Another one of the National Hockey League‘s offseason subplots has concluded Monday, with the Pittsburgh Penguins announcing that they had agreed to terms with captain and franchise legend Sidney Crosby on a two-year contract extension beginning in 2025/26. While this seemed like an inevitable outcome to most, a few seeds of doubt dropped along the way, along with questions about the price and term if the deal did get done.
The doubts centred around wondering if Crosby would prefer to chase another shot at a championship elsewhere. The Penguins have found themselves barely outside of the playoff picture in each of the last two seasons, and some wondered if Crosby would like a chance to do the same, leaving via trade or unrestricted free agency at some point in the next year.
Of course, this is Sidney Crosby, who, like Mario Lemieux before him, has proven to be a franchise-saving, lifetime face of his franchise. It’s been 19 years of Crosby wearing black and gold in Pittsburgh, from his Draft Day as a generational first-overall pick in 2005 to another fantastic season last year. Sid The Kid has played 1,272 regular season games in Pittsburgh, scoring 592 goals, 1,004 assists, and 1,596 points. He’s now 98 goals, 29 assists and 127 points shy of Lemieux’s franchise highs, and with at least three years ahead of him, he has a chance at surpassing all three of those records.
In an interview with Sportsnet days before the announcement, Crosby strongly implied that his biggest concern in negotiation was not the price tag but making sure that the term he accepted would not handcuff the team if he decided to call it a career on his own terms. Having turned 37 last month, any contract he would’ve signed would’ve been prone to staying on the salary cap if he retired ahead of its completion. Two additional years will give Crosby some security and peace of mind, but it will also set a reasonable time to re-evaluate his future in the summer of 2027.
Sidney Crosby to score over 30 goals in 2024/25
Speaking of that salary, Crosby’s new deal brings him to his usual $8.7 million annual average value, matching his jersey number (87) and his birthday (August 7th, 1987 – or 8/7/87). Crosby has been making the same annual paycheque from the Penguins since the 2008/09 season, and while the price tag hasn’t changed, its weight certainly has. Let’s look at what $8.7 million meant at the start of his second contract and what it’ll look like at the start of next year.
| Deal | Term Age | AAV | Ceiling | Cap% | 2025 $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Second Contract (08/09-12/13) | 21-25 | $8.7M | $56.7M | 15.3% | $14.2M |
| Third Contract (13/14-24/25) | 26-37 | $8.7M | $64.3M | 13.5% | $12.5M |
| Fourth Contract (25/26-26/27) | 38-39 | $8.7M | ~$92.5M | ~9.4% | $8.7M |
When Crosby initially signed his five-year extension, $8.7 million took up over 15% of the salary cap, and was the equivalent of what about $14.2 million would get you in 2025/26. This puts it somewhere in between Auston Matthews’ extension last summer (4 years at $13.25 million, beginning this year) and Leon Draisaitl’s last month (eight years at $14.0 million, beginning next year). That’s already an acceptable price given what Crosby was at that point – more like Connor McDavid than any of today’s other superstars. But with each year, it’s gotten a little better.
His third contract was a little of a double-edged sword, in the sense that $8.7 million was already starting to be a smaller piece of the pie, but Crosby had also signed it after missing significant time to head and neck injuries in the previous two seasons, and also signed for a no-longer-legal 12 years. At that stage, there was no guarantee that this fourth deal would ever come, meaning the pay freeze was as much insurance as it was grace.
Nevertheless, the bet worked out for both – Crosby got his security, and he stayed healthy for most of the deal. He’s playing some of the best hockey of his career heading into the last year of the deal – his 42 goals in 2023/24 were his most since 2017, and his 94 points were his most since 2019. This is on top of improving his two-way game significantly in recent years, earning Selke Trophy votes in 11 of the last 12 seasons and finishing ninth in voting last season.
This time around, even at his age, $8.7 million is a bargain for his services, especially with the term trimmed down to two years. Ninety-point two-way forwards aren’t common on the open market, particularly with three championships and a top-10 all-time pedigree.
Sidney Crosby Odds Watch
| Award | Crosby Odds (bet365) | Favourite |
|---|---|---|
| Art Ross Trophy | +6500 (T-13th) | Connor McDavid (-180) |
| Rocket Richard Trophy | +3500 (T-13th) | Auston Matthews (-110) |
| Hart Memorial Trophy | +7500 (19th) | Connor McDavid (+160) |
| Frank J. Selke Trophy | +4000 (T-14th) | Aleksander Barkov (+130) |
Crosby might not be the league’s top player anymore, and for some, he isn’t quite on their present-day shortlists. All the same, it’s difficult to remove him from the conversation entirely. After all, we’re talking about a player who finished in the top dozen point-getters while also finishing in the top 10 of Selke voting. Age be damned, it’s hard to rule him out in any awards race.
Of the four major awards that Crosby is currently being offered up for on bet365 and other top Canadian sportsbooks, the one where he has the longest odds might be his best shot. I’m speaking of the Hart Trophy, or the NHL’s MVP award.
Expecting him to keep up with the 130+ point clips of Connor McDavid and whoever the annual challengers are, or the 55, 60+ goal clips of Auston Matthews & company, feels like a tall task to set on a 37-year-old. The Selke trophy seems a bit more attainable if he were to focus even more on his defence, but the Penguins will need the scoring touch he does still have.
But what he can do is bring a little bit of all of that together, like he did last year, and perhaps get a bit more team success on his side. If he can pull out one more top-production season and drag the Penguins back to the playoffs along the way, I could see him ending up in the voting mix – especially if we don’t have the top scorers chasing historic numbers like we did last year.
If you want to aim a little bit lower, you can also look to props for Crosby to score 30+ (-240) or 40+ goals (+300) next season. Crosby reached his seven-year high last year with a slightly higher-than-average shooting percentage, but more importantly, his volume took a huge jump. Crosby took more shots on goal and shot attempts last year than he had since 2010, recognizing the need to be a finisher with this group. Big results will no doubt get more difficult with each year for him, but 30+ seems like a foregone conclusion if he stays healthy, and another 40-goal year isn’t out of the question.
