the season with him being a pending free agent, it just makes the season a mess from the beginning of training camp,” Madden said. “I don’t want to see ‘Madden says trade Crosby.’ Because I’m not. I’m just saying that if Sid creates these heightened circumstances we’re discussing, well, that would be an extreme time. It might call for an extreme measure. But I do not see it coming to that.”

Personally, I can't see Crosby or the Penguins ever walking away from each other. The Penguins have committed to taking a run at the Stanley Cup Playoffs so long as Crosby is in the fold. Ditto for the likes of Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.

“If Sid is so attached to those guys (Malkin & Letang), even when the team is struggling in no small part because they did pick nostalgia, that would be something bad about him. But I don’t think that’s the case,” Madden said about the notion of Crosby perhaps wanting out of Pittsburgh.

Well, today Crosby finally quietened things down a bit by addressing the rumors himself.

"I think I'm pretty optimistic it's going to get done," Crosby said, to The Score's John Matisz. "I don't know what day specifically, but it's been really positive. It hasn't been a difficult process at all."

In other words: He ain't goin' anywhere.

And he's excited to get training camp and the pre-season rolling.

"I feel really good. I'm excited about going to training camp as I was my first year. So, I think the passion and that sort of thing is all there," Crosby said. "As long as that's there, then you're willing to put in the work and do everything that it takes to be successful, and hopefully it can be at least a few more."