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Friedman: Sidney Crosby Still Undecided On Extension

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Entering the final season of his 12-year, $104.4MM mega-deal with the Penguins, franchise cornerstone Sidney Crosby became eligible to sign an extension on July 1 this year. A deal seemed close shortly after that, with reports suggesting the two sides would formalize an extension weeks into free agency. However, with no news yet, Elliotte Friedman said on today’s “32 Thoughts” podcast that Crosby is still weighing whether he wants to sign any of the multiple offers presented to him by Pittsburgh general manager Kyle Dubas.

Crosby’s uncertainty isn’t related to a desire to maximize his earning potential in the latter stages of his career – it’s simply about whether he’s prepared to spend the final years of his time as a top-of-the-lineup player on a retooling Pittsburgh club. The Penguins have presented him with multiple offers with varying lengths, all of which are acceptable to Crosby in theory, Friedman notes.

One thing I wonder is if Crosby is simply sitting here saying ’I’ve got no problem with the offers, I’ve got no problem with the Penguins, but if we’re not going to be making the playoffs, am I going to be able to handle that?’ I think that’s one of the things he’d kind of weighing. My prediction is he stays because I think he’s a Penguin and he wants to be a Penguin, but I’ve tried to ask around about why it isn’t done, and I think one of the reasons is it’s the summer and he doesn’t need to rush. He’s still got time. And I think the other one is what if it’s like that? Is [he] going to be able to deal with it, because he’s still at the top of his game and he’s competitive.

With the extension saga beginning to draw out into its third month, there’s been more discussion about contingency plans and ripple effects if he enters training camp in a couple of weeks without a deal in place. Travis Yost of TSN posited earlier this week that Crosby may accept a trade elsewhere at the deadline, allowing the Pens to bolster their future with a presumably gargantuan trade return before signing back in Pittsburgh as an unrestricted free agency next summer. Last month, Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote about the off-ice impact of Crosby not extending before camp.

Crosby has one season left on his deal at an $8.7MM cap hit, but he’s owed just $3MM in salary this year. It’s the same structure his extremely front-loaded contract has carried since the 2022-23 campaign.

If there’s a lack of urgency from Crosby’s end to the degree that Friedman implies, it’s becoming more plausible than not that he’s still not signed past 2025 when camp kicks off in less than two weeks. Pittsburgh still needs his best if they have any intention of closing the three-point gap that kept them out of the postseason for the second year in a row last season. The 37-year-old had 42 goals and 94 points in all 82 games en route to finishing ninth in Hart Trophy voting, his highest finish in the MVP tally since 2021.

Alex Goligoski Confirms Retirement

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Free agent defenseman Alex Goligoski is hanging up his skates, he confirmed to Joe Smith of The Athletic. It’s the expected outcome after reports in June indicated he wasn’t expected back with the Wild, where he spent the final three seasons of his career.

“I think I’ve known for a while,” Goligoski told Smith. “Do you hang around and see if some team wants to throw some money at you? I have no desire to move my family. No desire to go by myself and do all that. That’s the most amazing thing about finishing in Minnesota. It makes it easier to say, ‘Hey, I’m good.’”

“…I think it’s the longevity of it, honestly. I can totally see where it’d be very difficult if you’re not planning on being done, where it’s like you don’t get a contract but you’re still younger. It feels to me like I’ve had my fun, I’ve done it long enough. I’m good to step away and move on.”

Goligoski, 39, was a second-round pick by the Penguins in 2004 before starting a three-year run at the University of Minnesota. The Grand Rapids, Minnesota native turned pro with Pittsburgh for the 2007-08 campaign, playing parts of four seasons in the Steel City before being sent to the Stars in a blockbuster swap for James Neal and Matt Niskanen.

A top-pairing option for much of the 2010s in Dallas, Goligoski’s signing rights were traded to the Coyotes just days before becoming a free agent in 2016 and quickly signed a five-year, $27.38MM deal. He continued to hold down top-four minutes there for the life of that contract before signing a one-year, $5MM deal with the Wild, his hometown club, in 2021. He signed a two-year, $4MM deal to extend his stay in the State of Hockey the following summer, which expired this June.

