Sidney Crosby 'pretty optimistic' about Pittsburgh Penguins extension - ESPN

LAS VEGAS — Sidney Crosby doesn't know when the deal will be signed, but the Pittsburgh Penguins' captain is confident an agreement isn't far away.

Speaking at the NHL/NHLPA player media tour's North American leg Monday, Crosby said he expects to ink a contract extension before the team opens the regular season on Oct. 9.

«I'm pretty optimistic it's going to get done,» the three-time Stanley Cup champion said in a ballroom at the Encore hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. «I don't know what day specifically, but it's been really positive. It hasn't been a difficult process at all.»

Eligible to put pen to paper since July 1, Crosby is set to enter the final season of a 12-year, $104.4 million deal that carries an $8.7 million salary cap hit.

The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native made the playoffs in 16 consecutive seasons from 2007 through 2022, but he and the Penguins missed out the past two springs as they try to retool around an aging core of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson.

Pittsburgh fell a point short of making it in 2022-23 before missing out by three in April.

«We've been right there,» Crosby said. «We finished really strong. We all felt pretty good about hanging in there the way that we did. We're just hoping that we can be a little more consistent in a few areas.»

He is coming off a 42-goal, 94-point campaign that saw him finish tied for 12th in the league scoring race and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Crosby, 37, will enter 2024-25 just four points shy of 1,600 for his career and was named one of Canada's first six players for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in February — the closest thing men's hockey has had to a best-on-best tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

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