{"id":686038,"date":"2026-05-22T09:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T09:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/686038\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T09:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T09:07:09","slug":"east-notes-crosby-leach-sabres-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/686038\/","title":{"rendered":"East Notes: Crosby, Leach, Sabres \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby<\/a> will turn 39 before the start of next season, he isn\u2019t seriously considering ending what has been a legendary career in the NHL. Crosby spoke to The Athletic\u2019s Josh Yohe<\/a> about his future, and said \u201cI definitely want to keep playing for as many years as possible.\u201d He also added that any previous comments about wanting to take a \u201cyear-to-year\u201d approach was more about giving the Penguins as much financial flexibility as possible, rather than an indication that he is weighing hanging up his skates.<\/p>\n

That Crosby isn\u2019t giving any serious thought to retirement shouldn\u2019t come as any surprise. First and foremost, Crosby is one of the game\u2019s all-time great competitors. He hasn\u2019t won a playoff series since 2017-18, and it\u2019s likely he\u2019ll want to see the Penguins through their current retool as far as he can. But the more important factor to Crosby\u2019s longevity isn\u2019t his competitive drive, it\u2019s the simple fact that he remains an extremely effective NHL center. Crosby scored 29 goals and 74 points in 68 games in 2025-26. Although the Penguins stumbled in the first round of the playoffs, Crosby is still a star first-line center. Before injuries limited him this past season, Crosby had three consecutive campaigns where he scored more than 90 points. It seems he\u2019s eager to continue leading the Penguins into their increasingly promising future, and for as long as he wants to continue playing, he\u2019ll have a place at the top of the Penguins lineup.<\/p>\n

Other notes from around the NHL:<\/p>\n

The Boston Bruins will not retain assistant coach Jay Leach for next season, reports David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period<\/a>. Leach, whose contract is set to expire this summer, has been an assistant behind the bench in Boston for the last two years. First-year head coach Marco Sturm inherited Leach from the staff of former bench boss Jim Montgomery. Per Conor Ryan of the Boston Globe<\/a>, Leach \u201cprimarily worked with Boston\u2019s defensemen\u201d during his time with the team. Before he became an assistant in Boston, Leach spent three seasons with the Seattle Kraken on the staff of former head coach Dave Hakstol. Leach had some previous experience in the Bruins organization as well, serving as head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, for four seasons.
\nBuffalo Sabres general manager Jarmo Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen told the media, including Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic<\/a>, that he informed skaters Bowen Byram<\/a> and Zach Benson<\/a> of the organization\u2019s desire to sign them both to long-term contract extensions. Benson, 21, enjoyed a breakout third season in the NHL, scoring 18 goals and 52 points across 78 combined regular-season and playoff contests. The twin pillars of Benson\u2019s game \u2013 his dynamic offensive skill and his aggressive, pest-like qualities \u2013 have endeared him to Sabres fans and team management alike. Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen called Benson, who is a pending RFA, a \u201ccore piece.\u201d Byram, who turns 25 early next month, isn\u2019t a pending RFA but becomes extension-eligible July 1. His $6.25MM AAV contract walks him directly to unrestricted free agency in a little over a year, but Buffalo is hoping he won\u2019t reach that point. Byram scored 11 goals and 43 points this past season, and added seven points in 13 playoff games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby will turn 39 before the start of next season, he isn\u2019t seriously…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[740,11622,741,49,48,251362,753,20710,82,96713],"class_list":["post-686038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-boston-bruins","tag-bowen-byram","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-jay-leach","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-sidney-crosby","tag-sports","tag-zach-benson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}