The NHL Needs To Investigate The Penguins For Cap Circumvention After Sidney Crosby Again Only Takes An $8.7 Million Contract
Joe Sargent. Getty Images.Words cannot describe how immeasurably lucky the Pittsburgh Penguins got that not only did they land a generational superstar in Sidney Crosby, but they landed a generational superstar with a bizarre obsession with the number 87. Born on 8/7/87. Wears number 87. And ever since his rookie contract, he has only played for $8.7M AAV on his last 19 years worth of contracts. He signed a 5-year deal at $8.7M AAV in 2008, a 12-year deal at $8.7M AAV in 2013, and now just signed another 2-year extension at $8.7M AAV that'll keep him in Pittsburgh through the 2026-27 season. He's the best player that the majority of us have ever gotten to see, and he's making less money than Travis Konecny, Timo Meier, and Dougie Hamilton.
I got to see Gretzky play but wasn't old enough to actually remember it until his career was winding down with the Rangers. Recency bias would lead you to believe Connor McDavid is the best player we've seen since then, but as of now he's just the most talented. Nobody else has been able to do what Crosby has been able to achieve since taking over the torch in hockey. 3 Stanley Cups, 2 Olympic gold medals, a World Championship gold medal, a World Cup of Hockey gold medal. The majority of McDavid's greatest achievements are all individual awards, while Crosby's career is filled with team success.
Maybe that's because the Penguins are paying $4 million less for Crosby and can use that extra cap space to find some bullshit winger nobody has ever heard of before who turns into a 40-goal scoring all-star once he gets on a line with 87.
Listen. It's a great move by Sid. There's no doubt in my mind he's one of the biggest team guys in all of sports. It's so rare to see a player constantly play for under their market value just because they want to give the team that flexibility to build around them. So I'm not mad at Crosby for this move.
But at some point the NHL needs to step in here and say enough is enough. At some point they need to make the Penguins pay that man the money he deserves. The salary cap was put in place under the assumption that players are always going to take the most amount of money they can get. You can't have Crosby come in and fuck it all up by leaving $4 million on the table just because he's obsessed with the number 87. If the Penguins had even a shred of integrity, they'd decline the ask and pay him more. Superstition is a mental illness, and they're taking advantage of Crosby's illness by continuing to give him that contract. All I'm saying is I'd like the NHL to at least look into it, because it's just not right.