Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated from the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs in a 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Rangers in Game 7 of their first-round matchup, and now the franchise is met with questions about what to do next in order to be more competitive.

That said, the team won't have to worry about captain Sidney Crosby hanging up his skates any time soon. He told reporters Tuesday that he plans to play in the NHL for at least three more years. 

"Three, for sure—and then we'll see after that," Crosby said. "I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. Three, definitely. I'm glad [Evgeni Malkin] said three and [Kris Letang] said five-plus probably [smiles]. Not surprised at either of those answers."

Crosby has three more years on the 12-year, $104.4 million deal he signed with the Penguins before the 2013-14 season. He'll be 37 years old by the time his current contract ends and he'll turn 38 ahead of the 2025-26 campaign. 

The 34-year-old has spent his entire 17-year career in Pittsburgh after being selected first overall by the Penguins in the 2005 draft. He has tallied 517 goals and 892 assists for 1,409 points in 1,108 games in that span.

Crosby has helped the Penguins win three Stanley Cups and has won numerous NHL awards, including the Art Ross, Ted Lindsay, Maurice Richard, Mark Messier, Conn Smythe and Hart Memorial Trophies. 

But while Crosby is set to return for the next three years, the Penguins need to figure out the contracts of veterans Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, who were also members of the team's three Stanley Cup victories in 2009, 2016 and 2017. 

Both Malkin and Letang will be unrestricted free agents this summer and their futures in Pittsburgh is up in the air. According to The Athletic's Rob Rossi, the Penguins offered both players three-year, $15 million contracts, and that "did not sit well" with Crosby as both players have been key contributors in the team's success over the years.

That said, the Penguins are projected to have $28,790,658 in cap space this summer, per ESPN's Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski, and that's not going to be enough to re-sign Malkin, Letang and the team's other free agents, in addition to making some offseason upgrades through the free-agent market. 

So, Pittsburgh's front office has some big decisions to make, and some of them might not favorable among the fan base. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins' season came to an end with a 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Rangers in Game 7 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoffs matchup on Sunday, and now the franchise can begin planning for the 2022-23 campaign. 

That planning will include some significant roster decisions, one of which will be whether to re-sign veteran forward Evgeni Malkin, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent. 

With his future in Pittsburgh uncertain, Malkin told reporters Tuesday that he hopes to remain in the Steel City and finish his career with the Penguins. 

"I love this city and I love these fans so much," Malkin said. "If this team wants new blood and young guys and they say to me to move on, we will see. ... I believe in my agent and I trust him. I want to stay here. I want to play in the NHL. ... I hope I stay here. I hope I retire here."

Malkin's comments come after The Athletic's Rob Rossi reported on 93.7 The Fan that the team offered the Russian center a three-year, $15 million deal, which "did not sit well" with team captain Sidney Crosby.

That deal would pay him $5 million per year. For comparison, he's coming off a deal that paid him $9.5 million annually, though that contract was signed before the 2014-15 campaign when he was 28 and in his prime.

That said, Malkin has spent his entire career with the Penguins, who selected him second overall in the 2004 NHL draft, so it's not surprising he might be seeking a deal worth more than $5 million per year. 

The 35-year-old has tallied 444 goals and 702 assists for 1,146 points in 981 games over his 16-year career. He also helped the Penguins win three Stanley Cups and won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's best rookie in 2006-07, the 2011-12 Ted Lindsay Award as the league's most outstanding player and the 2011-12 Hart Memorial Trophy as the most valuable player. 

In addition, Malkin is a two-time winner of the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading point-getter, the 2008-09 Conn Smythe honoree as the MVP of the playoffs and is a three-time All-Star. 

The Penguins are projected to have $28,790,658 in cap space this summer, per ESPN's Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski. They need that money to re-sign unrestricted free agents Malkin, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Evan Rodrigues, Brian Boyle, Kris Letang, Nathan Beaulieu and Casey DeSmith, in addition to restricted free agents Kasperi Kapanen and Danton Heinen.

