Colby Armstrong only saw Sidney Crosby once this summer, but the interaction was a memorable one. And telling. It occurred at Brayden Schenn’s wedding, as Armstrong and Crosby flew to Banff, Alberta, for the festivities set in the Canadian Rockies.
After meeting a couple of Armstrong’s buddies, former NHLers Tyler Bozak and Wade Redden, Crosby made a comment about how many people Armstrong got to know while playing for four teams before transitioning into his current role as a broadcaster for Pittsburgh’s AT&T SportsNet and Sportsnet in Canada.
“I’m like, ‘I know, man,’ ” Armstrong told me by phone this week, relaying his conversation with Crosby during the Blues center’s big day. “‘You’ve had the luxury of being in one place. You haven’t gotten to stretch out and meet guys from all over who are really great people.’ ”
While Crosby remains one of the nicest and most accommodating athletes ever, he also has zero desire to live this lifestyle. Comfort reigns supreme. Crosby likes what he likes, whether that’s stick-handling around logos to warm up, his pregame peanut butter and jelly sandwich, entering PPG Paints Arena a certain way or even his lucky cup.
Not to say Crosby should get a free pass on change, especially after four consecutive first-round exits, but it’s certainly not something he actively seeks, especially when it comes to friends and teammates.
The divergent hockey lives they’ve led produced a fascinating conversation between Armstrong and Crosby, former linemates and roommates in Pittsburgh — Armstrong talking about the many people he’s met and the places he’s been, Crosby responding with how much he likes Pittsburgh and feels like there’s still plenty of work to be done.
That last theme has reverberated around UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex this past week, as well. The ever-regimented, particular Penguin obviously feels re-signing Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang was the right move from a hockey perspective, believing that group has more to give, and he also doesn’t mind having his buddies back.
Nobody wearing black and gold will disagree.
“They’ve been really good friends for a long time,” Bryan Rust said. “When you make those relationships, it’s hard to say goodbye sometimes. I’m sure he was pretty happy not to have to say goodbye.”
The ‘Cinderella story’
A little known fact about Crosby is he loves history, specifically as it relates to wars. Back in 2014, Crosby actually took an online course involving the history of World War II. The Penguins captain knows an important or captivating story when he sees it, but he also insists running it back with this group has a simpler meaning.
One solely wrapped around, Crosby continued, winning. If general manager Ron Hextall ascertained the Penguins would be best served sending out Sesame Street characters over the boards — breathe easy, he has not made that decision — Crosby might actually play along. Whatever it takes to beat the other guys.
“It’s always been about winning,” Crosby said. “It’s not about necessarily the Cinderella story. It’s about winning hockey games. I think those guys play a big part in that. We can all collectively as a group do our part and help the team win.”
Why do Crosby and others think that way? A couple reasons, really.
For one, ownership. Fenway Sports Group has given the Penguins every conceivable resource to be successful. Spending to the cap, yeah, but also supporting the appropriate volume of team staff, ensuring players are treated better here than everywhere else in the NHL and an above-the-board team culture personified by Crosby.
Given what has been invested, it’s really hard to say the Penguins don’t have a chance.
It’s also true the Penguins stress tested the Rangers last season with a banged-up lineup and pretty much no goalie before ultimately succumbing in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. They were that close. And while many expected the end of an era, Crosby, Hextall, Malkin, Letang and others took the opposite tack.
“People saw what we were about to do, so why change everything when we were that close?” Letang said. “We made some adjustments. We filled spots that maybe we were lacking in different aspects of the game. We’ll see what happens.”
In the center of it, of course, is Crosby, who’s now the team’s highest-paid player at $8.7 million. That figure once again came into play this past week when good friend and fellow Nova Scotian Nathan MacKinnon signed an eight-year, $100.8 million contract extension with the defending Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. The deal carries an average annual value of $12.6 million.
Crosby’s current contract runs out after the 2024-25 season, but it’s obviously a formality. The Penguins will offer. He’ll sign. The crazier part involves perspective. Currently the 38th-highest-paid player in the NHL, the captain’s contract already affords the Penguins some financial wiggle room, and it could potentially increase in lockstep with the salary cap.
