Report hints at Sidney Crosby’s ultimate sacrifice for the Penguins

Everyone expected the Pittsburgh Penguins to be top contenders for the Stanley Cup in 2024. That had to include captain Sidney Crosby. He probably thought he’d be celebrating with the trophy this summer when he can negotiate an extension soon as the next NHL calendar gets underway on July 1, 2024.

As of this morning, the Penguins sit in sixth place of the Metropolitan division, seven points away from the last Wild Card playoff spot in the Eastern conference, held at the moment by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Crosby is the type of player who has a game by game approach, however, reporters and pundits are already wondering how this season will play into his upcoming contract negotiations.

Adam Proteau of The Hockey News provided an analysis on what Crosby’s next contract could look like and how the captain could accept a massive discount to give his team the best chance to succeed. One of his former teammates for Team Canada has done it, and Crosby could emulate him:

“The most prominent example of that would be the incredible hometown discounts veteran Boston Bruins centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci gave to the B’s when they were in their final seasons. Combined, Bergeron and Krejci had a base salary of $2.5 million. Although they had performance bonuses in their deals, that’s a fraction of what the duo could’ve secured from another team. That allowed Boston to go out and augment their lineup with as many high-impact veterans as they could fit under the cap ceiling.”

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.

However, Proteau concludes his article with a heartbreak reality that if even Crosby makes that sacrifice, who says general manager Kyle Dubas will get the necessary to make the Penguins the ultimate contenders?

“Even if Crosby were to cut his payday in half to somewhere in the $4.4-million range in what would likely be his final contract, there’s no guarantee the Penguins would use their cap space to provide Crosby with enough talent to thrive as a team. They’ve been trying to do that for the past six seasons and won exactly one playoff round in that span.”

What would you do if you were Crosby’s agent Pat Brisson? I just feel like Crosby will be a Penguin and will want to help his team anyway he can.

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