<p>LAS VEGAS – The conversation changes with each passing season, and Sidney Crosby won’t deny it.</p>



<p>Last year, when we spoke at the NHL Player Media Tour, he clung to a certain hope his <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/pittsburgh-penguins/line-combinations">Pittsburgh Penguins</a> could prop open their contention window a little longer. He pointed out how close they’d been to making the playoffs in their consecutive misses across 2022-23 and 2023-24. But he couldn’t do the same this time around, his Pens riding a three-year streak of missed postseasons, having finished comfortably outside the dance in 2024-25, 11 points south of the <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/montreal-canadiens/line-combinations">Montreal Canadiens</a>.</p>



<p>And perhaps that’s why he had so much perspective when asked about his future Monday night. Even someone like Crosby, known to steer clear of social media, can’t hide from the fact questions have bubbled up on whether he wants to finish his career as a lifetime Penguin. Doing so would mean Crosby, one of the sport’s all-time class acts and ambassadors, would join the likes of legends Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic and, of course, Crosby’s Pittsburgh mentor Mario Lemieux, who never left the franchises that drafted them. It would feel on brand for the awe-shucks Crosby to play his whole career with one team. On the other hand: Crosby’s brand has also always been one of fiery competitiveness. He’s the consummate winner, owner of three Stanley Cup rings, two Conn Smythe Trophies, two Olympic gold medals, a World Cup and a 4 Nations Face-Off title. It feels like a waste that we haven’t seen Crosby, 38, win a Cup since he was 29, win a playoff series since he was 30 and play a postseason game since he was 34. The Pens have entered a clear rebuild phase and clearly don’t intend to push hard for a postseason berth this season. It’s no wonder fans have begun fantasy casting Crosby on new NHL teams, wondering if he wants to chase another championship, whether that would mean playing for the <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/colorado-avalanche/line-combinations">Colorado Avalanche</a> alongside great friend and fellow Cole Harbour, N.S., native Nathan MacKinnon or joining his favorite childhood team, the Canadiens. And Crosby can see the logic behind the speculation.</p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="357"></div>



<p>“I understand it,” Crosby told Daily Faceoff. “It’s not something that you want to discuss. You’d rather be talking about who we’re getting at the [Trade] Deadline or where we’re at as far as are we No. 1, 2 or 3 in the division. But it’s one of those things that’s a hard part about losing. Everybody thinks that losing is, the buzzer goes, you lose the game, and that sucks, but there’s so much more than that. It’s the turnover, it’s the unknown, the uncertainty, the question marks.”</p>



<p>“That’s the stuff that’s tough. And it makes you appreciate all those years that we’re competing and going after that big acquisition every single Trade Deadline. I don’t think I took it for granted, but I definitely appreciate it that much more now.”</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="132"></div>



<p>On one hand, there’s no urgency for Crosby, who has a full-movement clause, to make any decision about his future. He’s commencing a two-year extension he signed a year ago. Then again: for any suitor, it’s arguably a feature, not a bug, that he’s signed for two full seasons at his trademark $8.7 million AAV, which was always a bargain but looks even more so with the salary cap rising to $95.5 million this season and $104 million next season. Should the Penguins and GM Kyle Dubas truly want to kickstart a new chapter, they could certainly command a gargantuan price for a two-year rental of their legendary captain, who remains a world-class player, having just set an NHL record with a 20<sup>th</sup> point-per-game season. The odds of Crosby wanting out remain low, but it wouldn’t be hard to move him should he want a change.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="146"></div>



<p>Crosby doesn’t hint at wanting one, however, as much as the losing drives him crazy. He will soldier on with a Penguins team that added no major pieces this offseason, moved on from Cup-winning coach Mike Sullivan and feels like a major contender to pick first overall and draft Gavin McKenna next year. Crosby won’t block out the trade noise, either. He’ll quietly accept that it’s out there and seek a new kind of motivation on a Pens team in for a long year.</p>



<p>“It doesn’t change my approach,” Cosby said. “I still go out there trying to win every single game and be the best that I can be. And I think that youth and having that energy around you isn’t a bad thing, either. We’ve got a lot of hungry guys, a lot of competition for spots. So you just try to find different things that you can feed off of and still continue to learn through it.”</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="160"></div>



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