That said, the team might allow players like Rodrigues, Boyle and Beaulieu to walk in free agency as its priorities likely will be Malkin, Letang, Rust and DeSmith. 

However, with such limited cap space, it'll be difficult for the Penguins to both retain their best players and make some additions on the free-agent market, so it could be a painful offseason. 

NEW YORK — The player once known as Sid the Kid is no longer a kid anymore.

You probably couldn't tell based on the way he played in the Pittsburgh Penguins' first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the New York Rangers. He put up 10 points in six games, missing Game 6 with what was suspected to be a head injury, and the Rangers had no answer for his line. 

But without the helmet and the pads, you realize Sidney Crosby is now 34 years old. His playoff beard is flecked with gray. His demeanor is heavy. His two teammates that he has gone to battle with so many times and won three Stanley Cups with may no longer be on the ice with him come next season. 

When the Penguins' playoff run was ended by the Rangers' 4-3 overtime win in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night, it might have ended the era of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. Malkin and Letang will soon be unrestricted free agents, and with a tight salary-cap situation, it's unclear if the Penguins will be able to retain them. 

And even if they can, the warning sign is clear: It's time for the Penguins to start planning for the post-Big Three era after a fourth straight first-round exit. 

"I think it's something that you try not to think about, and you hope that you make a good run," Crosby said. "But it's something in the back of your mind. It's something that you know is a possibility coming into the playoffs."

Malkin was drafted in 2004. Crosby and Letang were drafted a year later. They all entered the league within a year of one another as heralded rookies, and they lived up to the billing.

What the trio accomplished is what every team tries to emulate (and often fails) when you have three young players of their caliber: You build around them in hopes that they will all peak at the same time. By the time they're at their most dangerous, the club will have a wide-open championship window. 

It was Pittsburgh's Big Three that kept the engine running when the management was restructured. Former general manager Ray Shero and former head coach Dan Bylsma have their names etched on that 2009 trophy, but it was Jim Rutherford and Mike Sullivan who had taken their places by the time they won back-to-back Cups in 2016 and 2017. 

"They're generational players, and Pittsburgh has been lucky enough to have three of them for the last 15 years," goalie Tristan Jarry said. "The bonds that they've created throughout the team [are] irreplaceable." 

Jarry has solidified his place in the organization's future. The goalie has shown that he is not the same one who bore the brunt of the loss last year when the team was eliminated just east of Midtown Manhattan on Long Island by the Islanders. 

A year ago, the narrative was that the Penguins had chosen the wrong goalie. To make matters worse, the goalie whose shadow Jarry was still in—Marc Andre-Fleury—won a Vezina Trophy with the Vegas Golden Knights. 

This time, it was another New York team and another first-round series, but Jarry looked like a completely different goalie in the regular season.

Maybe the shadow wasn't quite as harsh as it once was or it's finally disappeared completely, but he turned in an All-Star campaign, and his .919 regular-season save percentage was tied for the sixth-best in the league. 

This series might have been different had he not been injured for the first six games. The goalie behind him, Casey DeSmith, was hurt during the first overtime of Game 1, and Pittsburgh was down to its third-string goalie, Louis Domingue, for much of the series. Domingue played admirably, but the Penguins had three chances to eliminate the Rangers in Games 5, 6 and 7, and they blew leads in each of those three games and goaltending was part of the problem.

"They're a balanced team; they've got a dynamic power play, and they've got one of the best goalies in the league," Sullivan said. 

The Rangers showed a remarkable ability to come back, but this particular comeback effort was not without controversy. Mika Zibanejad scored at 14:15 in the third period to tie the game at 3-3 and put it into overtime just seconds after Pittsburgh defenseman Marcus Pettersson skated off the ice without his helmet. The Penguins insist Alexis Lafreniere intentionally took off Pettersson's helmet during a tie-up behind the net in order to get him off the ice.

