Sidney Crosby’s new Penguins contract is his sweetest assist yet

Enjoy the next three years of watching Sidney Crosby play for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Breathe it in. Cherish it. Get a little sentimental, if necessary.

Never in your lifetime will you see his kind again.

I’m not talking about the hockey, the backhand, the vision, the power, the tenacity — you know, all of the stuff that has made him one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

No, this is about Crosby the person, an unselfish figure at a time when sports is infiltrated with such greed that professional athletes are even further from reality.

Oh, sure, Crosby will make more money next season than the vast majority of us will ever see in our lives. He’s not living in a studio apartment anytime soon. His new contract, however, illustrates so much about Crosby the person and Crosby the captain.

By signing a two-year contract that kicks in after this season on Monday, Crosby once again turned down more money to remain compensated at his regular salary-cap hit of $8.7 million per season. While his countless superstitions are the stuff of legend, we make far too much out of them. More than anything, he isn’t greedy and cares about the fortunes of this franchise.

Kyle Dubas had no leverage. The Penguins general manager and president of hockey operations is very well compensated and just as powerful, but he’s not more powerful than Crosby.

It wouldn’t be like that in other cities and on other teams, but this is different. In Pittsburgh, the hockey stars are bigger than the franchise. And Crosby isn’t just another star. He’s one of the most important hockey players of this century and one of the best. He’s still going strong and easily could have commanded many more millions annually. Dubas would have given him whatever he wanted. He had no choice.

Crosby never chooses Crosby, though. His kind and unselfish persona illustrates the real person. There is nothing phony or insincere about him. Winning is the only thing that drives him, which has been the case since he emerged as a 17-year-old 20 summers ago.

The contract’s two-year term is every bit as noteworthy as the money.

This deal will take Crosby through his age-39 season, a couple of months shy of his 40th birthday. Is this the final contract of Crosby’s career? Maybe. Forty is a nice, round number, and by that time, more than half of his life will have been spent as Penguins captain. That will also mark the conclusion of his 22nd NHL season. That’s a lot of hockey, and it’s not like he has anything left to accomplish.

The two-year term has some implications. Let’s break it all down:

• At a minimum, you get to watch Crosby for at least three more seasons. That should provide great comfort for those of you dreading his retirement.

• The Penguins are not going into a “full rebuild” for at least three more years. As Dubas has noted, they’re unlikely to be a bottom-five team at any point with Crosby still on the roster because he’s too good. We’ll see a mini-rebuild or a reload instead.

• Crosby could have asked for more years. The Penguins would give the captain as many years as he wanted. He opted against it because he didn’t want to hamstring the team. What if he had signed to play for five more years, but after the first couple of years, realized his passion for the game had evaporated? Or maybe his play will decline. That seems like a foreign concept because he’s the most consistently great superstar in the history of the sport. He appears to be ageless. But I assure you, he is not. He’ll turn human at some point. Crosby knows that and doesn’t want to negatively impact the Penguins if it happens soon.

The worst-case scenario is that Crosby will play in a Penguins uniform for three more years, the team doesn’t make the playoffs, Crosby retires in 2027 and Dubas has a boatload of money — and young assets — to give him the freedom to turn the Penguins into a winner in a hurry.

So, at worst, you get to see Crosby until the very end. You get to enjoy his farewell tour. And all the while, you’ll know a new wave of Penguins players is learning to be a pro from one of the greatest captains in hockey history.

That’s the beauty of the two-year contract: It’s long enough to enjoy him for a few more years but not so long to paint himself and the Penguins into a corner.

If he’s still great at 39 and wants to play longer, well, that’s even better. No one has to show Crosby the door. And by then, the Penguins might be ready to win. Dubas is doing what he’s supposed to be doing. He’s fiercely committed to developing talented young players, nothing like the occasional call-up from Wilkes-Barre that we’ve seen over the past few seasons.

The best-case scenario would be if Crosby, who is still one of the five or 10 best players in the league, can maintain that level of play for a few more years, just as all of these young assets suddenly blossom.

Crosby’s final act with the Penguins could be special if those two possibilities converge. Watching him make a final run or two at a championship with a bunch of kids who will carry the torch would be something.

It’s hardly unimaginable. Much of this will be made possible by the deal he signed. It saved the franchise significant money to spend on other players and assets. It keeps Crosby in everyone’s life for a while, but not for too long, just in case the time to retire is near. If he’s still great and hungry at 39, he’ll sign another short-term deal. Why not?

It’s so practical, unselfish and intelligent. It’s so Crosby.

He will rightfully receive enormous amounts of love from all of Pittsburgh and Penguins fans around the globe. It’s deserved.

But with this deal, Crosby reciprocates all of that affection right back.

He really is one of a kind.

(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)