When these Stanley Cup playoffs opened, Sidney Crosby knew that at some point — a point he had not intended to arrive as soon as Wednesday night — he would be pressed to chime in on the future of his Penguins. As probably should have been expected from a 33-year-old who has been doing interviews for a quarter-century, Crosby deftly addressed the topic that will dominate discussion in sports-crazed Pittsburgh for the next few weeks.
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Indeed, Crosby is aware that a lot of people, including (perhaps) the Penguins’ new co-heads of hockey operations, feel the time has come to close, lock and shutter the window that he, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang have kept open for the last 14 NHL seasons. With Malkin, 34, and Letang, 34, set to enter the final season of their contracts, and the perennially cap-strapped Penguins at a franchise crossroads following a third consecutive opening-round exit from the postseason, there is a possibility that Crosby has played his last game with Malkin and Letang as teammates in Pittsburgh.
Surely, Crosby would want a say in any decisions made about two of his best friends, right?
“No, I don’t think that’s — I mean, I’ve never been one to try to be GM,” Crosby said after the Penguins’ 5-3 loss to the Islanders in a Game 6 that ended their East Division semifinal series.
“I think, uh, you know, those guys want to win. And I know that we’ve been together a long time. I’ve seen how much they care, their commitment; I don’t ever doubt or question that.
“There’s so many parts. And it is a business, so — that’s up to other people. As far as what I can see and what I feel, there’s zero doubt in my mind that the group we had is a really good group and we had an opportunity here, and that’s why it stings so much.”
It was a vintage, no-headline-here quote from Crosby. He has produced more of those than anything else over a historic career.
However, to an observer who has been reading between his lines since Crosby first rode down an escalator with his father, Troy, and agent, Pat Brisson, at Pittsburgh International Airport in July 2005, Crosby appeared to say more by the way he spoke Wednesday night. His head was mostly bent downward. His eyes gazed leftward. His voice occasionally dipped to just above a hush. A few times, specifically when appearing to search for words or a phrase, his tongue pushed against his inner left cheek.
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Any one of those is a tell that Crosby has revealed sparingly during interviews. It’s just hard to remember a time when he flashed all of those tells during any one postgame media session, let alone when answering a specific question.
That question, by the way: Would you hope to have a say when it comes to Malkin and Letang?
He should want a say. He should have a say, too.
The Penguins are not obligated to commit to what their captain wants when it comes to Malkin and Letang. General manager Ron Hextall and hockey operations president Brian Burke work for co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, not for Crosby. Seeing as Burkle is a multibillionaire with far more pressing business interests than the roster of a hockey team, and Hextall and Burke have enough on else on their plate — the upcoming Seattle expansion draft, decisions about coach Mike Sullivan and goalie Tristan Jarry, free-agency preparation, etc. — this seems like a situation that can best be resolved by the two greatest Penguins having a tough but honest conversation.
Lemieux and Crosby should get together and get on the same page when it comes to whether the Penguins will turn the page on Malkin and Letang. They’re the only two people in Pittsburgh, or on the planet, really, truly capable of figuring out the most important decision the Penguins have faced since giving in to Jaromir Jagr’s trade request after the 2000-01 season.
Friends of Mario (FOM) have said Lemieux remains haunted by the decision to trade Jagr, specifically that Jagr and the Penguins still have not publicly reconciled. That day appears to be coming, but until it does there exists an unmistakable gap in the chain that is said to be important to Lemieux: the link between him, Jagr, Crosby and Malkin — the Four Horsemen of Penguins Hockey.
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There are five Stanley Cup banners hanging from the roof at PPG Paints Arena. There are also banners noting the players who have won Art Ross and Hart trophies. The names on those banners are the same ones Lemieux is said to insist join his as the only numbers officially retired by the Penguins.
“Go by their draft years, wouldn’t that be great? Mario’s 66, Jagr’s 68, Geno’s 71 and Sid’s 87,” a FOM said. “Other than the Canadiens, what team has a better four?”
Lemieux and Crosby each grew up as Canadiens fans. They’re almost equally responsible for turning the Penguins into the NHL’s American version — a franchise that wins with style.
