Penguins sign Sidney Crosby to 2-year contract extension

It was 12:52 p.m. March 29, just over 20 minutes after a brief practice session had concluded in Cranberry and three members of the Pittsburgh Penguins were still going at it.

At one end of the rink, rookie forward Jonathan Gruden and defenseman Jack St. Ivany were sliding passes to one another to set up one-timers. Each was trying to fine-tune their unpolished games in order to further establish themselves as NHLers.

About 180 feet up ice was another soul trying to round out the rough edges of his skillset by flipping backhanders from a bad angle on an open net. He too was fortifying his place in the league, nearly two decades after he began his professional existence.

Sidney Crosby, seemingly never satisfied with the status quo, was still trying to improve himself during a stage of the season when most veterans prioritize rest over refinement.

But it is that unique assiduity to his vocation that has allowed him to have a nonpareil career as one of the sport’s brightest luminaries.

On Monday, the 37-year-old Crosby took a significant step toward ensuring he will complete that career with the team and city that embraced him when he was drafted in 2005 at the age of 17.

Crosby and the Penguins agreed to a two-year contract extension that will begin with the 2025-26 season and retain his services until 2026-27. The deal will carry a salary cap hit of $8.7 million. Per PuckPedia, the deal contains a no-movement clause.

On July 1, he formally entered the final year of a 12-year contract that he signed in 2012. Infamously superstitious, Crosby had his current contract crafted to contain an identical salary cap hit of $8.7 million, matching his jersey number (87) and his birth date (Aug. 7, 1987).

It’s fair to wonder how far Crosby will play beyond his 40th birthday in 2027. But given his devotion — obsession, really — with maintaining his abilities, he could very well plunge deep into his fourth decade of life as an active NHLer.

“Sid could play for as long as he wants,” former Penguins forward Matt Cullen said during his final NHL season of 2018-19, then at the age of 42. “He’s just unique in every way. But also with his mindset, with the intelligence he has. Even if he lost his ability to skate, he could play because he’s so smart.”

How the Penguins as a whole will play is certainly a curious matter. Kyle Dubas, the team’s president of hockey operations, has begun taking steps to ensure future assets will be in place to surround Crosby with suitable supplemental talent.

Ever since Dubas traded All-Star left winger Jake Guentzel — Crosby’s friend and most prolific linemate — on March 7 in exchange for a bundle of assets that included forward prospects Ville Koivunen, Vasily Ponomarev and a second-round selection in the draft last month, the Penguins have begun to compile draft picks.

“Sid’s an ultra-competitive person and wants the team to be a contender,” Dubas said before the draft in Las Vegas on June 28. “As long as you have someone like Sid on the team and the players that we have, the process that we have to follow — as urgently as possible — is acquire younger, hungrier players that can help us to get back to (being a contender).”

The Penguins probably haven’t been a true contender for at least half a decade (if not more).

But with Crosby’s continued presence, there are certainly valid reasons to have faith.

It was that way when he arrived in 2005.

It continues to be that way in 2024 and beyond.

Especially for him.

“There’s a lot of teams that want to win the Stanley Cup,” Crosby said before his team’s regular season finale April 17. “That’s what I play for. That’s what we all believe.

“I’m not going to start predicting or projecting. But I believe that we’re capable.”