Penguins’ Crosby negotiating new contract, won’t rule out 2030 Olympics

HENDERSON, NV — Sidney Crosby is about to begin the final year of his contract, but he fully expects to be reporting to training camp in 2027. At age 40.

In fact, the NHL’s seventh all-time scorer has already commenced contract extension talks with Pittsburgh Penguins GM Kyle Dubas via longtime agent Pat Brisson.

With NHL superstars jacking up the price of business, will Crosby re-sign again for his lucky $8.7 million, the team-friendly AAV the future Hall of Famer has maintained since wrapping his entry-level contract way back in 2008?

“I have no idea. But if history is any proof of that, we’ll see,” Crosby told Sportsnet Tuesday at the NHL’s Player Media Tour. “But Pat and Kyle are talking and hopefully get something done.”

The age-defying Crosby has posted an unprecedented 21 consecutive point-per-game seasons and has shown little signs of regression despite being one of the game’s oldest skaters. 

After the double Olympic gold medalist was too injured to dress for Team Canada’s gold medal game in Milan and settled for silver, does he view a fourth Winter Games, Alpes 2030 in France, as a motivator to keep going?

“I haven’t thought that far ahead. I think it’s so hard. Like, there’s no blueprint for how you’re going to feel at this age. You see a lot of guys that I came into the league with, they’re not playing anymore,” said Crosby, who reassesses his health regularly. 

“I want to play for a number of years, for sure. But you don’t know how you’re going to feel a year from now, two years from now. I can go based on how I feel now, and I feel pretty good. For playing as long as I have, I’m pretty happy with how I feel.”

The MCL sprain Crosby suffered in February, due to a hit from Czechia’s Radko Gudas, limited him to 68 games played in 2025-26, but the durable veteran was fit to play 80-plus games in each of the three seasons prior.

“You think about different injuries you’ve had, and you just don’t want to pick your hopes up too much. I think you just try to enjoy it, approach it the same way year by year. And I’ve been pretty happy with the way I felt,” said Crosby, who bounced back remarkably after dealing with multiple frightening concussions in the early 2010s. 

“Looking back, I probably wouldn’t have expected to go that way or to feel as good as I have. But that can change pretty quickly. So, I think you just try to enjoy it and embrace it as much as you can.”

The joy of coming to the rink was easier to embrace last spring, as the rebuild-on-the-fly Penguins shocked the league by snuffing a three-year playoff drought under the first-year coach Dan Muse.

“It energizes you, when you’re winning games and young guys come in, and as a team, kind of that underdog role. I think you just get caught up in that, and it’s fun to be a part of that,” Crosby said. 

“We had a rookie head coach, and he had something to prove, and we had new guys to the organization. We had young players. We just really came together pretty quick as a group, and it was really fun to be a part of that.”

With 1,761 career points, a healthy Crosby should have no issue surpassing Marcel Dionne (1,771) and Ron Francis (1,798) on the all-time leaderboard and move into the top five this season. 

Should he pass Gordie Howe (1,850), Mark Messier (1,887), and fellow Pittsburgh icon Jaromir Jagr (1,921) one day, Crosby will have a shot at joining Wayne Gretzky (2,857) as the only two NHLers to reach 2,000 points.

He’s 239 points away — and raring to go.

“Some work to do if I want to get there,” Crosby chuckled. “Three pretty good seasons. That’d be nice. That’d be a nice number, but that feels so far away. That being said, I’m not gonna shut the door on that possibility. I think it’s good to be motivated. It’s good to have goals and milestones that you’d like to hit. 

“But that’s not necessarily the main motivation. Just competing, playing at a high level, trying to win — those are always the main goals. And everything else kind of follows.”