The Athletic reported that Sidney Crosby \u201cdefinitely want(s) to keep playing for as many years as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Crosby\u2019s contract extensions, he says, will be structured to give the Pittsburgh Penguins salary-cap options: \u201cIt just makes sense, whether it\u2019s our cap, who we have coming in and out, just to have that flexibility.\u201d (Crosby has one more season left on his current deal.)<\/p>\n
Crosby isn\u2019t just talking about his long-term future.<\/p>\n
Crosby is discussing the Penguins\u2019 long-term future, at least within the context of his career\u2019s remainder.<\/p>\n
The two run parallel. As always.<\/p>\n
At 38, Crosby is in the physical condition to keep going indefinitely. He never stops.<\/p>\n
Comparisons to Tom Brady are only partly valid.<\/p>\n
Crosby\u2019s style of hockey is more demanding and punishing than Brady\u2019s brand of football.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a definite comparison in terms of prolonged excellence.<\/p>\n
But ring-chasing is where the comparison stops.<\/p>\n
Brady took his legacy a step beyond by moving from New England to Tampa Bay and winning a seventh Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
But Brady\u2019s biggest accomplishments came with his original team. You\u2019re supposed to win where you\u2019re at.<\/p>\n
Crosby has three Stanley Cups and six international gold medals. He doesn\u2019t need further validation beyond being a career Penguin. That\u2019s always been his plan.<\/p>\n
Other teams might need Crosby to win. For their validation.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s their problem.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the hockey media\u2019s problem, especially north of the border. They get intense, don\u2019t they?<\/p>\n
Every time it makes sense to the usual suspects, Crosby\u2019s path out of Pittsburgh is plotted. Usually to Montreal, because the Canadiens are on the verge and were Crosby\u2019s favorite team when he was a kid.<\/p>\n
But the Penguins are Crosby\u2019s favorite team now.<\/p>\n
The strength of the Penguins\u2019 brand bothers Original Six junkies. Especially with Toronto not winning a Cup since 1967, Montreal since 1993, no Canadian team since \u201993, no Original Six team since 2015.<\/p>\n
All Crosby will ever be is a Penguin and a Canadian. (That\u2019s \u201c-an,\u201d not \u201c-en.\u201d)<\/p>\n
So, it would be nice if the hockey media ditched its wishful thinking and shut the heck up.<\/p>\n
Crosby has spoken. Again. And said the same thing.<\/p>\n
At long last, please listen.<\/p>\n
Crosby started his NHL career in Pittsburgh. That\u2019s where it will finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic reported that Sidney Crosby \u201cdefinitely want(s) to keep playing for as many years as possible.\u201d But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-662052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}