According to the rule, Pettersson could have retrieved his helmet and continued playing, but if a player is unable to put the helmet back on, then they have to skate immediately to the bench or a penalty will be assessed. 

Maybe it was Pettersson not knowing the rule, maybe he didn't know where his helmet was, but Sullivan, Jarry and Crosby all expressed their displeasure with the rule.

"I think it stinks," Sullivan said. "He has to come off and his helmet got pulled off intentionally. That's the rule." 

"A terrible rule probably ends up being the difference," Crosby said. 

Prior to that, the Penguins looked unbeatable.

Sullivan was out-coaching Gerard Gallant. Jake Guentzel's eighth goal of the series was confirmed as a good goal after he kicked the puck from his skate to his stick and batted it past Igor Shesterkin in midair to give the visitors a 2-1 lead in the second period.

Evan Rodrigues, a fourth-liner who was in Sullivan's doghouse after a terrible penalty cost them in Game 6 and was killing penalties in place of the injured Brian Boyle, stripped the puck from Filip Chytil, broke away and snapped a backhand shot over Shesterkin late in the same frame to give the Penguins back the lead after K'Andre Miller briefly tied it at 2-2. 

The second line of Rickard Rakell, Malkin and Kasperi Kapanen didn't allow a single shot attempt through regulation, and the Rangers had no answer for Crosby's line when it was on the ice. An anxious MSG crowd was expecting the end. 

But it didn't come for the Rangers. Artemi Panarin sniped home the OT winner on the power play.

Instead, it came for the Penguins, who now face an uncertain future. 

New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin had struggled throughout the team's first-round playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. But in Sunday's Game 7, Panarin came up with the biggest shot of his career with a goal in overtime to give the Rangers the series victory at Madison Square Garden.

Panarin had recorded three points in Game 2 but then only had three points total over the next four games combined. He also didn't get off to a great start in Game 7 by picking up two penalties in regulation. When it looked like the Rangers were on the verge of being eliminated on their home ice, Panarin was getting eaten alive online for his struggles.

But the tone changed once Panarin found the back of the net 4:46 into the extra period with nine seconds remaining on a power play. Fans and critics had no choice but to praise the 30-year-old for redeeming himself when it mattered most:

The Rangers made a major investment in Panarin when they signed him to a seven-year, $81.5 million contract in 2019. He earned his first selection to the NHL All-Star Game in 2020, and he led New York with 96 points (22 goals, 74 assists) in the 2021-22 regular season.

Sunday's win should be a massive confidence boost for Panarin as the Rangers head into the second round against the Carolina Hurricanes. If he can return to the consistent player who led the team throughout the year, New York will have a good shot at taking down the Metropolitan Division champs.

Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby will play in Sunday's decisive Game 7 against the New York Rangers.

Crosby was knocked out of Game 5 of the Penguins' first-round playoff series after taking a high hit to the head area from Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba.

Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said Crosby suffered an upper-body injury, and the center was ruled out of Game 6. The Athletic's Rob Rossi reported that Crosby had a concussion.

At the time of the injury, the Penguins were up 3-1 in the series and 2-0 in Game 5, but the momentum shifted when Crosby went down, as the Rangers came back to win Game 5 by a 5-3 score.

The 34-year-old Crosby is one of the greatest NHL players of all time with a list of accolades that rivals almost anyone in the history of hockey.

Since going No. 1 overall in the 2005 NHL draft, Crosby has met and exceeded all expectations.

Crosby has been selected to eight All-Star Games and has won the following awards twice: the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP, the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading point scorer and the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the NHL's leading goal scorer.

The two-time Team Canada Olympic gold medalist is also a three-time Stanley Cup champion, taking Pittsburgh the distance in 2009, 2016 and 2017.

In 1,108 career regular-season games over 17 seasons with the Penguins, Crosby has racked up 517 goals and 892 assists for 1,409 points.

