The agent for Pittsburgh Penguins franchise icon Sidney Crosby, Pat Brisson of CAA Sports activities, spoke to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic about his consumer’s future in Pittsburgh forward of a season that has the Pens positioned as one of many few true sellers within the league.
Whereas LeBrun careworn that Crosby “for positive solely sees himself as a Penguin for all times” coming into his twenty first NHL season, his camp is giving him loads of room to alter his thoughts if Pittsburgh’s exhibiting this season is as poor as anticipated.
When requested if a Crosby commerce earlier than the top of his deal in 2026-27 is feasible, Brisson had this to say.
Let’s put it this fashion, it’s all the time a chance, you realize? It’s been three years they haven’t made the playoffs. All of it is dependent upon how Sid goes to be and the way the group goes to do. I preserve the identical place that I do imagine that he ought to be taking part in playoff hockey yearly. For my part.
There stays nearly no likelihood of a shock Crosby blockbuster earlier than the beginning of the season. The Penguins haven’t even managed to commerce one among their three main commerce chips, wingers Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust and defenseman Erik Karlsson, within the six-plus months they’ve been obtainable relationship again to final season’s commerce deadline. Crosby might have each these forwards as his wingmen to open the season, both to squeeze as a lot manufacturing out of them as attainable to spice up their commerce inventory or just to provide this Penguins group a preventing likelihood at being within the combine for the playoffs.
As Penguins common supervisor Kyle Dubas advised LeBrun, that continues to be the group’s aim – whether or not that’s by way of resurgent veterans or ahead-of-schedule development from the younger expertise they’ve been accumulating over the previous a number of months.
“Our focus is on returning the Pittsburgh Penguins to perennial contender standing as urgently as
attainable,” Dubas mentioned.”
Crosby himself gave a extra in-depth quote on the place his mindset is at coming into the season to Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin.
It’s not one thing you wish to focus on,” Crosby mentioned. “You’d relatively be speaking about who we’re getting on the (commerce) deadline or, you realize, the place we’re at so far as, are we one or two or three within the division? However you realize, it’s a type of issues. That’s the onerous half about dropping. I believe all people thinks that the buzzer goes and also you lose a sport and that sucks, however there’s a lot greater than that. It’s the (roster) turnover. It’s the unknown, the uncertainty, the query marks — that’s the stuff that’s robust. It makes you admire all these years that we have been competing and going after the large acquisition each single commerce deadline. I don’t suppose I took it without any consideration, however I undoubtedly admire it that rather more now.
