CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Bryan Rust said that he didn't "worry for one second" that Sidney Crosby wouldn't sign his contract extension this summer.
Heck, it barely crossed his mind at all.
"I don't think I even thought about it unless I saw it from one of you guys on Twitter or something," Rust said with a smirk. "Unfortunately, something comes up, retweets. Stupid. ... This place means a lot to Sid. Sid means a lot to this place. For me, there wasn't a doubt that something would have gotten done sooner or later."
Alex Nedeljkovic said he kept tabs on the whole saga on social media too, but also didn't waste any energy worrying about it.
"I leave it to him," Nedeljkovic told me. "And everything that I always heard was that he wanted to play here. He wanted to be here. He loves it here. He's going to make his decisions, and he'll do it in a timely manner. I don't think anybody was really ever too worried."
Lars Eller, forever the most level-headed person in any room, chuckled a little at all the dramatics and hand-wringing he saw online over the last few weeks.
"I was following it," Eller said of the extension. "But I wouldn't say I was worried. I think there was nothing else to talk about, so you forget he actually has a year left. There's actually a lot more time. Then in the offseason, there's no more things to talk about, so that's what happened, being the only subject for a while."
Kris Letang too was amused by all the speculation that occurred online throughout the process. Does Crosby want to go play with his buddy Nate MacKinnon in Colorado? Does he want to join a more clear contender? Does he want to leave to go play in Canada? Does he want to just flat-out retire? For the players who actually know Crosby well, they didn't understand all the hot takes.
"I mean, the fact that people entertain that, that's what's the funny part," Letang said. "You know, they clearly don't know the person. They clearly don't know much about anything, if you ask me. You see guys playing a long career somewhere, and eventually they go somewhere else, and you say, 'I can't believe he's wearing a different sweater!' But you have to know the person, the character, the way he's built, and how his mind works to understand the type of person he is. Whether it was going to be July 1 or October 13, I don't care. In my mind, he was going to wear those colors."
While there wasn't exactly much doubt within the locker room, Crosby provided some relief on Monday when he signed a two-year contract extension that kicks in after the last year of his current contract expires and runs through the 2026-27 season. He received zero raise, asking for the same average annual value as always: $8.7 million.
After Crosby signed, he spoke of his conversations he had with Dubas throughout the process and called it "reassuring" to hear of management and ownership's commitment to still winning. Crosby believes that the team still has a chance to contend while he's under contract, and that confidence permeates throughout the locker room.
"I think we all believe that we can get back to the playoffs," Drew O'Connor said of Crosby's belief that this team can be a contender. "I mean, we were so close the last couple of years with some inconsistencies that we dealt with and still managed to come pretty close. I think we're right there. That kind of stretch at the end of the year showed how good of a team we can be, and we definitely added some guys that can help in that regard. We're just super excited to get going. I know a lot of people don't really necessarily believe in the team, which we'll just use as motivation this year."
It's the details of Crosby's contract that gives the Penguins' players that confidence, too. He's severely underpaid, so the team around him can be better.
Yeah, that $8.7 million figure in part comes from Crosby's superstition surrounding the No. 87 because of his Aug. 7 birthday. But it's also a commitment to helping the team win. If he really needed that No. 87 somewhere, he just as easily could have asked for something like, $10.87 million per year. As his agent Pat Brisson said in a Sportsnet appearance on Tuesday, his side "tried to get him to take a little bit more money," but "it's where he wanted to be." Crosby has always took less than he could have for the benefit of the team. His teammates took notice.
"You see the deal that he signed, it's the same exact cap hit that he's had since he signed that big deal, right?" Nedeljkovic said. "He's leaving money on the table in order to let Kyle (Dubas) and those guys do what they can do to bring in pieces to help us win. It's exciting to see that, and for him to say that he still has belief that the guys in this room can be a contender and can win, it goes a long way in building confidence for yourself. You want to just keep playing for him and battling and working hard for him."
Tristan Jarry broke into a huge grin when talking about Crosby's cap hit being the same as ever.
"It's awesome," said Jarry. "It's a huge help to our team, you see how dedicated he is to win. He's that person. He's the person that's always pushing you to be the best, and he leads by example. That's a prime example of it. He wants to do everything he can in his power to win a Stanley Cup, and just doing that, it reiterates to the rest of us how badly he wants it."
When I asked Eller about Crosby signing for the low cap hit he did, he had the characteristic long pause he gives when he's pondering a meaningful subject.