He continues to play at a high level as well, posting 31 goals and 53 assists for 84 points in 69 games this season.

Even this deep into his career, Crosby is still the player who makes the Penguins go, and they desperately need their captain in order to go any deeper in the playoffs.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain and center Sidney Crosby practiced with the team Saturday after missing part of Game 5 and all of Game 6 of his team's first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers, per The Athletic.

Per Rob Rossi of the Athletic, Crosby suffered a concussion in Game 5 following a hit from Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba, who was not punished by the NHL's department of player safety.

The Pens and Blueshirts will play the series-deciding Game 7 on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET in New York's Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers trailed 2-0 in Game 5 when Crosby was injured. They've since outscored Pittsburgh 10-6 (5-3 wins in Games 5 and 6) to knot the series at three games apiece.

Crosby is a major loss. He had two goals and seven assists in four-plus games vs. New York. The three-time Stanley Cup winner and two-time Hart Memorial Trophy winners also excelled in the regular season with 31 goals and 53 assists. Naturally, Crosby's return to practice is a welcoming sign with the Penguins' season now on the line.

The Athletic also reported that starting goaltender Tristan Jarry is practicing fully with the team over four weeks after suffering a broken foot against the New York Islanders. He's reportedly been skating for almost a week and has been facing shots in practice over the past few days. Louie Domingue has started in net in his place.

Crosby and Jarry are considered day-to-day, per Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan (h/t Rossi).

The winner of the Penguins-Rangers matchup will face the victor of the Boston Bruins-Carolina Hurricanes series. Game 7 of that series will be played Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

The New York Rangers aren't done yet.

The Blueshirts forced a Game 7 against the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 5-3 Game 6 win on Friday night at PPG Paints Arena thanks to a late, fluky third-period goal scored by Chris Kreider. 

With 1:28 remaining in the third period, Kreider took a shot from just inside the blue line that found the back of the net after it bounced off Penguins goaltender Louis Domingue, who appeared to punch at it in midair, and into the goal. 

Kreider's fourth goal of the series gave the visitors at 4-3 lead. Andrew Copp capped off the scoring with 27 seconds. After the game, fans were quick to criticize Domingue, Pittsburgh's third-string goaltender for the loss. He stopped 33 of 37 shots.

It's a particularly disappointing result for the Penguins, especially considering Domingue will almost certainly start Game 7 with both Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith sidelined. 

Game 7 is set for Sunday at Madison Square Garden, and the Penguins will be praying that Domingue doesn't make a similar mistake. 

Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby won't play Friday night against the New York Rangers because of an upper-body injury.

Head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters Crosby went through a morning skate with skating and skills development coach Ty Hennes, but he won't be available for the game.

Crosby left Pittsburgh's 5-3 loss to the Rangers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference playoffs after taking a big hit from Jacob Trouba.

Sullivan told reporters after the game that Crosby was being evaluated but didn't offer specific details about the injury.

The Penguins hold a 3-2 series lead and can close out the Rangers with a win at home Friday. If the Rangers win, they will host Game 7 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

Crosby was fantastic in the series prior to the injury. The eight-time All-Star had nine points (two goals, seven assists) in the first five games against the Rangers. Pittsburgh's offense scored seven goals in each of its Game 3 and 4 wins.

The Penguins offense runs through Crosby and Jake Guentzel. Crosby did miss two weeks early in the season because of a positive COVID-19 test.

Guentzel will have to take on a bigger share of the offensive burden with Crosby unavailable. Evgeni Malkin, who had two assists in Game 5, should see more time on the ice. 

Upon returning to the lineup on Nov. 14, Crosby was a consistent presence for the Penguins all season. He appeared in 69 regular-season games, tying for the team lead with 84 points and finishing second with 53 assists.

Pittsburgh finished third in the Metropolitan Division with 103 points. The team hasn't advanced past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs since the 2017-18 season.