Pittsburgh Penguins star forward Sidney Crosby is being asked questions surrounding trade rumors ahead of the 2025-26 season, and the 38-year-old has seemingly had enough.
“There’s a lot of narratives out there. I don’t think a lot of those have come from me. This is where I want to be, I love it here,” Crosby told reporters while making personal deliveries to season-ticket holders on Monday. “I can’t keep having to answer the same question over again.”
The questions seem to be a direct result of comments Crosby and his agent, Pat Brisson, made at the NHL’s Player Media Tour on Sept. 8, teasing a potential move as a possibility if Pittsburgh’s recent woes do not improve this year.
“Let’s put it this way, it’s always a possibility, you know?” Brisson said then. “It’s been three years they haven’t made the playoffs. It all depends on how Sid is going to be and how the team is going to do. I maintain the same position that I do believe that he should be playing playoff hockey every year. In my opinion.”
Crosby directly addressed Brisson’s opining with some apparent damage control, attempting to avoid speculation that he wants to leave the team that drafted him first overall in 2005.
“I was [surprised,]” he said Monday. “Pat and I didn’t have a conversation prior to him talking when he did, or addressing the media.”
However, Crosby also fed into the “narratives” himself by entertaining a rumor that the Montreal Canadiens, his boyhood favorite club, were interested in acquiring him.
“If it ever came to that point, I would discuss it, but I don’t feel like I’m there (yet),” he said then. “To know that a team like that wants you, it’s not the end of the world. It could be worse.”
The Penguins have failed to finish higher than fifth in the Metropolitan Division over the last three seasons and are in the midst of a rebuild. General manager Kyle Dubas has admitted the team is rebuilding and hired rookie head coach Dan Muse after firing the much more experienced Mike Sullivan.
Throughout last season, Dubas sold off many of the team’s veteran spare parts, including Lars Eller, Marcus Pettersson, Drew O’Connor, Vincent Desharnais, Michael Bunting, Anthony Beauvillier, Luke Schenn, Cody Glass, Jonathan Gruden, and Alex Nedeljkovic. He’ll likely have similar decisions to make with players like Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, and Erik Karlsson this season.
“I try not to put a timeline on [the rebuild] because I don’t this to be a perpetual and evergreen conference where we come in and say, ‘Oh, we’re just a year or two or so away,'” Dubas said in April. “We’re pushing because I think that’s what the organization here is used to, what the fans want. We just have to stick to a very concise plan and then execute our butts off, that’s for sure.”
The upcoming season is the start of a two-year, $17.4 million extension for Crosby, and longtime center Evgeni Malkin, 39, is on an expiring deal. Given recent comments, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that both depart Pittsburgh if the Penguins aren’t in contention for a playoff spot by the March 6 trade deadline.
