When the Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season after a Game 6 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, there was a lot of speculation that it could be the last game for the team’s long-time core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang.
Well, while it remains to be seen how the summer pans out, Crosby has made it clear that he has no plans to retire from the NHL.
Crosby is currently over in Switzerland playing for Team Canada at the IIHF World Championship and was asked by The Athletic about the prospect of playing another five years.
“Ha,” he said. “That would be nice.”
SIDNEY CROSBY REACTS TO THE FIRST EMBELLISHMENT PENALTY OF HIS 21-YEAR CAREER
While making it another five years at the NHL level — even for one of the best to ever do it — when he turns 39 in August is a stretch, the Penguins captain pretty definitely shut down speculation that the upcoming season will be his last.
“Not at all,” Crosby said. “I said year to year because of where the team is at, it just makes sense, whether it’s our cap, who we have coming in and out, just to have that flexibility. It’s important.”
The Penguins had a surprisingly strong season in which they finished second in the Metropolitan Division. They also fought hard after going 3-0 against the Flyers and nearly forced Game 7.
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And it wasn’t like Crosby was just along for the ride, either. He tallied 74 points (29G, 25A) during the regular season and did it in just 68 games played, good enough to be Crosby’s 21st season at a point-per-game pace.
Of course, next season, Crosby will start the final year of his current deal, and he reiterated that he will assess where the team is before getting to work on a new deal with GM Kyle Dubas.
“Yeah, I’m saying year to year based on contracts,” he explained. “It just seems to make sense. I mean, it could change. We’ll see. Kyle (Dubas) and I haven’t even talked about it. But I’ll talk with Pat (Brisson, his agent) and Kyle later this summer. We’ll talk about it and do what makes sense. If it does make sense to sign for a couple of years, then we’ll do that.”
So, especially when you factor in where the team was this year, it seems that Flyers fans like myself will have to suffer through Crosby making our lives hell for at least a few more years.