The writing was on the wall for Goligoski after last season, which saw him limited to 10 assists in 36 games while averaging 14:49 per game and serving as a healthy scratch for long stretches of the season. He hasn’t been a top-of-the-lineup option since his days in Arizona, but he did remain a capable puck-moving presence in a limited role after joining the Wild.

Goligoski was one of the league’s 10 oldest players last season. Three players ahead of him on the list – Jeff Carter, Zach Parise, and Joe Pavelski – had already retired this summer, making Goligoski the sixth-oldest active player in the league at the time of his retirement.

His first season as an NHL regular saw him lift the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2009, appearing in 45 regular-season games and two playoff games en route to the championship win. Over 1,078 regular-season games, he scored 87 goals, 388 assists, and 475 points and posted a +55 rating while averaging 21:55 per night. He added 21 points in 47 playoff games in six trips to the postseason (2009, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2020, and 2022).

While ending his playing days, Goligoski hopes to kick off a career in an NHL front office soon. “I’ve always liked breaking down what teams do and why they do it,” he told Smith. “I have a good sense of the right way to do things. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen the right way and the wrong way to do things. I think it’d be something I’m good at. So we’ll see.” He doesn’t have an official role with the Wild, but Smith reports Wild general manager Bill Guerin will be open to hiring him once he’s ready to begin the next phase of his hockey career.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Penguins Notes: Acciari, Eller, Hayes

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Matt Vensel of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Noel Acciari will likely move from center to the wing this season as the Penguins try to squeeze more juice out of the 32-year-old’s game after a disappointing 2023-24 season. Acciari was signed to a three-year $6MM contract in July of 2023 with the expectation that he could center the Penguins’ fourth line, but the results were underwhelming, to say the least.

The Johnston, Rhode Island native dealt with injuries last season and didn’t contribute much offensively with just four goals and three assists in 55 games. He was okay defensively, but his possession numbers were abysmal with a CF% of 40% at even strength. He’s been mentioned as a trade candidate this summer, but it seems unlikely that Pittsburgh could find a taker. A move to the wing could benefit Acciari and allow him to get to his game better in his second year with the Penguins.

In other Penguins notes:

  • Matt Vensel also wonders if all of the forwards Pittsburgh brought in this summer might push them to trade Lars Eller. This is hardly the first time that Eller’s name has come up in trade talks this summer, and it doesn’t seem to be quieting as training camp nears. Eller served as the Penguins’ third-line center last year and filled in admirably, particularly given the lack of consistency when it came to his linemates. The 35-year-old posted 15 goals and 16 assists in 82 games and had good possession numbers, despite starting over 70% of his shifts in the defensive zone. While he does hold some value on the trade market, he remains one of Pittsburgh’s best options to dress as a third-line center.
  • If the Penguins do move on from Eller, newly acquired forward Kevin Hayes could be his replacement on the third line (as per Matt Vensel). Hayes couldn’t find a consistent role in St. Louis last season and his numbers dipped to a career-low 29 points (13 goals and 16 assists) in 79 games. The 32-year-old is just two years removed from a 54-point season in Philadelphia and could have a bounce-back season if he can carve out a consistent role with the Penguins.

East Notes: Demidov, Crosby, Mercer

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One of Ivan Demidov’s countrymen is optimistic the top-five pick will have a strong run of success in Montreal. Former Canadiens winger Alexander Radulov spoke to Sergey Demidov of Responsible Gambling about the 2024 fifth-overall pick and said Demidov will be “having a blast” when he likely begins his NHL career in the closing days of the 2024-25 season.

“Yes, he will be pressured, and he should understand that,” Radulov said. “But he should turn that pressure to his advantage. In Quebec, fans understand hockey. If you give it all, they see it and appreciate it. They even have hockey on their five-dollar bill.”

