Kyle Dubas doesn't have a plan, and he hasn't had a plan. Well, basically, here's my theory on July first. One bad July first begets another. You look at the Jari extension, you look at the Graves contract, you look at trading for Riley Smith, which unfortunately didn't work out, although I really like Riley Smith, and then having to trade him retained to get rid of him to the New York Rangers. Nice little pickup by them. At some point, What he was saying is you got to have a conversation about Sidney Crosby and how long he could be in Pittsburgh.

All right, here's Chris Johnston talking about Sidney Crosby.

No, I want to paraphrase him.

On the Chris Johnston show.I.

Was actually going to send you the link. It's perfect. This is great.

If I had a crystal ball, I would probably project that Sidney Crosby would be calling up Nathan McKinnon and being like, Hey, you want to play at least a year or two together? I can totally see Sydney Crosby in a Colorado Avalanche uniform. I know my brain has done a complete 180 from the last time we talked about this. We're just, I do not see him leaving Pittsburgh. I'm starting to get to the other side now.

He's got to probably look himself in the mirror this summer. Obviously, have chats with people close to him that matters. But it's like, do you want to play these last couple of years where you're still at a high? I know a big carrot for Crosby is that he's going to get to now play best on best again. He's going to get to play with the younger generation. That'll be cool for him, whether it's at the Four Nations or the 2026 Olympics. That's all locked in. But But do you want to be toiling in mediocrity? Do you want your season to end on April 10th? The answer is no, but I just don't see the path back to the playoffs quickly for the penguins. Okay, you might make the playoffs. Washington made the playoffs this year, and they were swept in four games. I don't see the path back to really contending. I don't know how this shakes out. None of this is meant to suggest he's gone or anything like that. I'm looking at the landscape and I'm looking at the fact he hasn't signed his new deal. I'll say this. I think he had a five-year contract at a venture level at an $8.7 million cap hit.

Then he did a 12-year deal. That's the one that's ending at an $8.7 million cap hit. I'm willing to bet his next contract is for more than that. I'm willing to bet he's not signing for $8.7 million to ride out the career.

Now, that caused a kerfouffel because the suggestion that Sydney Crosby could leave Pittsburgh is understandably upsetting. I think that's fair. I just want- No, let's acknowledge.

Okay, go ahead.

Acknowledge me. I need you to acknowledge the fact that if I were a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, I would be very upset about the idea. Crosby, his entire career, has been known for one thing above all, and it's loyalty beyond his skill.

I think it's disingenuous to say that what's being suggested isn't heartbreak. Oh, 100%. This is absolutely devastating. You have to acknowledge those feelings of the people who don't want to hear this stuff because it would hurt them so much. One thing C. J. Said in there that I think illustrates your point, Adam, about how loyal the Crosby is, has there been ever a player who played out the entirety of a 12-year deal in the NHL?

Out of every 12 A twelve-year deal that has been handed out in the NHL's history.

Has anybody played on the entire thing in the one team?

We had COVID-Dunkan Keith got close.

He didn't get there.

He didn't get there.

The two in wide Minnesota didn't get there.

Yeah. Bollchuck-priese, a shooter, did not get there. No. Dipietro got injured, but it was 15 years.

Luongo? No.

Didn't get there. I think- And by the way, they don't all have to be 12. They just need to be currently illegal.

Yeah, I'm just talking about the massive deals that are over the eight years that you can hand out now. Webber, no.

I don't remember. Well, Datsun, no. Did Zetterberg? I don't remember if Zetterberg signed an illegal one.

Well, no, he finished his career in Arizona, so no.

Hosa with a big hole asterisk.

Yeah, Zetterberg signed the 12-year, and he finished in Arizona, so he didn't complete it.

Zetterberg ended up in Arizona? Hendrix Zetterberg?

Because he retired in 2018, and the contract was through 2021. So I guess, no, maybe he didn't end up in Arizona. I got that wrong.

