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Bryan Rust On Penguins "Dog Fight" In Standings
Bryan Rust On Penguins "Dog Fight" In Standings

Analyst Suggests Penguins Part Ways With Sidney Crosby

With a future that remains unclear, there is belief the Pittsburgh Penguins should move on from Sidney Crosby.
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PITTSBURGH – Not even a year into his tenure as president and general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Kyle Dubas is already walking a tightrope with the team. It’s up to Dubas to construct a Penguins team that can not only fight for a Stanley Cup now, but also remain competitive in the final years of Sidney Crosby’s career.

As the 2023-24 season rages on, the Penguins are struggling to remain in the playoff picture and the questions surrounding the legitimacy of the team are becoming more frequent. With Jake Guentzel nearing the end of his contract and Crosby playing some of the best hockey of his career at an advanced age, what is Dubas to do?

TSN analyst Bryan Hayes believes it’s time for the Penguins to let go of Crosby and let him be a monster player with another team.

“Get Sidney Crosby out of Pittsburgh,” Hayes said on TSN. “Follow in the footsteps of Tom Brady.”

Hayes said he ‘pleading’ for the Penguins to send Crosby to greener pastures as he is still a top talent in the NHL, but the team around him isn’t giving him any kind of help.

“He will always be remembered as a Penguin,” Hayes said. “It’s him and Mario Lemieux. The two greatest Penguins of all time. He’s given everything he possibly could to that franchise. That franchise is no longer repaying him.”

While this is far from the first time someone has suggested the Penguins find a way to move Crosby, it’s still extremely unlikely it happens. Crosby has a full no-move clause and is not going to waive it any time soon. Insiders around the Penguins also believe he’s sticking around through thick and thin.

It is fair to say that the Penguins should do right by their captain if they don’t have Cup ambitions and allow him the opportunity to compete, but with him on the roster, they are still a threat. At 36-years-old, Crosby is putting himself square in the middle of the MVP discussion, he just needs the rest of his team to follow his lead and find a consistent level of play.

Hayes again alluded to Brady in the way he left the New England Patriots and won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to cement himself as the greatest quarterback of all time.

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“If he follows in the footsteps of Brady,” Hayes said. “Goes somewhere else, wins a Cup, is competitive… that is going to make the case for him to get into the top five all time.”

The Penguins recently made the decision to keep core members like Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang around through the end of their careers. That was the old front office regime, however, and Dubas might swing in a different direction if this team doesn’t pull themselves out of the basement.

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