Part Two: Where Do The Penguins Go From Here? It’s Simple, Trade Sidney Crosby.

There are six active NHL players that were born in Nova Scotia, Canada. Of those six, only three have played more than 500 career NHL games; Sidney Crosby, Brad Marchand, and Nathan MacKinnon. For a small province on an eastern seaboard peninsula with a population under 1 million people, those are impressive big name players. During the offseason each of them return to Nova Scotia to see family and friends and skate at their old local rinks. Despite playing for separate NHL teams they have established a bond over their love for the game of hockey and their home province. Of those three, Crosby and MacKinnon have developed an especially close relationship due to their extremely high skill set and love for competition. The two have become close friends over the years but there is one way for them to become even closer, and that is to play for the same NHL team. 

Nathan MacKinnon grew up idolizing Sidney Crosby. Crosby was his favorite player from a young age and MacKinnon wanted to model his game exactly like the Penguins superstar. MacKinnon played center, like Crosby. MacKinnon played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, like Crosby. MacKinnon also went 1st overall in the NHL Entry Draft, like Crosby. The only thing MacKinnon has yet to accomplish that Crosby has, is to win a Stanley Cup.

Since being drafted by the Avalanche in 2013, Nathan MacKinnon has had an inhouse legend of the game to mentor him in Colorado General Manager, Joe Sakic. The Hall of Fame former player has been vital to reestablishing the Avalanche as a Stanley Cup contender after several years of finishing at the bottom of the standings. Part of the Avalanche’s resurgence has been Sakic’s ability to get the most out of trades. Sakic dealt disgruntled star Matt Duchene to Ottawa in 2017 as part of a 3 team deal with Nashville that saw Colorado receive 2 first round picks and 2 prospects, Shane Bowers and Samuel Giroud. While Shane Bowers has yet to break through to the NHL level, Samuel Giroud has become a fixture on the Avalanche blue line. Giroud embodies everything a modern defenseman does in the NHL with his speed, high hockey IQ, and ability to join the rush. This shrewd trade by Sakic also allowed him to use one of those first round picks on elite prospect, Bowen Byram, who recently starred as the captain for Team Canada at the World Junior Tournament. Byram has already joined the Avalanche’s main roster and has consistently been in the lineup as a 19 year old while possessing similar traits to that of Giroud in his skating and two-way game. The other trade that has helped the Avalanche surge to the top of the list of Stanley Cup contenders was the move for Nazem Kadri. In 2019 Sakic traded star defenseman Tyson Barrie and depth center Alex Kerfoot to Toronto for Nazem Kadri and a 3rd round pick. Barrie was a pending unrestricted free agent who was looking for a pay day that Colorado did not want to serve up. Barrie ended up spending one year in Toronto before signing with Edmonton and the move allowed space on the Avs blue line for Giroud and future superstar and Calder Trophy winner Cale Makar. The return haul of Kadri helped give the Avalanche the center depth it needed to contend in the playoffs while also adding a veteran who had postseason experience to a young team. Sakic ended up using the 3rd round pick on Jean-Luc Foudy who has good potential and is the brother of the Blue Jackets top prospect, Liam Foudy. These two trades illustrate the aggressiveness and genius of Sakic in his ability to get immense return and not shy away when it comes to making a major move. 

If Sakic is fully committed to bringing a Cup to Colorado he needs to make one more blockbuster trade. To make a major move like this for Crosby you first have to look at the salary cap. Colorado is projected to have $23 million in cap space next season according to Cap Friendly. Their notable pending free agents include team captain Gabriel Landeskog, recently acquired winger Brendan Saad, star defesnemen Cale Makar, and starting goaltender Philipp Grubauer. Assuming GM Joe Sakic wishes to retain those four players you can expect that $23 million in cap space to dwindle down to essentially 0. However, if Sakic were to make a move for Crosby, expect Saad to be left unsigned and thus hit free agency leaving about $3 million in cap space left. To acquire Crosby the Avalanche would have to give up a lot of value, especially in pieces Pittsburgh believes would help accelerate their impending rebuild. Enter into the conversation Bowen Byram. The elite prospect mentioned earlier is a consensus future top pairing defenseman. When PIttsburgh was winning Cups, they had a two-way anchor on the backend in Kris Letang. Byram is playing in the NHL at 19 while Letang finished his first full season in the NHL at 21. Byram has the potential to be even better than the 6 time all star defenseman with three Stanley Cup rings. Now of course that is not enough value to bring over one of the games best so include Colorado’s first round pick in this upcoming draft as well. A team with a weak prospect pool like Pittsburgh and no first round pick needs this selection to improve its future. Adding Crosby to the lineup in Denver would also mean a center would have to be moved out, and that would be Nazem Kadri. Kadri brings all the qualities I mentioned before and can slot in as the #2 center behind Evgeni Malkin so Pittsburgh can still fill the stands with at least a competitive roster. The veteran center can also help develop some of the younger talent that will be brought in during the rebuild. At a reasonable cap hit of $4.5 million average annual value (AAV), including Kadri in the deal would increase Colorado’s cap space to about $8 million which would be enough to eat up Crosby’s cap hit of $8.7 million AAV. Finally, to make a blockbuster deal like this you would need to sweeten the pot with another prospect for Pittsburgh to look towards the future with in Jean-Luc Foudy. Foudy is only 18 and has more future upside than most third round selections. If Burke and Hextall ask for more return value, Sakic can always toss in a 3rd round selection in this upcoming draft, next year's draft, or both of those picks. Colorado does not need those picks as they already have a NHL roster full of young talent. In the end the deal would be Sidney Crosby to Colorado in exchange for Bowen Byram, Nazem Kadri, Jean-Luc Foudy, and a 1st round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. 

Sidney Crosby is a rather private superstar athlete. Crosby is not on social media, is not confirmed to be married to his longtime girlfriend, Kathy Leutner, and does not have any children. Crosby’s main focus has always been the game of hockey. He has a small circle of friends and really only opens up to those close to him, like MacKinnon. If he were to leave Pittsburgh it would be on his terms, and he would only do it in an attempt to win a Stanley Cup in a place he feels comfortable. Despite this, Pittsburgh will maintain that it has no desire to move its captain and Crosby will maintain that he loves the Steel City and wants to finish his career there. But, as the Penguins look to a dark future and Crosby perhaps sees his career ending without lifting the Cup again, attitudes can alter. A change of scenery for the Nova Scotia native would help both Pittsburgh and Colorado move their respective franchises towards another Stanley Cup, even if it doesn’t look that way on paper for the Penguins. Crosby cares about winning, and if the Penguins miss the playoffs this year after losing in the qualification round last year, Crosby could ask the new front office for a move to join his best friend, Nathan MacKinnon, in a pursuit to build a new dynasty in the Mile High City.