Well, he retired before the end of his contract. Right.

There you go.

Same with Hosa, retired before the end of his contract. I I don't think a single one made it. And if they did, okay. There's the exception to the rule.

That's a cool-I think that was the stat I was trying to do with you guys on the spot.

Ovechkin. Ovechkin, yeah.

How long was Ovis?

That's a great question.

You know what?

I can-It might be the two of them. Ovechkin, I got him here.

Alex Ovechkin is 13 years.

So we have two people.

And it's those two.

Ovechkin and Ovechkin. It's too perfect. There you go.

Too perfect.

Capitals fans are probably yelling at us the whole time. What about us? Me. Me. Because Ovi actually would have been the first because he played out his deal from 2008 to 2021.

Ovi better, just like we all knew. There you go. I think that always claimed.

I think that's pretty cool. It shows what guy Crosby is and Ovechkin.

Well, and the fact that, frankly, he has never complained. He has never He hasn't put a foot wrong ever in Pittsburgh. Getting back to the feelings and the reaction to some of this, especially when it's framed as some... We're trying to get one over on the penguins here. I think the reality of the situation is Ray Bork finished his career in Colorado.

And after 22 years, someone else because he stayed in Boston. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Great story.

Gretsky got traded. You You have to be open. Listen, is it entirely possible that Sid spends the rest of his career in Pittsburgh? Yes. But they're going to have to spend a lot of money to do that. And that means, okay, so you don't like the idea of Crosby going, and I get that. That means Malk and Latanga got to go. And Crosby's probably got to be okay with not being good for the last three years because this team, unless they do something bold, and that's not traditionally Kyle Dubas' MO, he's not a bold guy. His biggest His boldness was resigning the players that he had. I never saw a cutthroat thing from Kyle.

Go look at the core from before COVID and now.

It's the same. It's the same core. I think, so Kyle, when he does this, he's actually quite conservative. He's very measured and wants to mitigate risk. The penguins need, it's funny that we bring up the capitals, the penguins need to do, if they want to be good for the last couple of years of Crosby here, they got to do what the capitals did. But you'll have to wait till next year to do it. You have to find a distressed asset and do a one for one for that distressed asset, the pure Luke Dubois deal, the Mongea Ponty deal. Then they go out and they sign Matt Roy to that seven-year contract, which is a big bet. But with the cap going up, I'm sure they're looking at it going well as his play diminishes, so will his percentage on the cap, it won't hurt us that much. I mean, really, it's trickier now to sign a bad deal long term because of where we think the cap is going to jump. I know that sounds crazy to say, but it is.

You know what? Life finds a way.

Yeah, absolutely. My point is, Pittsburgh did nothing, has done nothing, and appear to be doing nothing. And so it is logical that if you're Sydney Crosby, and here's what's coming up, we got the Four Nations Cup, got the Olympics. You want to be... He'll be at both. He's going to be on an all-star team, the Monstars, basically, except for goal tender. He's going to go in there and go, Oh, this feels fun. Oh, winning. This feels really good. And this guy's a winner.

He hasn't played in a best-on-best tournament that featured Connor McDavid in eight years, and he wasn't even on his team. No.

And that's the point, Steve, is that I look at this guy and I think, Man, of course the guy wants to win. And so would it be all that bad? If you're a Penguin fan, I want you to think about this, just about the ideologically. Would you rather have three... Let's say Crosby plays four more years. Let's say at least three of them, you're not in the playoffs. I mean, the capital's made the playoffs, but that's because the Metro sucked this year, and it won't next year. So let's say the Penguins don't make the playoffs the next couple of years. Are you cool as a Crosby fan and a Penguins fan with being like, Yeah, no. At least he stayed, though. Or would you rather see him go and win somewhere and cheer for him there, too?

Well, there's the honest answer and there's the lie.

I think most people would say, I'd rather see him go and win. He's brought a lot to our city. Three championships in 15 I think that's pretty spectacular.

