PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby isn't sure how much longer he's going to play hockey.
He remains certain, however, where he wants to do it.
The Pittsburgh Penguins star signed a two-year contract extension on Monday that runs through the 2026-27 season. The deal, which carries an average annual value of $8.7 million, would keep Crosby in Pittsburgh until nearly his 40th birthday.
The agreement came on the eve of Crosby's 20th training camp with the Penguins, who took him with the first overall pick in the 2005 draft. Crosby had been eligible to sign an extension on July 1. While talks dragged on longer than expected, Crosby said last week he was “pretty optimistic” about something getting done before the season began.
Crosby indicated the hold-up was merely his lack of clarity on how much longer he intends to play.
“Trying to project how you’re going to feel in a number of years, it’s hard,” Crosby said. “Just making sure that it’s something that made sense for both myself and the team.”
The 37-year-old Crosby, a three-time Stanley Cup winner and two-time league MVP, didn't ask for a raise even though he remains one of the most productive players in the NHL. Crosby led the Penguins in goals (42), assists (52) and points (94) last season, well clear of the rest of an underachieving club that missed the playoffs for a second straight year.
“Sidney is the greatest player of his generation and one of the greatest players in the history of the game,” general manager Kyle Dubas said in a statement. "His actions today show why he is one of hockey’s greatest winners and leaders. Sid is making a tremendous personal sacrifice in an effort to help the Penguins win, both now and in the future, as he has done for his entire career.”
Crosby's salary staying flat gives the Penguins a little more wiggle room as the NHL's oldest team tries to figure out a way to get back into contention.
Pittsburgh has missed the playoffs each of the last two seasons after making it 16 consecutive years between 2007 and 2022. Crosby said he received reassurances from Dubas during the negotiating process that the club remains committed to being competitive while trying to build a younger core around Crosby and longtime teammates Evgeni Malkin (38) and Kris Letang (37).
“There’s still hunger from the organization (and) ownership to win and a commitment," Crosby said. "From the time I’ve been here, that’s the case and that’s been there. That’s important.”
Dubas said Crosby's decision to stay at $8.7 million — a cap hit that ranks outside the top 40 in the NHL despite having perhaps the most accomplished resume of any active player — is symbolic of Crosby's commitment to helping Pittsburgh rebuild on the fly.
“His dedication to the Penguins through 2027 ensures that our franchise will have its captain as we go through this phase of our project,” Dubas said.
Crosby has played in more games (1,272) than any player in team history and trails only Mario Lemieux in every other major category, including goals (592, 2nd), assists (1,004, 2nd), and points (1,596, 2nd). Crosby will begin the 2024-25 season 10th all-time in league history in points. Last year he became just the second player ever to average at least a point a game in 19 seasons, joining Wayne Gretzky.
The Penguins open training camp on Wednesday and begin the regular season on Oct. 9 at home against the New York Rangers. Signing Crosby removes a significant potential distraction and lets Crosby focus on his game, which remains elite even as he finishes his second decade in the NHL.
“I feel good,” he said. "I still love the game and want to compete and I’m not going to project too far ahead, but I’m going to try and play as long as I can.”
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
FILE - Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby looks on during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders, April 17, 2024, in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
McLaren Racing heads into Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix as Formula 1's hot new darlings, the papaya-drenched team that just may be the ones to finally dethrone Red Bull and Max Verstappen.
Red Bull and its Dutch driver have had ironclad grips on both the drivers championship, and, the more lucrative constructors title for best car, since Verstappen won his first title in 2021. Verstappen now has three consecutive titles and leads the driver standings; Red Bull has back-to-back constructors titles but, headed into the weekend, no longer leads the standings.
McLaren took the top spot with Oscar Piastri's win last Sunday. Coupled with Lando Norris' fourth-place finish, McLaren is now the constructors leader for the first time since 2014. McLaren last won the constructors’ championship in 1998.
McLaren starts the weekend in Singapore with a 20-point lead over Red Bull, which had led the carmaker competition since 2022.
“I think we’ve got as good a shot as anyone,” Zak Brown, the chief executive of McLaren, boldly declared Sunday at IndyCar's season-ending race.