"He's a rare breed in sports," Eller said of his captain. "He's a very unselfish person. When guys talk about how what's most important to them is winning, he does the walk and does the talk. He follows through. What more could you want in a leader and one of the best players of all-time? He's a role model for everybody in a lot of ways."
Mike Sullivan called Crosby's refusal to take a raise an "incredible gesture," and believes that it sends a message to the rest of the team: Crosby's not done winning here.
"It's more evidence in how he carries himself," Sullivan said. "He's a quality leader. I think he puts the organization and the team in front of himself. I think his passion for and his desire to want to continue to win is evident in that decision that he made. ... It's his legacy. We've talked about it for so long here, and he continues to build on his impeccable record as as an athlete, both on the ice and off the ice. This is just one more indication of that."
When Crosby's contract is set to expire, he'll be 39 years old. He'll be 40 when the puck drops in 2027-28, the first year past this contract. Crosby was non-committal about whether this will be his last contract, preferring to take things year-by-year at this stage in his career. But with the rate he's still going, it wouldn't be too surprising to see him continue to add to that legacy of his well into his 40s.
"His body is still not decreasing," Letang observed. "It still has the same power, the same strength. And on top of that, he's always ahead of everybody with the mind and the brain, the hockey IQ. So even if one day he starts slowing down, he's still going to be ahead of everybody because of the way he sees the game and everything. He can play until he's 50, maybe, 45-50. It's going to be up to him. At the end of the day, it's always going to be up to him because he's always going to be a step ahead of everybody."
PENGUINS
Ville Koivunen takes a shot on Alex Nedeljkovic in a shootout in training camp in Cranberry, Pa. on Wednesday
MORE FROM CAMP
• Erik Karlsson didn't skate, he's day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Not sure how or when it happened, but he was here skating for some time in the informal skates prior to camp opening. I did see him here today in what looked like workout clothes.
• In other injury news: Tanner Howe, who missed the Prospects Challenge with a facial injury sustained earlier in the offseason, was on the ice for Day 1, albeit in a full bubble shield protecting his face. Matt Nieto resumed rehabbing his knee injury off the ice but is considered month-to-month. Injured forward prospects Beau Jelsma and Jagger Joshua are considered "longer-term" with upper-body injuries, and injured goaltending prospect Taylor Gauthier didn't skate with the group with a minor lower-body injury.
• Got some more detail on Gauthier's whole situation: The injury he dealt with all last year was a hernia. When I talked to him at the end of the year he said surgery was a possibility but he wasn't sure whether he'd go that route or the rehab route. He did end up having the surgery. Then, in Game 3 in the Buffalo Prospects Challenge, the moment when he came out of the game midway through the second was not planned, and it was just a coincidence that he left at the midway point of the game. He was injured then, and that's why he came out -- which explains his anger and slamming of his stick when the change happened. The injury he suffered out there in Buffalo is unrelated to the previous hernia issue and it sounds minor, like he should be able to get back out there during camp. He's only day-to-day. Tough luck for him, but at least some good news that it's a minor issue given the goaltending prospect battles happening here.
• Players broke into four groups -- the first three were a mix of prospects, depth players and NHL players. The fourth group was a little weird -- it was the AHL-contracted guys, invites, and the lower-end prospects who will be going back to junior ... plus Noel Acciari. Not sure what (if anything) you can read into there, might have just wanted a veteran to balance out the group.
• Here are how the other three groups lined up. Imagine there's a giant flashing sign here reminding you that one shouldn't read into some of these, because Sullivan generally likes pairing an established tandem (like Crosby-Rust) with someone new or a prospect. With that in mind, here are lines and pairings:
Team 1:
Anthony Beauvillier - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Drew O'Connor - Sam Poulin - Rutger McGroarty
Logan Pietila - Joona Koppanen - Jesse Puljujarvi/Boko Imama
Marcus Pettersson - Harrison Brunicke
John Ludvig - Filip Kral
Sebastian Aho - Dan Renouf
Alex Nedeljkovic
Charlie Schenkel
Team 2:
Ville Koivunen - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Emil Bemstrom - Vasily Ponomarev - Valtteri Puustinen
Corey Andonovski - Marc Johnstone - Jimmy Huntington/Bennett MacArthur
Matt Grzelcyk - Kris Letang
Nikolai Knyzhov - Mac Hollowell
Philip Waugh - Nathan Clurman
Joel Blomqvist
Filip Larsson
Team 3:
Michael Bunting - Lars Eller - Cody Glass
Kevin Hayes - Blake Lizotte - Avery Hayes
Jonathan Gruden - Tristan Broz - Atley Calvert
Tanner Howe - Raivis Ansons - Matheiu De St. Phalle
Ryan Graves - Jack St. Ivany
Ryan Shea - Scooter Brickey
Owen Pickering - Finn Harding
Isaac Belliveau - Emil Pieniniemi
Tristan Jarry
Sergei Murashov
• What can be taken from that? Crosby with Rust is real. Malkin with Rakell is real. Eller with Glass might be something they're really considering, as is Kevin Hayes with Lizotte. On defense, Grzelcyk with Letang is interesting, given that Grzelcyk really could end up in the top-four. Graves and St. Ivany together is also interesting, remembering that those two really worked well in their brief time together last season after St. Ivany was recalled and before Graves was hurt.
