Sidney Crosby will decide fate of playing career in three years
Anthony Scultore
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Sidney Crosby, aka: Sid the Kid, is entering his 18th NHL season in 2022-23. Not a kid anymore for sure.
The highly touted prospect was once dubbed “The Next One” as Wayne Gretzky’s (The Great One) successor. Now at the age 35, Crosby is being asked about when he believes his playing career may come to an end.
Sidney Crosby on when he may retire
Crosby is still one of the NHL’s elite players. Last season, he compiled 84 points in just 69 games to add to his career totals of 1,409 regular season points in 1,108 contests. That’s good for 21st all-time in NHL scoring. Just 59 more points this upcoming season and he will leap frog over Stan Mikita for 15th all-time.
The Pittsburgh Penguins superstar has three years remaining on his contract, which takes him to 38 years of age. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman spoke with Crosby during the NHL’s Media Tour, and joked about following Zdeno Chara’s footsteps and playing at age 45.
“I don’t want to say ‘no’ but I’d lean towards that not being the case. I’m just thinking about the next three years and seeing what happens from there,” Crosby responded to Friedman. “I want to continue to play at a high level. It’s something that takes a lot of effort and your body has to hold up. There’s a lot you need to go right to continue to play at an older age. I think three years is my focus and from there I’ll see where I’m at.”
Sidney Crosby’s amazing career
Truthfully, if Sidney Crosby decided to call it a career today he would be a first-ballot hall of fame player.
His list of accomplishments includes:
- 3 Stanley Cups
- 2 Hart Trophies (MVP)
- 2 Art Ross Trophies (Leading Scorer)
- 3 Ted Lindsay Awards (Most Outstanding Players NHLPA)
- 2 Conn Smyth Trophies (Playoff MVP)
- 8-time All Star
It’s hard to imagine the Penguins without Crosby, but that is a reality that will come to be in the future. The same was said when Mario Lemieux retired, so this should be no different.
For Crosby, he’s dealt with a lot of injuries over his 17 seasons, many of them concussion related. Considering how scary those issues were, it’s amazing he’s still going and performing at a high level.
Hopefully, Sid can complete the next three years injury free allowing him to make the decision every athlete prays for– the ability to choose when it’s time to walk away.
