While in Switzerland for the IIHF World Championships, Pittsburgh Penguins team captain Sidney Crosby told The Athletic that he’d like to play for “as many years as possible.” He also refused to rule out the notion of playing as many as five more years.
That would have him playing until the age of 43.
Crosby emphasized that he’d go year-to-year on contracts moving forward as a way to help Penguins president of hockey operations, Kyle Dubas, with salary cap space. That’s not an issue currently with the Pens. Their $42.5 million in space for 2026-27 is the most in the NHL entering their offseason.
But the flexibility could be useful in the future as Dubas attempts to strengthen the roster.
During this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of TribLive and 105.9 The X said that was the most important thing to glean from Crosby’s comments — beyond the open-ended timeline before retirement.
“He’s going to play his whole career in Pittsburgh,” Madden said. “When you’re talking about going year-by-year to give the team cap freedom to have a better team, he is paralleling his future exactly to that of the Penguins.”
Madden insists that’s bad news for the Canadian portion of the NHL’s fans and media who seem hellbent on drumming up a scenario that’ll put Crosby on a roster north of the border to end his career.
“Those idiots in Canada who try to fantasize his way to the Canadiens or to whoever, they can give up on that,” Madden proclaimed. “He’s staying. Period. He didn’t leave any door remotely open to anything otherwise.”
Evgeni Malkin’s contractual situation is a different story. He’s slated to become a free agent this summer. While Crosby didn’t demand or request that Dubas retain Malkin’s services, No. 87 made his preference clear.
“I’ve just always expected to be playing with him,” Crosby told The Athletic in a separate post.
Madden says that’s a subtle tactic Crosby has used before without directly meddling with ownership, management or coaching decisions.
“Sid is the king of passive-aggressive. I don’t think he has ever gone to a GM and said, ‘Do this.’ I think they try to read his mind and work toward him,” Madden said. “In 2013, they got Jarome Iginla specifically to play with Crosby. He said to the media, ‘I’m content playing with (Chris Kunitz) and (Pascal Dupuis), and (coach) Dan Bylsma interpreted that like it was a Papal bull.”
The question now becomes if Dubas will use a lot of that excess cap space to give Malkin a raise — or even a two-year contract — because it’s available and Crosby would clearly prefer that Malkin remain a Penguin.
“I don’t,” Madden replied. “I don’t know what he is going to do. I’d run my team the right way. I wouldn’t get held up for nostalgia. I’ll give him the minimum. I’ll give him what I think he deserves, of what I can afford, and I wouldn’t let the cap space figure into it at all.”
Also, during the podcast, Madden and I analyze Paul Skenes’ struggles during his last two starts. We offer up some thoughts on the NHL playoffs, Aaron Rodgers’ arrival and more.