Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman when asked about Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby and his eligibility to sign a contract extension this offseason, and Detroit Red Wings pending free agent forward Patrick Kane.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Gord Stellick: “I know a lot of people when they were saying, ‘Okay in the east the battle for the playoffs, I want Detroit because of Patrick Kane. I want Pittsburgh because of Sidney Crosby.’
Patrick Kane says he’s going to think about things. Now, Sidney Crosby says he’s going to talk to Kyle Dubis about a contract, whatever that means or not. But where do you think their heads are at looking forward?
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Friedman: “I think he stays. I do. Like there have been a lot of rumors that they’ve done some legwork on this already. You know, Dubas said , I was watching some of his media conference, he said, ‘Look, it Sidney Crosby, so I’m gonna keep this private.’
I think he stays. You know, my prediction Gordie is it ends up being like two or three years at $10.5 (million). That’s my guess. And until, and until I’m wrong, I’m going with that. So we’ll see why what happens there.
You know, I think so, now, the interesting one was, it sounds like (Kris) Letang is facing a lengthy injury here, right? They said that so we’ll see what that all means.
But, you know, I don’t think Pittsburgh is going to wave the white flag, Gordie. I don’t think a rebuild’s in the cards. It’s like, I, I wouldn’t be surprised if they take, like, as they go in the offseason to say, ‘we’re still competing,’ and, and they’re not. like they’re not tearing it down. I definitely got that impression from what Dubas had to say.”
Stellick: “And Patrick Kane?”
Friedman: “Oh, well, you know, Kane is an interesting one Gordie because, you know, he, they were here and a few of us were talking to him after his morning skate and he seemed really positive. I think he was just in a good place mentally about how his season went.
But, you know, it was a bit of a different tone, which surprised me a bit. What that says to me and I understand this from his point of view, is that look, Chicago his whole career, and half year, or a quarter of a year last year with the Rangers. And now this year with Detroit.
He strikes me as a guy who wants the revolving door to stop. He wants to go to one place and stay in one place for a little bit of time.
And you know, Steve Yzerman, he’s very careful about term. He’s given, he’s given eight years to Larkin, got to do that, that’s your captain. But with older players, he’s, he’s careful. He does a lot of four and five years now.
He’s not going to give Kane four and five years. I don’t think Kane expects that. But what it says to me is that Yzerman probably doesn’t want to give as much term as Kane would like. And so we’ll see how that plays out and Yzerman supposed to talk .
But I think, but I think Kane feels really good about the way this year went and how good he feels. He clearly loves hockey. But I think what he wants is the revolving door to stop and we’ll see what that means.”
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Patrick Kane: “Thank you Red Wings, my teammates, coaches and all the fans of Hockey Town for welcoming me and my family with open arms this season. This past year gave us memories we’ll never forget. The work doesn’t stop. “