The Penguins have signed captain Sidney Crosby to a two-year, $17.4M contract extension, the crew announced. It carries a cap hit of $8.7M.
Crosby’s deal will likely be paid out largely in signing bonuses, per PuckPedia. He’ll earn $780K in base wage with a $9M signing bonus in 2025-26 and a $1.09M base wage with a $6.53M signing bonus in 2026-27. As suspected, his contract features a full no-move clause.
Right away, a large cloud that may have loomed over Pittsburgh’s coaching camp later this week dissipated. The 2-year pact ends an sudden extension saga that started two months in the past after reports that Crosby and the Pens were finalizing a deal went unfulfilled.
Some nervousness returned when Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet mentioned on the “32 Ideas” podcast earlier this month that Crosby was nonetheless weighing a number of extension affords from the Penguins, however had but to place pen to paper as a result of he wasn’t positive whether or not he’d be capable of “deal with” lacking the playoffs on a retooling membership whereas nonetheless acting at an elite stage. The 37-year-old told Friedman last week that he was “fairly optimistic” an extension can be executed earlier than coaching camp.
The 2-year size shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody. It permits the Penguins extra salary-cap flexibility sooner or later ought to the getting old curve lastly come for Crosby, as alluded to by Friedman on Friday, and it additionally offers him one other alternative to maneuver on from Pittsburgh in 2027 ought to the Penguins’ file not return to a meaningfully aggressive stage.
Coming into his twentieth season, Crosby remains to be the guts and soul of hockey in Pittsburgh. The 2005 first-overall choose completed ninth in each Hart and Selke Trophy voting final season after main the Penguins in objectives (42), assists (52), factors (94), and photographs on objective (278).
“There are not any phrases to correctly describe what Sidney Crosby means to the sport of hockey, town of Pittsburgh and the Penguins group,” normal supervisor Kyle Dubas mentioned in a press release. “Sidney is the best participant of his era and one of many best gamers within the historical past of the sport. His actions at present present why he’s one in every of hockey’s best winners and leaders. Sid is making an amazing private sacrifice in an effort to assist the Penguins win, each now and sooner or later, as he has executed for his total profession.”
Crosby may have turn out to be an unrestricted free agent for the primary time subsequent summer time with out an extension. The three-time Stanley Cup champion is getting into the ultimate season of the 12-year, $104.4M mega-deal with an $8.7M cap hit he signed in 2012. The primary deal he signed following the expiry of his entry-level contract, a five-year, $43.5M pact that lined from 2008-09 to 2012-13, additionally had an $8.7M AAV.
He’s nonetheless taking part in at a celebrity stage, but this can be a way more cost-effective contract for Pittsburgh than his earlier ones. That first extension value 15.34 p.c of the cap when it went into impact in 2008, whereas at present’s deal takes up simply 9.89 p.c of the wage cap at its begin. That’s to not say his earlier offers weren’t bargains, although. The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn estimates Crosby has left roughly $43M on the desk all through his profession by taking offers decrease than market worth.
Assuming a $92M wage cap for 2025-26, the Pens have $23.3M in projected cap house for subsequent season with seven open roster spots, per PuckPedia. They solely have one notable pending RFA, contemporary commerce pickup Cody Glass. However there’s an honest slate of pending UFAs on Pittsburgh’s books, headlined by defenseman Marcus Pettersson. These extension talks are expected to shift into high gear with Crosby’s deal turning into official.
Crosby sits twenty first in league historical past in objectives (592), 14th in assists (1,004), tenth in factors (1,596), and eighth in factors per sport (1.25) amongst gamers with at the very least 500 appearances. The latter is probably the most telling stat, with concussions costing ’Sid The Child’ an excellent chunk of his prime within the early 2010s. He was rightfully named among the many 100 best gamers in NHL historical past through the league’s centennial celebration in 2017.
The Penguins have missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, their first time exterior the playoff image since Crosby’s rookie season in 2006. Each side hope Crosby’s low cost deal helps them return to type.