Sidney Crosby says he’s ‘pretty optimistic’ about getting an extension done with the Penguins

LAS VEGAS — Sidney Crosby doesn’t know when the deal will be signed. “I’m pretty optimistic it’s going to get done,” the three-time Stanley Cup champion said in a ballroom at the glitzy Encore hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. Crosby, 37, will enter 2024-25 just four points shy of 1,600 for his career and was named one of Canada’s first six players for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in February — the closest thing men’s hockey has had to a best-on-best tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey “You don’t really know the trajectory of everything and how you’re going to feel mentally, physically,” Crosby said when asked how long he plans to continue playing. General manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas is trying to walk the line of staying competitive with a nucleus on the wrong side of 30, while at the same time also looking to an eventual future that doesn’t include Crosby and Co. Pittsburgh dealt star forward and pending unrestricted free agent Jake Guentzel ahead of last season’s trade deadline despite being in the playoff hunt. That’s just hockey.” The Penguins added forwards Kevin Hayes, Anthony Beauvillier, Cody Glass and youngster Rutger McGroarty this summer, but the group that fell short five months ago remains largely intact.