Radulov, who spent the 2016-17 season in Montreal, will be Demidov’s rival in the Kontinental Hockey League this season as the youngster takes on his first full season of professional hockey. Demidov, 19 in December, had one of the best seasons in Russian junior hockey history last year with SKA St. Petersburg’s U20 club, where he lit up the circuit for 60 points (27 G, 33 A) in just 30 games. He remains on SKA’s main roster two days ahead of their regular season opener, and all signs point to him starting his post-draft season with the main squad.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:

  • Each day that passes without a Sidney Crosby extension means more anxiety for Penguins fans. The face of the franchise is entering the last season of his 12-year, $104.4MM contract and has been eligible to sign an extension since July 1, but there hasn’t been any news despite the two sides being reportedly close for months. Trade speculation will keep heating up the closer we get to training camp, influencing TSN’s Travis Yost to at least break down the likelihood of Crosby being moved at the trade deadline. “Imagine for a moment that the Penguins struggle early,” Yost writes. “It is precisely Crosby’s loyalty to the franchise that would suggest a trade could be fruitful: the returns even for a rental of Crosby would be extraordinary, and under the same assumption that Crosby’s loyalty is unwavering, he would return back to Pittsburgh (with possibly more help rostered as soon as 2025-26) on his retirement deal.“
  • Could more teams follow in the Hurricanes’ footsteps and use deferred payments to help get long-term deals across the finish line? It’s at least something to look out for in the case of the Devils and RFA forward Dawson Mercer, posits James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now. New Jersey is down to $4.98MM in projected cap space, per PuckPedia, a figure Mercer’s AAV on a longer-term deal would likely eclipse by a slim margin. Deferring a small percentage of the contract until the end of the agreement would help it get across the finish line, at least from the team’s perspective. Whether Mercer is willing to accept the structure remains to be seen.

Hollowell Could Be Under-The-Radar Roster Candidate

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  • With the Penguins lacking right-shot depth on the back end, Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wonders if free agent addition Mac Hollowell could be this year’s version of Ryan Shea. Shea didn’t have any NHL experience heading into last season but wound up playing in 31 games.  Hollowell does have six games at the top level under his belt with Toronto in 2022-23 but spent last season with AHL Hartford, notching 44 points in 64 games.  Pittsburgh GM Kyle Dubas is familiar with Hollowell from their time in Toronto which could help his cause this coming season.

Looking Ahead At Early Training Camp Battles

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The 2024 offseason is nearly at its end and many teams are looking ahead toward training camp. A few teams have unfinished business to attend to but most heavy lifting is completed across the league. Training camp and preseason contests give the team a first glance at new talent and also bring along the strenuous process of trimming the team down to a 23-man roster before opening night in October. This will not be an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination but a few notable training camp battles have already developed after a lengthy summer.

Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes have sustained one of the most successful stretches outside a Stanley Cup title in organizational history. The team has made the playoffs for six straight seasons and has regularly boasted one of the deeper lineups in the league over that stretch. Unfortunately, the team lost valuable talent in Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen, Brett Pesce, and Brady Skjei this summer, leading many to believe this team has taken a noticeable step backward this offseason. The team filled in their blue line adequately with Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere on low-cost deals but there is still a glaring hole on the team’s second line.

Martin Necas could slot into a center or right-wing role on the second line. The possession-heavy Hurricane offense makes him a better option on the wing due to poor faceoff percentage throughout his career. That leaves Carolina to choose from Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jack Drury, Jack Roslovic, or Jordan Staal to middle the team’s second-line with another question mark at left wing. This battle will mainly come down to prospects Bradly Nadeau and Jackson Blake as many of the other wingers on the team are better-positioned in bottom-six roles. Neither have the upper hand at the outset as both showed off promising talent in the NCAA last season at the University of Maine and the University of North Dakota, respectively, and it will be an interesting battle to see play out in a few weeks.

Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings are headed into year six of the ’Yzerplan’ and have yet to return to the Stanley Cup playoffs. The organization came close last year as they tied with the Washington Capitals in points for the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference only to miss out due to the first tiebreaker. Poised to make headlines this summer in the hopes of icing a playoff-caliber roster in a tough Atlantic Division — the Red Wings fell flat. Their biggest moves of the summer were retaining forward Patrick Kane on a one-year deal, signing Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year pact, and signing goaltender Cam Talbot to complete their goaltending trio.

Detroit seemingly already has a full roster heading into training camp in a few weeks. Simon Edvinsson, Albert Johansson, Carter Mazur, and Nate Danielson are poised to challenge for a full-time spot in the lineup which could lead the Red Wings to some difficult choices in October. The team will eventually have to begin graduating their glut of prospects to the NHL level but most of them are blocked by the numerous acquisitions general manager Steve Yzerman has made over the last few years. Don’t be surprised if Detroit becomes an active trade candidate before the season opens to make room for some of their prospects.

Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild are set to open the 2024-25 NHL season with two-and-a-half goalies on the roster to the surprise of many. After the team extended uber-popular goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to a one-year deal in mid-April the going notion was that the Wild would pursue a trade of Filip Gustavsson over the summer to open up a spot for top prospect Jesper Wallstedt. It shouldn’t be a make-or-break season for Wallstedt if the Wild keep him down in the minors for another year but he has little left to prove at the AHL level.

Gustavsson could still be a viable trade candidate throughout the season with a manageable $3.75MM cap hit for the next two years. It’s still difficult to view Minnesota not capitalizing on an active goaltending trade market this summer as anything other than a misstep. Wallstedt is a naturally good goaltending prospect already and the Wild have a unique opportunity to have him learn under one of the game’s all-time best in Fleury. It would be a surprise to see Minnesota move on from Gustavsson at this point in the offseason. Wallstedt could certainly play himself into a third-string position for Minnesota this season which could create quite the rotation between the pipes.

Montreal Canadiens

As the Canadiens look to rebound from a multi-year retooling effort the team has created quite a glut of potential on the blue line. Defensemen Mike Matheson and Kaiden Guhle already strike as long-term options on the back end but the team will need to piece together a defensive core with seven different options. It would be wise for Montreal to enter training camp with a very open mind for the defensive core outside of Matheson and Guhle.

This reasonably leaves five other spots available which will be filled out by prospects Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux, and David Reinbacher with David Savard, Arber Xhekaj, Jayden Struble, and Justin Barron left to pick from. All the options individually offer their unique skill set to the Canadiens’ blue line but they are another potentially active trade candidate heading into the season.

Pittsburgh Penguins

On the opposite side of the coin compared to the Canadiens; the Penguins will need to thin out their group of forwards heading into the regular season. Pittsburgh’s roster breakdown shows 14 forwards on the active roster with Emil Bemstrom and Jesse Puljujarvi in the minors according to PuckPedia. Rutger McGroarty and Drew O’Connor should be the main camp battle to who plays on the wing next to Sidney Crosby but the team’s bottom-six appears too saturated.

It should be a multi-tiered training camp battle as each player to pick from plays a different style of hockey. Depending on whether the Penguins want more scoring in the bottom-six or a more defensive-minded approach it will ultimately chart the trajectory of several players. Bemstrom, Puljujarvi, Lars Eller, Noel Acciari, Anthony Beauvillier, and Valtteri Puustinen all represent the notable talent who will compete for these spots once training camp begins in a few weeks.

St. Louis Blues

The Blues were originally thought to be a team looking to thin out their defensive core this offseason. The team instead brought in Ryan Suter, Philip Broberg, and Pierre-Olivier Joseph while only moving on from Marco Scandella. The team may be without defenseman Torey Krug for the entire regular season which opens up a spot on the left side of the defense but the team will ultimately have to cut the roster.

The choice will become less complicated if the team is without Krug for the regular season as the only battle of training camp will come down to Suter and Joseph as the team’s seventh defenseman. A roster spot hangs on the availability of Krug for the 2024-25 NHL season which makes for an interesting camp battle between several members of the Blues’ defensive core.

