SEATTLE — This is a difficult period in Sidney Crosby’s career.
There’s no winning in the world of the player whom Mike Babcock once famously and accurately described as a “serial winner.” Instead, there’s frustration, foreign territory at the bottom of the standings, and, though he’d never admit it, perhaps a touch of resignation about this season’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
He’s still Crosby — still chipper enough, still chatty in the locker room, still flashing a smile — but deep down, this isn’t how he would have authored his 20th NHL season, or, for that matter, the final chapters of his career.
However, it’s important to note Crosby is a fully grown, 37-year-old man. And this was his choice.
He is willing to ride out a dark stretch because he believes the Penguins will turn it around before he hangs up his skates. It’s what he wanted. He signed that contract in September. These are his wishes.
Some of his former teammates don’t have any respect for that.
Every time trade talks involve the Colorado Avalanche, Crosby’s name arises. His friendship with fellow Nova Scotian Nathan MacKinnon has made some people believe a Crosby trade to Colorado is a foregone conclusion.
Paul Bissonnette and Ryan Whitney have made quite the post-playing careers for themselves. When they speak, the hockey world hears it.
I get it: Seeing Crosby play with MacKinnon and Cale Makar would be entertaining. Seeing Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky play on the same NHL team would have been great fun, too. So, sure, I understand the fantasy of seeing an all-time great join one of hockey’s best and most entertaining teams.
At some point, though, can’t we just let this go? It’s never going to happen.
We saw this obnoxious trend continue on Friday night, when the Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes and Chicago Blackhawks shook up the NHL with the Mikko Rantanen blockbuster trade. Rantanen might be the best player to be traded in-season since Marián Hossa went to the Penguins in 2008. It’s a massive transaction that may have altered the race in the Eastern and Western conferences.
But that wasn’t enough.
Frank Seravalli reported that an even bigger name had been mentioned in trade talks in the days leading up to the Rantanen blockbuster.
And… not sure how to process yet, but impeccable source said that this Rantanen deal was not the biggest thing on the table in the last 48 hours.
👀
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) January 25, 2025
Moments later, it all started:
Dubas is doing it isn’t he. He’s trading Sid??? https://t.co/rnYvDbNrDb
— Paul Bissonnette (@BizNasty2point0) January 25, 2025
Crosby to the Avs is back on the table I’m shaking right now people. Is that what this means? Someone explain it to me. https://t.co/WMvyffTc2T
— Paul Bissonnette (@BizNasty2point0) January 25, 2025
Which led to this:
👀 @TheRealCally24 #HockeyX pic.twitter.com/44Lffdy4m6
— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) January 25, 2025
By early Friday evening on the West Coast, where the Penguins are, Crosby once again saw his name in unfounded rumors.
“I don’t worry (about) that stuff,” he told The Athletic’s Rob Rossi earlier this season. “I’ve said I’m going to always be here. I just signed a new contract to be here. I’ve been very upfront about it — I’m a Pittsburgh Penguin.”
Yes, as he said, he can deal with it, but he really shouldn’t have to.
It’s disrespectful to him. It’s also disrespectful to Rantanen and the Hurricanes, who deserved the spotlight that night.
I’m not sure what else Crosby needs to say. He holds the keys, and he says he’s not going anywhere. He’s more of a fixture in Pittsburgh than fries on a sandwich or dodging potholes in March.
Driving engagement and creating conversation is great and, make no mistake, every one of us in this industry does it. I’m no different. But I don’t really think that’s what’s happening here. I suspect many in the hockey world are simply bored — maybe by the Penguins losing or maybe by seeing Crosby’s final years being wasted. Maybe they’re just so enamored with the thought of a blockbuster trade that would have one of the greatest players of all time finishing his career elsewhere. So, they’re trying to will it into existence.
Was it exciting seeing Gretzky skate for the Rangers? Would it have been a bore if LeBron James had stayed in Cleveland for his entire career? Gretzky and LeBron made their choices and did what they felt was in their best interests. They had the power and used it. Good for them.
Crosby, too, has that power. He could be cruising around Pikes Peak in Colorado right now if he wanted. He could be living in Manhattan and playing for the Rangers if he wanted. He could be having lunch in a French bistro right now if he wanted to play for the team that drafted his dad long ago.
Instead, he’ll lace up his skates Monday in San Jose, the site of the second of his three Stanley Cup wins. Two of the NHL’s worst teams will play. Maybe the Penguins will win or maybe they’ll lose a third straight game.
Either way, Crosby will proudly wear the “C” on his Penguins sweater for the 1,339th time in his storied career.
That loyalty to the Penguins is an important theme in Crosby’s career:
• He never wanted to play for another team (except Team Canada).
• He has never played for market value — not because of an obsession with the number 87, but because he wants to save money under the salary cap so his team has more opportunity to win.
• He has never pushed for a coach to get fired in his 20 years in Pittsburgh, even though he has the power to do so.
Crosby isn’t like so many superstars. He doesn’t need big-market attention, he doesn’t push for his name to be in headlines, and he most certainly doesn’t need to play with an all-star team.
He’s one of the hardest-working superstars in hockey history, and, even at 37, his only interest is willing the Penguins back to championship contention, as he did as a teenager so very long ago.
This is the story. It’s pretty compelling — and worth telling.
One cost of fame is sometimes unfairly dealing with your name in headlines. Crosby handles it with grace.
But he really shouldn’t have to.
(Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