It's the modern... It's the Cap record. I keep going back to that. When talking about Crosby versus the all-time greats, when he is an all-time great. People go, Well, this guy won four, this guy won five, this guy won six. Okay, from the beginning of Sydney Crosby's career, where it became exponentially more difficult to win the Stanley Cup, he is tied for the Cap record with three. In terms of leading a team, being a top three scorer on a team and winning a championship, what's the list of guys who have done it? It's small. It's Crosby, Malkin, Stamco's, Tays, Duncan, Keith. Stamco has two.

Oh, he's two? Mm-hmm. Right.

Stamco has two. He's four cracks at it.

It's like Seabrook, Keith, Tays, the core from that group.

The core from the Black Hawks.

Not even the goalie because the first one was Anthony Eme. Yep.

Not the Kings, not the Lightning. Just to know, when you start off with the Black Hawks, you start off with Seabrook.

Yeah. He was a big deal.

He was a big deal.

He patted Jonathan Dave's on the back in the box that one time. It's like the '90s Bulls and Steve Kerr.

Hey, game-winning shot. How dare you?

It's weird to start with Kerr.

I like Seabrook. I like Seabrook a lot. I used to draft him in my 2011 fantasy This conversation, I like these conversations because it applies across pro sports.

It's always fun to look back on careers because they never end at the top. No. That's just the way it works. They always end with a wimper because these are pro athletes, and they're going to go out until the game tells them they can't play anymore. You look at guys who have played their whole career in one place. One example I always go back to is Kobe Bryant, who famously asked for a trade in the 2007 offseason. He was I think it was the Dallas Mavericks. They almost moved it, too. I think it was Mark Cuban who told the story about how they almost acquired Kobe Bryant. They just said, No, we're going to stick it out with you. They ended up winning two more championships, and he said, I'm going to be a Laker for life. But then the Laker sucked. In the last few years of Kobe Bryant's career, the Lakers were just dog shit, and he put up all his points on this garbage team. That's usually how dynasties end. They don't end at the height where you win the championship and you walk off. They'll usually end with this slow burn burnout.

There's a case where Crosby goes to another team and he can keep winning, or he just sticks around in Pittsburgh and it ends with a wimper.

Hey, guys, you know what? This conversation is depressing. Instead, I want to make a playlist. Okay, do you mind? Here's the first five songs. You just want to do this thing. Hey, here's the first five songs on the playlist. Don't worry, it ties in. First song on my playlist is going to be Psycho by Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla's Sign, Meant to be by Baby Russia and the Florida Georgia Line, No tears Here's Left to Cry by Ariana Grande. God's Plan by Drake. Biggest artist in the world right now. No one's saying any bad things about him. And also Nice for What by Drake. That's the top five from the billboard chart. The last week, Crosby was in the second round. Guys, it's been a while, and it's not going to get better. I don't understand. Here's the thing. Here's where I'm at, and here's where I got upset yesterday. First of all, don't you ever fucking dare come for CJ ever or Julian ever? Not in your life, not in front of me. Number two, if you're going to get mad, get mad for the right reasons, please. Let's not just throw things out there because of our emotions and our feelings.

Listen, I should know. Okay? I'm the king of that. Is it heartbreaking if Crosby were to get traded and not end his career in Pittsburgh? Yes.

I think that's fair.

That's heartbreaking and sad.

That's fair.

And bad and no good. And I don't like it. And I don't have to enjoy watching him on another team, and I want them to play for my team. I understand that. This Canadian media cheering on Crosby's... I'm just going to go through a greatest hits of the dumb fuckery that I saw. The Canadian media cheering on Crosby's downfall. Please show your work. What are you talking about?

I don't think anybody said that.

Yeah, they did. I'm not making it up.

No, I don't think anybody in the Canadian media is like, Yeah, I can't wait for Crosby to go down.

Yeah, I can't wait for the guy who scored the golden goal in 2010.