“I think they’ve been at a bargain for a number of years now,” Armstrong said. “He understands that they need a little bit of that with where they’re at in their careers to win, too. I think it makes it that much more valuable to keep everyone at those prices and guys you know can win.”
In other words, Crosby, Malkin and Letang haven’t prioritized money, most notably Crosby.
‘Important to Sid’
Which brings us back to the comforts of home, longtime friends and Crosby already being down one longtime teammate and off-ice confidant in Marc-Andre Fleury. Logic would tell you he probably wasn’t in a rush to have it happen again.
Publicly, Crosby said he tried his best to respect his teammates’ space this offseason. They’d text and FaceTime, sure. Anybody who has played together for soon-to-be 17 years — an NHL record — would. But conversations involving business were limited. They had enough pressure being placed on them, Crosby concluded.
Privately, Crosby worried whether significant changes might be in store, whether he might one day take a faceoff opposite Malkin or wind up frustrated when Letang inevitably joined the rush and tortured the Penguins with some sort of skilled play.
“Uncertainty is the best word to describe it,” Crosby said. “You’re unsure of what’s gonna happen. You try to be optimistic.”
Among Penguins coaches throughout Crosby’s career, nobody has done as much or seen as much as Mike Sullivan. The back-to-back Cups are obviously the headliner — but also the job Crosby has done during the not-so-glamorous times, continually setting a standard despite first-round exits, remaining productive into his mid-30s and the mentorship he has provided for younger players.
As much as anyone in the organization, Sullivan knows what it means to Crosby to have his buddies back, to have the opportunity to finish this thing on their terms instead of management tearing it apart for the final handful of years.
“They’ve been through a lot together,” Sullivan said. “They’ve accomplished a lot together. I think that’s important to Sid. I think it’s important to all of those guys. They’re close friends. The fact that we were able to keep the group intact, I’m excited about it. I know they are, as well. I know they’re motivated to try to win again.”
Brian Dumoulin, another member of those back-to-back Cup teams, had a similar read on the situation.
“It takes a lot of burden off Sid, too,” Dumoulin said. “We know the leadership that Sid brings, but ‘G’ and ‘Tanger,’ they bring something different to our team. Those are some of Sid’s best buddies. He loves seeing them every day. He loves the way they compete.”
Kick the can
There’s another public-private storyline at play here, one Crosby downplays in media scrums but one Armstrong was thinking of this summer when everyone got a good laugh about what and how much Crosby had to drink at MacKinnon’s Cup party.
What will it take for Crosby to once again play the role of host instead of needing an invitation to attend?
As far as the party aspect, Crosby has discussed this a couple times. Appearing on Elliotte Friedman’s 32 Thoughts podcast, he sort of sheepishly admitted he was among the “top-five” drunkest people at the party and shut the place down.
While delivering season tickets early last week, Crosby also said it was motivating to be around it again — and not the focal point.
“I think it’s a good reminder of how much it brings people together,” Crosby said. “You see his family and friends. The people who are a part of it feel like they’ve won it, too. You see that up close when you’re on the other side of a party like that. That was cool to see. That’s something that makes you more motivated to want to do it again.”
The interesting part is the private stuff. As you probably know, few NHL players consume more hockey in their spare time than Crosby. He’s keenly aware of the game’s history and current trends around the league. It is — in, thankfully, a less obsessive way over the years — his life.
As such, Armstrong said he has no doubt Crosby has considered how the Blackhawks and Kings dynasties of the early cap era fizzled out, how those teams grew old, contract hell ensued and they never really had another chance.
It’s a chance for Crosby and Co. to buck that trend. It’s also something one of his idols — Steve Yzerman — did with the Red Wings in 2001-02, winning the Cup a third time at age 36 after hoisting it in consecutive years (1997-98) earlier in his career.
The circumstances are certainly different. Those Red Wings, already loaded, acquired a boatload of older talent to put it over the top. You can argue, for these Penguins, the guts of it was already here.
Either way, there’s another chapter in Crosby’s incredible career ahead, one where he and his buddies can say something about themselves when it comes to NHL history and how this entire era of Penguins hockey is viewed.
“I think he’s aware of those other cap situations and teammate situations that could come up,” Armstrong said. “I think that’s why he’s probably pretty excited about getting it done and having another kick at the can with his guys."
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: September 24, 2022, 4:38 p.m.