• Teams 1 and 2 scrimmaged, and after two halves ended in a 3-3 tie it went into a shootout. Crosby scored the lone goal in the shootout to win it, which bodes well for his chances of cracking the NHL roster. The third team just had a longer practice and will scrimmage tomorrow against Team 2.
• Tristan Jarry was part of the group that included Sergei Murashov today. I asked him for his early impressions of the Penguins' Russian goaltending prospect.
"He's a great young kid," Jarry said. "He works very hard and he's good and sound technically. I think he's going to be a very good goalie. He's young still, so I think he'll keep getting better as he gets older."
• Sullivan spoke of the team making an effort to rally around Kevin Hayes following the deaths of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, two of his close friends.
"Obviously, it's a terrible tragedy, and it's very close to Kevin and we're all well aware of that," Sullivan said. "I think it's important that he knows that we care about him and that we're here to support him and his family in any way that we can. You know, Kevin's endured some difficult tragedies in his life here in the last few years. We have so much admiration for how he's handled some really difficult situations. He's a high-quality person. It's our job as his teammates to make sure that we're there for him, and we want to make him aware of that. I've talked to some of the leaders on our team about that very thing. I've talked to Kevin about that a little bit. We certainly are understanding that it's a difficult situation. My hope is that sometimes these guys find a certain haven on the ice, because it's what they love to do, and it gives them the ability to immerse themselves in something that they love to do. In some small way that might make these difficult life situations just a little bit easier, but they're not easy, and we're well aware of it."
• Sullivan was asked if there's a certain role he's envisioning for Rutger McGroarty if he is to make the NHL team out of camp.
"I don't know that we have any sort of preconceived notion there," Sullivan said. "I think we're all excited with Rutger and his potential to impact this organization. He's obviously a really good player, a terrific leader, a good person. It's a tremendous add to our organization. From my standpoint as the coach, we're just going to watch training camp and and we're going to see how Rutger does with respect to all the other guys in training camp. I think we have a responsibility to put the best lineup on the ice that gives the Penguins the best chance to win. I also think we have a responsibility to the players within our organization to help them maximize their potential, and that's a balancing act sometimes. I don't think there's any question in the short time that I've watched Rutger play, I think he's got a very bright future."
When it comes to when that NHL future comes, Sullivan said the time frame is going to be on McGroarty himself.
"I know we'd all like to sit here today and say, 'Hey, he's going to make the opening night roster,'" Sullivan said. "If he earns his way onto that roster, he will. But if he doesn't, and the organization and Kyle (Dubas) and our hockey operations group feel that it's best for him to continue to develop that at the American League level, then those decisions will be made. But I don't think any one of us have a preconceived notion. We have a responsibility to Rutger to do what's best for him, and my experience has been with respect to this stuff, is usually what's in the best interest of the player is also in the best interest of the organization. They tend to go hand in hand. We'll watch and see where it goes, but we're excited to have him in camp, and we're excited to watch his game, and we'll try to make an assessment of what we think is best for him and the organization, and we'll go from there."
• There were no fewer than 25 members of the hockey operations and development staffs in the management balcony watching most of today's sessions. Standing room only up there.
• The AHL coaches and other members of the staff led the first two sessions, then Sullivan, Mike Vellucci, David Quinn and Andy Chiodo ran the third group.
• Here's tomorrow's schedule:
9:00-9:45 a.m. – Team 2 practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
9:00-9:45 a.m. – Team 3 practice (Covestro Rink – Rink 2)
10:00-11:00 a.m. – Team 2 vs. Team 3 scrimmage (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
11:30 AM – 12:15 p.m. – Team 1 practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
12:40-1:30 p.m. – Team 1 practice (FedEx Rink – Rink 1)
