Sidney Crosby's Loyalty Will Be Tested After Penguins' Trade-Deadline Moves | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Through the Penguins' slump, and through weeks of speculation that eventually led to first-year Pittsburgh GM Kyle Dubas trading homegrown hero Jake Guentzel, Sidney Crosby has publicly maintained the position he's long held: He wants to be a lifelong Penguin.

"I've said that forever," he told The Athletic's Rob Rossi on Feb. 19. "But right now I'm trying to focus on getting into the playoffs."

Over the past two decades, no player has had more of an impact on the game of hockey and the people within and surrounding hockey than Crosby. The phrase "hockey culture" is having a reckoning right now—rightfully so—but the implications of hockey before all and "we" before "I" are not always good.

But Crosby is always good. And since he arrived in the league at 18 years old in 2005, he's been the shining representative and reliable reminder of why we love this sport. His quiet confidence, the tales of his philanthropy and community work you usually hear by word of mouth as opposed to some Instagram post, his constant playoff presence, his moments big and small.

Crosby and his Penguins in and around the playoffs are all we've known for nearly two decades. It's all he's known his entire career. Even when things weren't looking the brightest approaching the trade deadline, the Penguins refused to sell as long as they had Crosby and the core on the roster. Year after year, the front office was rewarded for that.

But the Penguins have failed to win a playoff series since 2018, and they failed to make the playoffs in the most deflating manner possible last season.

Pittsburgh found itself in a similar situation heading into this deadline despite Crosby's best efforts. As the bouts of lifeless play and lopsided losses snowballed into once-uncharacteristic-but-increasingly-common losing streaks, tough decisions were on the horizon.

Dubas ultimately decided to trade Guentzel, Crosby's productive, longtime winger, making the Penguins sellers for the first time in the captain's career.

The return included Michael Bunting, who played fine on Crosby's left wing Saturday despite the 5-1 loss to the Bruins. Bunting, again, is fine, but no one is kidding themselves into believing this trade was made to improve the active roster. The return was more about the two draft picks (no first-rounders) and a prospect package that reinforced Dubas' desire to add more youth to the team, although he maintains a true rebuild isn't necessary.

Crosby, 36, is still his elite self, but he certainly doesn't have time for a true rebuild, nor do Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, or Erik Karlsson. The questions only amass from here, though. What does Crosby have time for? Is a soft re-tooling enough to revamp the team for success in his final years? Will he go down with the ship, or will his first time on a selling team force him to change his mind about playing his entire career in Pittsburgh?

To reiterate: Crosby has only ever said he wants to be a lifelong Penguin. But Sid the Adult doesn't owe us anything, and he's already given us, the game itself, and the 412 more than anyone could've imagined before his time.

It's time we give back to him and allow him the humanity to think his next steps through in peace. It was extremely tough to witness the Penguins follow up the Guentzel trade with a 40-22 edge in shots and a 5-1 loss to the Bruins. You saw it in their faces, their stick-breaking frustrations, and of course, the scoreboard: They just don't have it anymore.

"It's a lot of work to get [to the playoffs]," Crosby said but we've just got to find a way to go a game at a time at this point."

He might have the elite talent to get there, but his teammates on a team with an average age of 30.3—the second-oldest team in the league—don't this season. Unless Dubas can make major changes in the offseason, that trend is likely to continue.

He's allowed to change his mind about retiring a Penguin. And as I sit here at TD Garden witnessing the latest in a string of demoralizing Penguins losses, I kind of hope he does.