Penguins sign Crosby to 2-year extension with $8.7M AAV
The Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed longtime captain Sidney Crosby to a two-year extension with an $8.7-million cap hit, the team announced Monday.
Crosby's new pact will kick in during the 2025-26 season. He has one campaign remaining on his current 12-year deal that's also paid him $8.7 million annually since 2013-14.
"There are no words to properly describe what Sidney Crosby means to the game of hockey, the city of Pittsburgh, and the Penguins organization," said general manager Kyle Dubas.
"Sidney is the greatest player of his generation and one of the greatest players in the history of the game. His actions today show why he is one of hockey’s greatest winners and leaders. Sid is making a tremendous personal sacrifice in an effort to help the Penguins win, both now and in the future, as he has done for his entire career."
Reports first emerged that Pittsburgh and its cornerstone player were nearing a new agreement in July. The finalized deal is bonus-heavy and includes a full no-movement clause, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
Crosby will earn a $9-million bonus in 2025-26 and a $6.53-million bonus in 2026-27, reports Friedman.
Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, the other two members of Pittsburgh's core, are signed through the 2025-26 and 2027-28 campaigns, respectively.
Though Crosby is a veteran of 19 NHL seasons, he's shown no signs of slowing down. The superstar center led the Penguins with 94 points while appearing in all 82 games in 2023-24. He scored 42 goals, topping 40 tallies for the third time in his career and the first time since 2016-17.
The Penguins failed to make the playoffs for the second consecutive year, but Crosby finished ninth in Hart Trophy voting as the player most valuable to his team during the regular season.
Selected by Pittsburgh with the first overall pick at the 2005 NHL Draft, Crosby is the franchise's all-time leader in games played and ranks second in goals, assists, and points, trailing Mario Lemieux in all three scoring categories.
Though Crosby is just 30 assists from passing Lemieux in the Penguins' record books, he's still 99 goals and 128 points away from taking sole possession of the top spot.
| Player | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mario Lemieux | 915 | 690 | 1033 | 1723 |
| Sidney Crosby | 1272 | 592 | 1004 | 1596 |
Crosby, 37, moved into 10th place on the NHL's all-time points list in April. He's just the 14th player in league history to record 1,000 career assists.
The future Hall of Famer has won three Stanley Cup championships (2009, 2016, 2017) with the Penguins, as well as two Conn Smythe Trophies as the most valuable player in the postseason. He's racked up 71 goals and 201 points in 180 career playoff games.
Crosby has also taken home the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Trophy, and Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy on two occasions each and has won the Ted Lindsay Award three times.
The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native has donned the "C" for the Penguins since 2007.
Pittsburgh hasn't won a playoff round since 2018.