Sidney Crosby has spent his complete NHL profession up to now with the Pittsburgh Penguins. If it have been as much as him, the Penguins’ sweater will proceed to be the one one he wears in what’s going to simply be a Corridor of Fame profession. Crosby, 38, is getting into the primary yr of a two-year, $17.4 million extension that he signed final September, however latest feedback from his agent have intensified commerce rumors.
“There [are] quite a lot of narratives on the market, and I do not suppose quite a lot of these have come from me,” stated Crosby, who’s getting ready for his twenty first NHL season with the Penguins. “That is the place I need to be. I adore it right here. I can not maintain having to reply the identical query over once more due to these narratives. If individuals wanna write about that or say that, that is effective, however I can not actually management that.
“Clearly, if you lose and when there’s sure issues that occur, I feel it is regular for that stuff to return up, however that is how I really feel,” he continued.
As Crosby alluded, a lot of the hypothesis relating to his future has to do with the Penguins’ lack of success lately. Whereas his time with the Penguins contains three Stanley Cup championships, Pittsburgh hasn’t received a playoff sequence since 2018 and has missed the postseason in every of the previous three years.
As an alternative of being traded to a contender, nevertheless, Crosby would apparently choose to proceed his profession in Pittsburgh whereas taking part in alongside longtime teammates Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. Crosby can even get one final likelihood to play with former teammate Marc-Andre Fleury as a member of the Penguins after the just lately retired goalie signed an expert tryout contract for an upcoming preseason recreation in opposition to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Whereas he’s a proud Canadian, Crosby considers Pittsburgh his second dwelling. That affection, together with a possible understanding of his distinctive legacy as one of many best athletes within the metropolis’s wealthy sports activities historical past (an inventory that additionally contains fellow Penguins legend Mario Lemieux), are absolutely among the many the reason why he desires to proceed his profession with the Penguins as a substitute of chasing a hoop someplace else.
“It means a lot,” Crosby stated when requested about taking part in hockey in Pittsburgh. “I speak in regards to the first day, and you concentrate on first impressions — I did not know so much about Pittsburgh previous to being drafted, and I confirmed up on the airport and will barely transfer. The help I felt from Day 1, the relationships that I shaped right here, the reminiscences, the teammates, the followers. … I imply, you can go down the checklist.
“I am so grateful and grateful that I’ve had the chance to play right here so long as I’ve. And I feel anybody who is aware of me is aware of what town means to me and the way particular it’s. I do not take these rumors or a few of these issues frivolously. Like I stated, that is the place I need to be. It is a particular place, and it is one thing that’s arduous to place all of it in a soundbite, but it surely means so much.”