McGroarty "Feels Right" About Being A Penguin

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  • Forward prospect Rutger McGroarty went two seasons without signing an entry-level contract with the Winnipeg Jets due to concerns about his development path within the organization. The University of Michigan product went only a few hours between being acquired by the Pittsburgh Penguins in a trade with the Jets and signing his entry-level contract because “Everything feels right here” (X Link). He has already been impressed by the organization’s front office staff and the veteran members of the team and certainly seems excited to begin work as a Penguin. He will compete with several forwards for a spot on the opening night roster out of training camp in a few weeks and could even see time on a line with captain Sidney Crosby in his rookie campaign.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Penguins Notes: Robertson, O’Connor, Line Combinations

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Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now writes about a potential link between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nicholas Robertson. It’s not the first time rumors have surfaced about a potential Robertson to Pittsburgh trade, as Kingerski wrote back in May that the Penguins, specifically general manager Kyle Dubas, should target the undersized Maple Leafs forward. However, Robertson remains a Maple Leaf despite asking for a trade in June, and the Penguins have just under $900K in available cap space. While a move seems unlikely at this point, it should be noted that the Penguins have 15 forwards on their active roster and could likely bury an additional $1.7MM in the minors.

Kingerski writes that the Penguins could offer sheet Robertson for below $2.29MM, and the cost would only be a third-rounder, but the Maple Leafs would likely match that number and shut the door on the Robertson-to-Pittsburgh talk. It appears that the Penguins’ best option, should they want to acquire Robertson, would be to make a hockey trade using a roster player with value and perhaps a draft pick to try and pry the 22-year-old loose.

In other Penguins notes:

  • Kingerski also wrote about the Penguins’ lack of a winger for superstar Sidney Crosby. The Penguins have spent the summer trying to find someone to play with Crosby after trading Jake Guentzel at the trade deadline, and with the summer coming to an end, Kingerski believes that Drew O’Connor is likely the Penguins’ best option for the first-line left winger role. O’Connor finished last season playing with Crosby and showed glimpses during that time. The 25-year-old finished the year with 16 goals and 17 assists in 79 games, including seven goals and five assists in the final 19 games when he played alongside Crosby.
  • The Penguins acquisition of young forward Rutger McGroarty has changed the potential makeup of their forward lines (according to Dan Kingerski). The Penguins boast as many as 19 potential NHL forwards, including newly acquired Kevin Hayes, Cody Glass, and Anthony Beauvillier, and it could make for an interesting training camp in the Steel City. McGroarty could get a look alongside Sidney Crosby on the first line, but he could also slide into a third-line role alongside Hayes and Beauvillier. It isn’t even clear which side of the ice McGroarty will play on, but one clear thing is that his presence in Pittsburgh makes things very interesting when it comes to the Penguins’ forward ranks.

Poll: Which Trade Was The Most Impactful Since The Start Of Free Agency?

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Heading into the offseason, the NHL trade market was expected to be full of activity. However, as things played out, the trade market took much longer to develop than anticipated, with many of the major trades taking place within the last few weeks. With most of the notable players on the trade market now having changed hands shortly before the start of the 2024-25 NHL season, we’ll look back at some of the bigger trades since the start of free agency.

The biggest trade from the start of free agency happened in the middle of the frenzy, with the Washington Capitals acquiring defenseman Jakob Chychrun from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Nick Jensen and a third-round pick in 2026. Chychrun is coming off of one of the better statistical performances throughout his career on a middling Senators’ defense, with 13 goals and 41 points in 82 games. He finished the year with a -30 rating, but that had largely to do with his deployment with Ottawa, as Hockey Reference pegged his expected rating at +0.4 over the year. He will no longer be responsible for leading a defensive core with John Carlson holding that crown, but he should still receive big minutes in Washington.

