Pittsburgh Penguins | The desire to keep Sidney Crosby and return to the playoffs

(Pittsburgh) The Pittsburgh Penguins have finally become the team Kyle Dubas envisioned in his first season as the team’s general manager.

This development, however, came a little too late for Sidney Crosby and his teammates to participate in the playoffs. They were 8-2-3 in the final segment of the season, but the Pennsylvania team missed the playoffs for a second year in a row.

It’s not good enough, and Dubas knows it.

“When things don’t go well, it’s the fault of the person in my role,” Dubas said Friday. I assume my responsibilities. It’s my job to make sure we have the right people on staff to get us where we want to go. »

The Penguins were sunk by their power play, which ranked 31^e rank in the National Hockey League, but also by five months of inconsistency.

With the team in bad shape at the start of March, Dubas traded forward Jake Guentzel. The Penguins collapsed immediately afterward and dug themselves a hole that they couldn’t get out of in time.

“If we had come out of our torpor a little earlier, we might be in a different position,” Dubas said.

The playoffs begin Saturday without the Penguins, who participated from 2007 to 2022. Dubas now has a long summer ahead of him trying to find talented players to surround the core of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson.

One of Dubas’ priorities will be to keep Crosby long term. The future Hall of Famer will be able to accept a contract extension as of January 1^er July. Dubas made it clear that the plan was to continue with Crosby, although he did not elaborate.

“I think he should finish his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins,” Dubas said Friday. How long will this take? I’m not going to put any limits on Sidney Crosby. He is capable of great things and he always plays at an extraordinarily high level. »

Crosby has in fact totaled 42 goals – a high since 2016 for him – and 52 assists to maintain an average of more than a point per game during a 19^e season away. That puts him on equal footing with Wayne Gretzky in NHL history.

The Penguins captain will turn 37 in August. He indicated he was going to take things one year at a time, remaining vague when asked how long he would continue.

“Obviously at my age there are a lot of factors to consider,” Crosby said. It’s always about evaluating my game for what it is, not my age. »

Crosby will enter the final year of the 12-year, $104.4 million contract he signed in 2012 in 2024-25.

Crosby doesn’t care about money so much as an opportunity to win a fourth Stanley Cup. However, the Penguins have not made it past the first round since 2018.

If veteran Jeff Carter retires after a 20-year career, there’s a good chance the players surrounding Crosby will be the same. Letang – who played the entire season despite an undisclosed injury – is expected to be back. Malkin and Karlsson too.

The main question is that of the goalkeepers. The Penguins signed Tristan Jarry to a five-year contract last summer, but he spent the final 13 games of the season watching Alex Nedeljkovic get starts.

Nedeljkovic will become a free agent, but has mentioned he wants to be back. Joel Blomqvist had a good season in the American League and could be ready to make the jump to the NHL at age 22.

Dubas nevertheless expressed his optimism about a return to form for Jarry, author of six shutouts this season.

“I can’t wait to see how Tristan reacts,” he said.