Sidney Crosby is under contract next season in 2026-27 to play for the Penguins. What comes after that will have to be determined at a later date.
“Just wait and see,” Crosby said on Friday about his future status during exit interviews. “I haven’t thought that far ahead, but we’ll just wait and see.”
That matches his approach from recently, Crosby waited two and a half months in the summer of 2024 to sign a two-year contract extension with the Penguins that covered 2025-26 and 2026-27. He will be
turning 40 years old shortly after this deal ends.
Whether or not we see a 40+ year old Crosby playing in the NHL in 2027-28 is a bridge that the forward hasn’t come close to crossing yet this soon after a season comes to an end. Crosby finished his 21st season in Pittsburgh, 22 is coming up next year. Year 23 isn’t assured, though it isn’t ruled out at this point either.
Crosby would be eligible to officially sign another extension for 2027-28 starting in just a couple of months on July 1st of this year. It doesn’t sound like the long-time Pittsburgh captain is in any hurry to make that decision one year ahead of time.
One positive for this off-season is there won’t be any rumors or wishful thinking out of Canada to stir up trade rumors, being as the Penguins made the playoffs and at least held out enough promise to making coming back to Pittsburgh a foregone conclusion in 2026-27 to potentially finish out his illustrious career wearing the only NHL jersey he’s ever known.
Despite suffering two injuries to each leg since February, Crosby proclaimed himself to be in good shape and dismissed questions about the possibility of undergoing surgery this summer.
“I’m going to have discussions [Friday] and talk to doctors and things like that,” Crosby said. “I feel pretty good.”
At this point, he likely doesn’t have a firm answer about long long he will continue playing in the NHL. For anything beyond next season, we’ll likely have a long time to “wait” before we “see”.
