Insider reporting absurdly large preliminary new deal for Sidney Crosby

Ron Hextall and Brian Burke did the unthinkable last year when they allowed Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang to miss the post-season for the first time as a trio during their illustrious tenure. They brought in Kyle Dubas in the hopes that his analytical mind would be able to piece together the missing links as they believed he did so well in Toronto.

For the second straight season, the Penguins are on the outside looking in as they're 7th in the Metropolitan Division and 9 points out of the final wild card position in the East, but have a few games in hand. Jake Guentzel will be sidelined for the foreseeable future but all eyes are on Crosby and the rest of the aging core. Crosby has 1 year remaining on his current deal, but as one insider pointed out this week, there could be a few more years on the horizon for Sid the Kid. Unfortunately for Pens fans, they may not like the AAV.

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed something very shocking about the Pens, and Sidney Crosby in specific, when he took to his 32 Thoughts podcast this week and suggested that Crosby's next deal could be in the range of 3-years and upwards of $10M-$10.5M per season, which seems rather steep when you consider that he'll be shelling pulling in that sort of money at the age of 40.

Crosby continues to defy logic and age as he has 31 goals and 56 points this season after scoring 33 goals and 93 points the year before. The rest of the team has struggled mightily and the unfortunate circumstances for the Penguins is that they almost have to sign Crosby considering his legacy and all he's done for the organization. Their window for contention keeps dropping, they don't have a pipeline of prospects, and their draft cupboard is a little barren.

Kyle Dubas' attempts have faltered this year, to say the least, and with Guentzel needing an extension, that will be the first domino to fall for the future of the organization - one way or the other. If he's traded, it doesn't necessarily trigger a top to bottom rebuild, but it probably should - and if Kyle Dubas plans on handing out a $10.5M AAV to a soon-to-be 37-year-old, he may have another city turn on him in short order.