The swirling trade speculation as he begins the first of a two-year contract with the rebuilding Pittsburgh Penguins doesn’t anger him because he understands it.
“I wouldn’t say I hate it. It’s part of it,” a matter-of-fact Crosby told Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas Tuesday during a recording of the 32 Thoughts podcast in Henderson, Nevada.
“That’s the thing that sucks about losing. When you lose, that’s what comes with losing — that speculation. When you win, there’s no speculation. It’s: ‘Who are they picking up? Who is the deadline acquisition?’ When you lose, it’s: ‘Who’s going?’ That’s the crappy part.”
Once an NHL force that captured three Stanley Cups from 2009 to 2017, Crosby’s Penguins will enter 2025-26 as a long shot to quench their three-year post-season drought.
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32 Thoughts: The Podcast
Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.
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They haven’t won a playoff series in seven years, despite captain Crosby steadily crushing better-than-a-point-per-game campaigns the whole way.
Crosby has surged to the mountaintop. He’s now coming to grips with life at the base.
“The expectations are the other way. They’re not high. There’s a lot of noise as far as, ‘Does he want to leave? Where can he go?’ Everyone’s got the team they want me to go to. It’s a lot of that,” said Crosby, who is trying to control only what he can.
The trades and firings made by president and GM Kyle Dubas, the rumours swirling online, the pundits predicting another dive down the standings — Crosby knows those are things he can’t control.
“If I’m not all in on trying to be my best or trying to help the team, and my focus and thoughts are elsewhere, then I’m not doing what I need to do. I’d rather just try to be present. And right now, it’s definitely not easy, but I’ve had some great experiences,” the Triple Gold Club member said.
“You just try to handle it the best you can, given the situation.”
That doesn’t mean it doesn’t sting when longtime coach Mike Sullivan gets replaced, or the roster thins at the trade deadline, or the marquee free agents look elsewhere.
“That’s your whole environment. It just gets rockered a bit. So, you’re trying to be in that, be supportive of the people around you, make sure that you’re in it, but also trying to deflect all that noise at the same time. It’s a lot of energy. So, it’s way better to win,” Crosby said.
“I don’t think Sam Reinhart is sitting here having the same conversation. It’s way better when you win, and I think I appreciate that more than I ever have, having gone through our situation.”
Whether it’s outsiders dreaming of a team-up with Nathan MacKinnon in Colorado or romantics Photoshopping Crosby into the uniform of the Montreal Canadiens, his favourite team as a boy, the notion of a trade won’t disappear anytime soon.
Crosby has a full no-move clause, and thus full control over his fate.
He said Tuesday that he has not approached Dubas and asked out.
But with Crosby already 38 years old and the Penguins still turning over veterans for youth, people close to the superstar have expressed how much they want to see him return to the playoffs. A realist would admit that might only happen with a trade.
“Anyone who knows me knows that’s what I love the most. Playoff hockey, there’s nothing like it,” Crosby said. “Every single guy wants to be in the playoffs. That’s no secret. Especially me. So, yeah, when they say that, it’s funny because that’s where I want to be.
“That’s the hard part. Like, everyone talks about being competitive, right? What does that mean? I think it’s pretty clear: You want to win. Being competitive isn’t like, OK, you lose 3-1 instead of 6-1.”
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