In a surprise mid-summer edition of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Elliotte Friedman discussed one topic that has been written and talked about a lot this offseason: the fate of Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. For many Montreal Canadiens fans, it would be logical for Crosby to want out of Pittsburgh and to entertain a move to the Habs, since they were his childhood team, but according to the insider, that’s not happening, at least this summer.
The insider said that the captain would start the year in Pittsburgh and that there was no doubt about that whatsoever. For him, Crosby is not getting traded this summer; he even chuckles at the idea. While this will be news for some, it never felt like there were any legs to the idea.
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The fact that the Canadiens need a second-line center doesn’t mean that top players automatically become available. The Montreal crowd sometimes appears to think that it’s the only market in which there’s a tradition and history of greatness, but just like the Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau, and Guy Lafleur passed on the torch to the new generation, Mario Lemieux passed the Penguins’ torch on to Crosby and he has personified the Penguins ever since.
There’s no Jacques Lemaire behind the bench in Pittsburgh cutting the captain’s ice time and making him feel surplus to requirements like the Demon blond felt in Montreal at the start of the 1984-85 season, far from it. Crosby is still the man in Pittsburgh, and not every player gets to play for the team they cheered for as a kid.
While John Tavares couldn’t wait to leave the New York Islanders and go home to play with the Toronto Maple Leafs when he became an unrestricted free agent, Crosby has never even been tempted to test the market. He has lived and breathed Pittsburgh ever since the Pens won the draft lottery back in 2005.
That’s where his legacy is, and while Friedman stops short of saying that the legend in the making will finish his contract or even the season in Pittsburgh, it feels like he won’t cheapen his legacy by leaving. This is not Raymond Bourque, who had to leave the Boston Bruins to win a Stanley Cup finally. Crosby was drafted, developed, and won in Pittsburgh; he led them to the promised land, and he accomplished the dream.
Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
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