He'd watched Piastri win and McLaren move to the top from Nashville, Tennessee, and even with the big-talking American half a world away, McLaren still managed to make tongues wag at the the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
McLaren arrived in Baku and admitted it would prioritize Norris and the driver championship over Piastri for the final eight races of this season. Norris trails Verstappen by 59 points in the standings, and Piastri certainly accepted the team order in stride by winning the race.
“Obviously no racing driver wants to compromise their own race, so of course he doesn’t love it, but he’s a great team player, totally understands, also knows the role could be reversed in the future,” Brown said of Piastri being given the wingman role for the remainder of the season.
“Also, not totally out of the question, it can be reversed later this year. If Lando goes out and has a couple of DNFs, Oscar goes out and wins a couple of races — all of a sudden,” Brown shrugged. “So I think (Piastri) recognizes that what goes around comes around, and it can very much come around his way.”
Norris and Piastri have combined to win two of the last three F1 races for McLaren, while Verstappen hasn't won since the Spanish Grand Prix on June 23. While the team has said it wants Norris to dethrone Verstappen, Brown knows it is a longshot unless Norris can start sledgehammering-away large chunks of Verstappen's lead every race.
In Baku last Sunday, Verstappen finished one spot behind Norris in fifth and Norris only gained three points on the champion.
“Lando made some points, but he needs to double the amount of points he got (in Baku) every race to catch him,” Brown said. “I think that’s a tall order, but we’re gonna try.”
Make no mistake, though, McLaren is hyper-focused on the constructors title, which is the one that pays the big money. The payout to the winning team is set by variables each year but is typically worth at least $140 million in prize money.
Red Bull's dominance has been so dramatic that Brown doesn't even consider the team to be the top rivals for best constructor this year.
“I think Ferrari has showed how quick they are, so I actually think Ferrari might even be a bigger threat than Red Bull as we sit here right now because I think Ferrari will be really strong in Singapore,” Brown said.
Red Bull between Verstappen and Sergio Perez won 38 races in 2022 and 2023. Verstappen through 17 races has seven wins this year; Perez is winless.
Brown praised McLaren's rise under team principal Andrea Stella, who was praised as “a wonderful team boss” by Brown.
“Andrea and the leadership team have been able to unlock the potential and the people,” Brown said of his young team's turnaround. McLaren is one of racing's most popular brands globally, and Brown has been clawing the team back toward the top-tier of F1 after a long drought.
It's been a sometimes-bumpy climb since Brown was named CEO in 2018. He is, after all, the American who loves to stir the pot as much as loves talking about his own racing career. Some of Brown's moves have been chaotic, particularly a messy 2022 when he successfully snatched Piastri and thought he had IndyCar champion Alex Palou locked down, too.
Palou — after a mediator said he couldn't join McLaren until 2024 — changed his mind last year and decided to remain with Chip Ganassi Racing in IndyCar. He didn't want to move to McLaren's less-competitive IndyCar team with the hope either Norris or Piastri's seat opened in F1.
Palou in Nashville won his third IndyCar title, and is headed to another mediator late this year in McLaren's $30 million breach of contract suit against the Spaniard.
The driver signing carousel became comical even among diehard McLaren fans, and that was before this year. The guy Brown hired last minute to take Palou's saved seat broke his wrist a month before the IndyCar opener and the team used three different drivers in that car this year.
David Malukas, who was injured in the offseason bicycle crash, was not one of them as McLaren had a contractual clause to fire him once he missed four consecutive races. The saga of that seat hurt the team, which didn't give Pato O'Ward a consistent car to fight for the championship, and Brown has again overhauled the driver lineup and O'Ward will have two new teammates next year.
It's taken him a long time to get McLaren back in F1, and Brown is pleased with the pace because where the team is headed into Singapore is a far cry from its disastrous and uncompetitive 2023 season.
Brown wants the IndyCar team at the top now, too.
“I want to get the IndyCar car team being where the Formula 1 team is,” Brown said. “I think we’re still a young team. We’re continuing to hire, continuing to make changes in the offseason... I kind of feel like the IndyCar team is on the same trajectory of the Formula 1 team, but the Formula 1 team is just ahead at the moment.”
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia, right, and McLaren chief engineer Tom Stallardcelebrate after he won the Formula One Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
From the left, second-placed Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco, McLaren's chief engineer Tom Stallard, first-placed McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia, and third-placed Mercedes driver George Russell of Britain stand at the podium after the Formula One Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
