Pittsburgh Penguins Want Another Run with Sidney Crosby and Company
TSN: ESPN Hockey Insider Emily Kaplan joined Jay Onrait on TSN SportsCentre and was asked about the Pittsburgh Penguins’ future plans and Sidney Crosby’s extension.
** NHLRumors.com transcriptions
Jay Onrait: “The Pittsburgh Penguins are closing in on a contract extension with Captain Sidney Crosby. That’s according to Rob Rossi of the Athletic. Rossi cited multiple sources saying the team and Player are condifent a deal will be agreed upon and formalized to Crosby’s entering the final year of a 12-year deal he signed in July of 2012.
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It’s been too long since I’ve talked to our friend Emily Kaplan from ESPN. Emily, you were all over the Stanley Cup playoffs, covering them for the worldwide leader for our friends at the mothership and how are you recovering from that journey?”
Emily Kaplan: “Obviously, Jay had just been sitting in this empty white director analyst room, hibernating and getting my thoughts on solitude back, but I’m ready to re-emerge.”
Onrait: “I love it. I love it. We’re gonna get to the Florida Panthers in just a minute with Emily, but first, let’s talk about those reports about Sidney Crosby and the Pens apparently nearing a contract extension. Think kind of a strange offseason for the Pens, Emily. They do acquire Kevin Hayes, but unlike Washington reloading around Alexander Ovechkin and really bringing in a ton of players, it’s been somewhat quiet for Kyle Dubas and Pittsburgh; what do you make of the Penguins offseason so far?”
Kaplan: “Well, first we have to say the obvious that every decision that they do is consulted with Sidney Crosby even if he doesn’t agree with it. They let him know. He didn’t agree with Jake Guentzel, right? But he was in the know. And I think when you looked at the Penguins, they’re just further back than the Capitals were.
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Everything that they want to do now was about getting him this extension and then going forward, keeping him happy to win championships. It’s not going to happen next year.
So my take is kind of do this: the strategy is to collect as many assets and draft picks as possible. You got one with Kevin Hayes. You did that with Reily Smith, so they can take a step backwards, this year, but then hopefully in two-three years from now, take that move that the Capitals are doing so that Sidney Crosby can be happy with this new extension, run it back, getting with Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang and see how it goes.”
