Penguins' Sidney Crosby addresses retirement, contract chatter

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby doesn’t know how many more seasons he'll play but also doesn't seem to be thinking about retirement ahead of his 37th birthday he'll celebrate this coming August. 

"I don’t really think like that," Crosby explained less than 24 hours after Pittsburgh's season ended, per Wes Crosby of the NHL's website. "I’ve always just gone year to year. That’s always kind of served me well, as far as how I evaluate my game and that sort of thing. There’s always a lot of factors." 

Sidney Crosby tied living legend Wayne Gretzky earlier this spring for the most seasons (19) averaging at least one point per game in NHL history. As shown by ESPN stats, Crosby led the 2023-24 Penguins with 42 goals, 52 assists and 10 power-play goals. 

"Obviously, at my age, and things like that, there will be a lot of factors," Crosby said about when he will eventually skate off into the sunset. "But as far as my game, I don’t look any differently at how much longer I can play based off that. It’s always just evaluating my game for what it is, not my age." 

Crosby has one season remaining on his contract and was the subject of some trade chatter this past winter when the Penguins were struggling. By all accounts, he wants to stay a one-club man for the remainder of his career and help usher in a new era for the organization he's guided to three Stanley Cup titles.

"Obviously, I’m going to talk to [president of hockey operations/general manager Kyle Dubas] and have a conversation with him," Crosby said about what appears to be an inevitable extension. "We’ll see. I think it’s just something that I’ll have conversations with him about." 

Rob Rossi of The Athletic noted on Thursday that the Penguins probably will do whatever possible to avoid a lengthy rebuild with veterans such as Crosby, center Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang on the roster. All Crosby guaranteed on Thursday is that he'll be leading the Pens back onto the ice this fall after the club missed the playoffs in back-to-back years. 

"There’s no point worrying about four, five years from now," Crosby added. "There’s so many factors when you get to this point. ... I don’t really think that far ahead, to be honest with you. That’s just how I feel and how I approach it."