Fast forward to mid-August, when the Montreal Canadiens acquired one of the better forwards available on the trade market. The Canadiens acquired Patrik Laine and a second-round pick in 2026 from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for defenseman Jordan Harris. Laine carries a bloated salary of $8.7MM for the next two years and is coming off a disappointing due to injuries and a stint with the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, limiting him to only 18 games with Columbus. However, he is only two years removed from being a point-per-game player with the Blue Jackets, as he scored 48 goals and 108 points in 111 games. Montreal recently finished 26th in the league in goals per game, as they arguably only had one line for opposing defenses to worry about. With Laine now in the fold, if he can rebound with his new team, the Canadiens will be able to spread the wealth and give more for opponents to worry about.

The last two sizeable trades from the offseason are centered around prospects, with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Winnipeg Jets getting together on a swap of prospects Rutger McGroarty and Brayden Yager, and the San Jose Sharks acquired their goalie of the future in Yaroslav Askarov from the Nashville Predators.

McGroarty gives the Penguins a young, cost-effective, and hard-nosed NHL-caliber winger to place next to Sidney Crosby for the foreseeable future while the Jets acquired a right-handed centerman further down the road that should challenge for the second-line role longer-term. Similarly, Askarov represents one of the brighter goalie prospects in recent years after dominating the American Hockey League over the last two years. The Sharks rounded out an already solid prospect pool with Askarov and did not need to part with any of their top prospects in return.

There were several smaller trades throughout the summer that could be more impactful than the above-mentioned group. Now that the offseason is only a few weeks away from officially being in the rearview mirror — which trade from the summer do you think will be the most impactful moving forward?

For mobile users, click here to vote.

Snapshots: Ullmark, Tuomaala, Penguins

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The newest Ottawa Senators starter Linus Ullmark is reportedly getting comfortable in Ottawa. TSN’s Shawn Simpson shares that the former Vezina Trophy winner has purchased a home in the area and could begin discussing a contract extension soon. Ullmark is entering the final year of a four-year, $20MM contract signed with the Boston Bruins. He spent the deal emerging as one of the NHL’s premier goalies, posting a dazzling 88 wins and .924 save percentage across 130 games in Boston. But the emergence of Jeremy Swayman made Ullmark’s role expendable and the Bruins decided to sell high – sending him to Ottawa in exchange for a first-round pick, Joonas Korpisalo, and Mark Kastelic.

Ullmark now stands as the most promising Senators goalie in at least a few years. Korpisalo served as the team’s most recent starter and performed dismally, posting just 21 wins and an .890 save percentage in 55 games played. The performance was the peak of a string of struggling years for the Senators goaltending room, which has featured a different starter in every season since 2019-20. Ullmark will look to buck that trend this year by upholding his strong play under the scrutiny of the Canadian market.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Philadelphia Flyers prospect Samu Tuomaala shared in an interview with Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer that he almost retired from hockey two years ago – one year after his second-round selection in the 2021 NHL Draft. He had worked his way up to the Liiga, Finland’s top league, but struggled to find much of a role, or much scoring. Those woes continued into the 2022-23 season and through moves across four Finnish teams – but Tuomaala ultimately managed just three points in 40 Liiga games. His struggles continued into the Mestis, Finland’s second-tier league, until Tuomaala was finally moved to Kettera, where he resurged with 46 points in 29 games. He rode that momentum into a rookie AHL season this past year, tallying an impressive 43 points in 69 games – good for third on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in scoring. The wind is clearly back behind Tuomaala’s sails and, at just 21, there’s still plenty of time for him to become a true top prospect. He’ll have a chance to prove that worth, and maybe even fight for an NHL debut, next season.
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins haven’t been shy about trades this offseason but they may still sit a few moves away from a compliant roster. Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now points out that the current lineup would force the Penguins to send multiple six-figure contracts down to the minor leagues. That’s a hefty investment – and is likely a prevalent thought as the team considers moving players like Lars Eller and Noel Acciari. Pittsburgh currently carries $874K in cap space, per PuckPedia.

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