Sidney Crosby’s new contract keeps him with Penguins — and in control

Before Sidney Crosby’s first home opener at Pittsburgh’s now-extinct Mellon Arena in October 2005, Mario Lemieux walked past a media scrum encircling Crosby and into the players’ lounge, pouring a cup of black coffee.

Smirking, he opined about soon being “forgotten.” Then, in an unusually earnest moment, Lemieux predicted Crosby would “own all my records one day,” nodded his head and walked out.

Lemieux might have undersold it. Crosby will have an opportunity to break Lemieux’s Penguins records, but also NHL records by Wayne Gretzky (most consecutive seasons averaging at least a point per game) and Steve Yzerman (most consecutive seasons as a team captain).

“(Lemieux) really said that?” Crosby said on Monday afternoon, after speaking with Pittsburgh media following his annual delivery of season tickets to an unsuspecting family in Mars, Pa. “Like, really?

“Uh, there’s still a long way to go.”

Not too long. Crosby needs 99 goals, 30 assists, and 128 points to knock Lemieux from the Penguins’ perch in those regular-season categories. He long ago set the franchise marks for postseason assists (130) and points (201), and needs only six postseason goals to do one better than Lemieux’s 76.

Still, after Crosby signed a new, two-year contract with an $8.7 million average annual value with the Penguins on Monday, he’ll get at least three more cracks at a bargain rate to notch more accomplishments.

Whether he drags the Penguins along for the ride — and back into a position of prominence — or becomes the only reason to care about a proud-turned-fledgling franchise could determine if Crosby does what Lemiex did in Pittsburgh: stay until the end of his career.

Crosby has said he wants to play only for the Penguins. He also wants to chase another Stanley Cup championship.

The Penguins have not qualified for the last two playoffs and will again enter a season with one of the NHL’s oldest rosters. Since Kyle Dubas traded for star defenseman Erik Karlsson last August, the Penguins’ front-office boss’s most intriguing acquisitions have been a handful of prospects.

Once a rite of passage for Crosby’s Penguins, a postseason appearance is hardly guaranteed before his new contract expires. Intriguingly, that contract is structured so he can leverage an exit before its final season if Dubas doesn’t quickly return the Penguins to contender status.

Crosby’s contract is designated 35-plus, a notable status per the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and its Players Association. The contract includes two signing bonuses — a choice, essentially, by Crosby and agent Pat Brisson to get the bulk of the actual money paid before Crosby plays the final season of the new deal.

Crosby will earn $780,000 and $1.09 million in salary respectively in Years 1 and 2 of the new contract. But he will have been paid $16.31 million in real money before playing a game in Year 2.

Who cares how Penguins owner Fenway Sports Group pays Crosby so long as it pays him, right?

Every other GM in the league will care.

With 93.7 percent of Crosby’s salary paid before Year 2 of the new contract, he would come cheap — again, in terms of actual money — in any potential trade during the 2026 offseason. By paying the supermajority of Crosby’s real money before that second contract season, the Penguins could justifiably demand a more favorable return in any potential trade, especially if, as would be likely, they took on a sizeable chunk of Crosby’s cap hit.

It would be just a one-season hit if Dubas retained even 50 percent ($4.35 million) to maximize the return in a trade that would end — albeit probably only temporarily — one of the NHL’s great love stories.

Crosby didn’t sign this new contract to not see it through. He’s said repeatedly, publicly and privately, that he wants to play only for the Penguins.

He also said he wants to win. He reiterated that point a few hours after the Penguins announced his new contract on Monday.

“I had some conversations with Kyle throughout the process,” Crosby said of the negotiations. “I think that was reassuring — just based on what we discussed as far as there’s still hunger from the organization and ownership to win and a commitment there.

“I think that’s really important. I feel like as players, for all the different guys that have played here over the course of the time that I’ve been here, it’s something that you build as a culture… something’s that’s ingrained. And missing the playoffs for a couple of years, not being in it, is difficult.

“You want to try to find every way possible to get back in there and make sure that we compete for the Stanley Cup. So, I think that was reassuring to hear and that helped. But no, I think it was more just hearing that reassurance.”

After next season, Crosby will be approaching his 39th birthday, and Dubas will have had three full years to set a course. His franchise icon should be able to look at the roster and assess whether it’s a Cup contender. By then, Crosby’s view of the situation in Pittsburgh could depend as much on his opinion of the roster as it could on whether he wants to continue without Evgeni Malkin (likely to retire) and possibly Kris Letang, whose final two contractual seasons are not as trade-prohibitive.

Crosby reiterated Monday how special it’s been to play 18 seasons with Malkin and Letang as teammates. The Penguins’ Big Three isn’t going past 20 seasons, if only because of Malkin’s contract.

If, after next season, one or both of his dear friends have moved on and the Penguins aren’t closer to winning their first playoff series since 2018, who would begrudge Crosby for wanting what could be his final NHL season to be a shot at the Cup somewhere else?

The onus is on Dubas to make Crosby’s decision easy by then. By keeping his cap hit as is, Crosby provided Dubas precious millions to upgrade the Penguins next offseason and the one after it. If the Penguins are on the upswing after 2025-26, who better than Crosby to show their next potentially great team how to win?

That would be a picture-perfect swan song for Crosby — with the Penguins in the playoffs, one last run before No. 87 is done.

Then, he can take however much time away he wants, start a family and return to the franchise in whatever off-ice capacity he chooses. He doesn’t need to become an owner, as Lemieux did, but he might.

Crosby’s heart is with the Penguins. He made that clear on Monday.

“It’s probably difficult to put that … into a sound bite,” he said, speaking from the back porch of a suburban Pittsburgh home where he playfully traded high-fives with children wearing various versions of his No. 87 Penguins jersey. “Support (from) the people, the fans, the organization, just everything over the years — it’s been really special, and we’ve had some incredible experiences and memories.

“I just want to continue that.”

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photos: Jeanine Leech and Brandon Sloter / Icon Sportswire / Getty Images)