Not every great Canadiens player began and ended his career in Montreal. Likewise, the Penguins have already experienced painful partings with a couple of icons in Jagr and Marc-Andre Fleury. While nobody with influence in the organization is known to have argued against Fleury or Letang having their respective Nos. 29 and 58 jerseys retired in Pittsburgh — and, actually, former GM Jim Rutherford endorsed the idea regularly during his tenure — there’s something about that 66-68-71-87 Fantastic Four that feels as though it should cast a glorious presence over the Penguins’ home ice.
Those are the numbers that connect generations. They belong to players who played the largest roles in turning a football town into a hockey city.
It’s doubtful any of this would come up in a conversation between Lemieux and Crosby. Nostalgia is for reunions and television specials.
But the call on Malkin and Letang belongs to Lemieux. Full stop. Functionally, he’s the Penguins’ highest-ranking official, their chairman. Realistically, he’s the most adored athlete in Pittsburgh history. Saved the team as a player. Battled a bad back, Hodgkin’s disease, wonky hips. Won the Cup twice. Started a foundation that has raised close to $30 million for cancer research. Retired. Saved the team as an owner. Came back to play. Scored a new arena. Won the Cup three times as an owner.
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All things being equal, that arena and those three Cup wins as an owner are Crosby’s doing. Lemieux watched, like the surrogate father he was when Crosby arrived as a teenager to live in the guest house. If anyone is owed a say in a franchise-altering decision involving two of his best friends, it’s the kid who became The Man for the Penguins: Sidney Patrick Crosby.
The Penguins aren’t the Pens without Crosby. If keeping him happy means keeping Malkin and Letang — presuming each still wants to stay and is willing to take another (and in fact much bigger) hometown discount on a new contract — Lemieux owes Crosby the granting of that wish. If Lemieux is on board, Hextall and Burke will be, or will get there.
And, anyway, when did either Hextall or Burke say getting the Penguins back to among the NHL’s elite means trading Malkin or Letang? Never. But let’s not allow facts to cut through juicy narratives. For real, though; does anybody think two reputably sharp hockey men such as Hextall and Burke watched the Penguins these past few months and concluded the problem was a top defenseman that performed at a Norris Trophy-nomination level or a second center that very recently — like, the past few days — put up five points while playing four playoff games on one fully functioning leg?
Lemieux, who very much orchestrated the hiring of Hextall and Burke, didn’t hire idiots.
He did hire a couple of men who likely want to turn the Penguins into something different.
There is only so much difference-making that can realistically be done. The NHL’s cap is flat at $81.5 million. Budgets are all over the place because every franchise lost millions amid COVID-19 restrictions. Hockey trades won’t be easy to make this offseason. Malkin has a full no-trade clause, Letang a partial one. The Penguins are likely to lose the trade of either player and get worse for next season.
Teams need to sell tickets, attract sponsors, find new revenue streams. Winning matters. So does giving people what they want.
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How do the Penguins go about any of that without Crosby and Malkin and Letang? They don’t.
Again, though, it’s best to not get too deep into the weeds when it comes to Malkin and Letang. Aside from staking claim to a spot in the NHL’s all-time top five, Lemieux and Crosby also share a unique ability to see the forest from the trees. If they talk, or when they talk, Lemieux should simply ask Crosby what he wants the Penguins to do with Malkin and Letang.
Everybody is entitled to an opinion as to whether recommitting to a Crosby-Malkin-Letang core is in the best interest of the Penguins. Perhaps Lemieux leans toward those who feel that breaking up the band is the right move.
“They’ve been saying that for four years, right?” Crosby said Wednesday night. “I don’t know if I’m going to change anybody’s mind.”
Not anybody’s mind. The only mind that matters.
If Crosby wants Malkin and Letang, the only person who needs to hear it from him is Lemieux. Then it will happen.
Otherwise, the Penguins risk turning the page on Malkin and Letang and turning off Crosby. And if Lemieux is haunted by the ghost of Jagr, he probably won’t much care for being chased by all three of his fellow Penguins’ Horsemen.
(Photo of Lemieux and Crosby with the Stanley Cup after Game 6 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final: Gregory Shamus / NHLI via Getty Images)
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