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Sidney Crosby’s recent choice to sign yet another team-friendly contract extension – for two more years, starting next season, at $8.7-million per year – has made the life of Pittsburgh Penguins GM Kyle Dubas a bit easier. But thinking the Pens are on easy street because of Crosby’s selflessness is a stretch.
Look at Pittsburgh’s salary cap picture in the next couple of years, and you’ll see Crosby’s decision gives the Pens a little more flexibility to bring in talented players but it doesn’t give Dubas the kind of cap space to acquire difference-makers to drastically elevate them in the Metropolitan Division standings and the Stanley Cup playoff picture.
Indeed, despite the rise in the cap, the Penguins (per Puck Pedia) are already committed to approximately $68.7 million in salaries for the 2025-26 season – and that’s for only 16 players, so you’re still looking at seven roster spots to be filled. If the salary cap ceiling rises as expected to $92 million, that leaves some $23.3 million in cap space for Dubas to spend. That’s about $3-million per player to fill out an NHL roster. Not an insubstantial amount, but not the kind of money that would allow the Pens to add another high-end player or two to help them contend with the dynamic young cores of other Metro powerhouses in Carolina, New Jersey and Manhattan.
Had Crosby asked for more money – let’s call it market value – the Penguins would have even less to spend to augment their core, but Crosby’s unselfishness gives Dubas more bullets in his gun, and for that, the entire Pens lineup has the captain to thank. Yet here’s the thing: even with the amount of money they’ve already spent this year, the Penguins aren’t a true front-runner to win the Metropolitan Division, let alone be a bona fide contender for a Cup. All they’ve got at the moment is the chance to be a wild card playoff team, with the hopes they’ll gel at the right time of year next spring and go on a lengthy playoff run.
Now, bear in mind all of Pittsburgh’s core players, Crosby included, are going to be creeping closer to age 40 next year. Crosby (who’ll be 38 next season), Evgeni Malkin (who’ll be 39), Kris Letang (38) and Erik Karlsson (35) are all on the back nine of their impressive careers, so an infusion of youth will be paramount for the Pens. But with its limited budget, Pittsburgh is going to need to rely on its draft and development system more than ever. And that pipeline hasn’t exactly been flourishing with up-and-comers (hence, the Pens’ recent trade for Rutger McGroarty). So you can see why there’s legitimate concern about the Penguins’ long-term competitiveness.
The Pens have been fortunate to have three surefire Hockey Hall of Famers spending their entire careers with the franchise. Had Crosby, Malkin or Letang chosen to move on in recent seasons, you can imagine where the Penguins would be right now – somewhere close to the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings, two other former gold-standard teams that found themselves ravaged by Father Time and the cap system. But good fortune doesn’t make their current charted course any easier for the Pens to handle. Crosby has given them a few million more dollars to work with, but the looming holes in the roster are still significant, and not easily addressed.
As we know by now, the cap forces teams to move on from their talented players at one point or another. Pittsburgh has been lucky that their ‘Core Four’ are true team players – leaving all sorts of money on the table to stay with the Penguins – but the road ahead is fraught with potholes, and even Crosby’s generosity can’t stop the sun from sinking on them.
Look no further than the Washington Capitals for an idea of where the Pens are headed. The Caps have still got star cornerstone Alex Ovechkin, but he’s no longer in his prime, and the rest of the roster is at best mediocre. It’s exceedingly hard to be an elite team, but once you are elite, it’s even harder to maintain your spot at the top of the food chain.
The Penguins are going to have moments of great strength this season when Crosby and Malkin are on a roll and Letang and Karlsson are living up to their expectations. But in the macro picture, the Pens are a depreciating group of assets and are less than the sum of their parts. The 2024-25 season will shed more light on where they’re headed in the long run, and while it’s admirable to see Crosby try to salvage what’s left of their competitive window, something tells us it’s not going to be sunshine and lollipops for them.
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News Summary:
- Crosby's Selfless Money Move Isn't Going To Put Penguins On Easy Street Anytime Soon
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