Yeah, I understand. If you're not from here, he is... Sydney Crosby is revered in Canada.

Is there another Sydney Crosby I don't know about who's an asshole and you're talking about him? No, he's not. What are you talking about? What are you talking about?

I think it comes from this. I think it comes from this. I didn't get to go through my list. I'm sorry, but let me just stop you on that. Sure. It comes from a lot of people see staying, and this is an artificial construct, by the way. A lot of people see staying with the same team the entire career as legacy. It's rare. If you leave, it diminishes legacy, which I think is complete crap, especially when you expect these athletes to be, and as Jesse said, empires die with a wimper. Dynasties die with a wimper. I don't want to see Cydney Crosby on the Penguins team that I saw last year. And by the way, they did nothing in the last month. Nothing. Not even a first-round pick. They weren't even able to get into the first round. They were at the sphere. Everybody's having a good time. Dubas doesn't have a first-round pick.

They're not in a great spot.

They're not. They have an empty cupboard. They have overpriced deals. They've got guys that are aging, and they won't It's not just that they won't let go of Crosby, which that's up to him. We're having an identical conversation to last year. Malk and Littang are guys that are getting older, and they're playing well. But again, it is the same identical conversation. I think it comes to make a point about that. I think that's where that comes from. If you're in Pittsburgh, I can see why you see it that way. But just so you know, nobody thinks it diminishes Crosby's legacy to not be a Penguin.

No. I think that might be the reaction in the moment from some fans, But long term, I don't think anybody looks back on players who play the majority of their career and then go somewhere else. I don't think they're looked down upon in any type of way because it happens so often.

Gretsky played for four teams. Do we call him the great one Asterix?

Right.

You know what? My favorite thing about Messier's sixth Cup is it doesn't count.

Yeah, that sure wasn't memorable at all.

You don't look down on Matt Sundeen any differently. It doesn't become less of a leaf great.

I don't think that.

No, he played for the North before.

No, leaf fans wanted him to get traded because That was the logical thing to do. Hey, we're bad, Matt.

Can you help us be good?

Hey, you know how we're not going to make the play? Don't you want to play in those? And he said no.

Tom braided might be even more of a Patriot because he left and he won with somebody else. And then they're like, Oh, screw our team. We love Tom even more because of that. I feel like just with time, everybody's going to forget about whatever Crosby does at the end. And he's a Pittsburgh Penguin for life. We all know that.

If he does stay in Pittsburgh, then he stays in Pittsburgh. That's great. But it does seem antithetical to Sydney Crosby's personality to be like, Yeah, I'm cool with the rebuild over the next three years, because that's what you're looking at. You're not looking at a retool in Pittsburgh.

Not to mention Crosby is going to stay there his whole career just like Mario did. Okay, we're not leaving out several things, are we?

Yeah, Mario had some serious health issues.

Health issues, retirements. Multiple. He was a part owner the last time he played for them. Guys, oh, my God. I saw one other guy frigging, Oh, we're going to talk about them. They're a small market. They have three championships. Guys, they almost left.

Pittsburgh is a small market. It is a small market. It doesn't matter how many championships they have. They are. But the amazing thing about Pittsburgh is What's the miracle of the Penguins is that they are one of the most followed teams. They are one of the most impassioned markets. Their TV ratings are locally, usually among the top five in the league. And that's not on a per capita basis. That's just generally. So Pittsburgh is like Green Bay, the packers. Small market, small freaking market, but hugely followed, never going anywhere. Pittsburgh did almost leave, yes, but I think that those days are over. What What we need now, they're owned by an enormous group.

Yeah, 2024 is different.

What I think everybody knows that they need now is a rebuild, top to bottom.

Do they know that? Based on the Based on the conversation we just had, they don't know that.

They're not aware. I think that the idea in Pittsburgh with certain people is, yeah, they rebuild, but Crosby would obviously stay. I just can't see how that's possible.