The price of stardom

Could Crosby signing cost Penguins a shot at the Cup?

By Allan Muir

Posted: Tuesday July 10, 2007 1:13PM; Updated: Tuesday July 10, 2007 4:52PM

So much for taking one for the team.

On the surface, today's news that Sidney Crosby and the Penguins have come to terms on a five-year, $43.5 million contract extension is one that should make both sides happy and send Pittsburghers into paroxysms of delight. But when you stop to consider the magnitude of the numbers, this deal looks more like a mixed blessing for a team that has short-term Stanley Cup aspirations and begs an important question: How bad does Sidney want to win?

On the happy side of the ledger: Crosby will be wearing the yellow and black for another six seasons. The NHL's reigning scoring champ and most valuable player, all of 19 years old, can set out to re-write the record books as a Penguin free of the financial concerns that weigh heavily on his peers like, for example, choosing between the dollar menu and a value meal. And the way contracts are trending upward this summer, there's no doubt he'll provide better bang for the buck than any other recent signing.

The deal even came with a bit of sacrifice. Sid gave up what could have been his first shot at free agency with the fifth year of the deal in exchange for the security it provides for himself and the next, oh, five or six generations of Crosbys.

And you can't blame Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero for backing up the bank truck when he saw the writing on the wall. If the Edmonton Oilers were willing to offer $50 million over seven years to Thomas Vanek -- a fine and promising, but hardly franchise-altering player -- then the potential for some kind of cap-strangling offer sheet was a pitfall he needed to avoid.

Of course, like the Sabres, Shero would have matched any offer that came Sid's way. So in getting this deal done now on his terms instead of those dictated by a rival GM, he spared himself some grief next summer, along with about $1.06 million per season as the cap stands today.

Of course, that's only one way to look at this story. The other should have Pens fans questioning Crosby's commitment to capturing a Cup.

Heading into the negotiations, the noise out of the Crosby camp centered around his concern that the Pens had the ability and willingness to build a winner. Given what we've seen of him, what we've heard from him in the past, this selfless approach was easy to believe. But at this point, any thought that he'd take a hometown discount to give Shero enough room to build that winner has been exposed as PR spin. Look, if Crosby's dream was to set himself up with unimaginable wealth by the time he was 19, well, mission accomplished. But if he really wanted to be part of a winner, this deal was the wrong way to go about it.

Crosby can argue that he could have asked for the max and didn't, and he'd be right there. But at the same time, he didn't exactly leave Shero with a lot of wiggle room when it comes time to negotiate the eventual long-term deals for Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin, let alone acquire the complementary pieces that are critical to any Stanley Cup puzzle.

His pair of peach-faced buddies is going to deserve significant deals as well, and he's just set a very high bar that suggests the Pens will soon be allotting a significant portion of their cap space to three forwards.

Has Crosby seen the Tampa Bay Lightning lately?

And remember this: The salary cap that's set just over $50 million this year -- maybe it'll stay at $50 million next year. Maybe it'll be $52, but it could just as easily slip the other way, down to $48, even $45. The total hockey revenues that are used to determine the cap figure are being buoyed right now by the might of the Canadian dollar, and there's simply no guarantee that bullish run will continue. And that could make his cap hit an even more onerous burden.

There's no player in the league who can stake a claim to the maximum salary like Sid. Honestly, even at $9 million a year, he's one of the best bargains. With his vast marketing potential only starting to be tapped it was clear that, one way or another, Sid was always going to get his money.

But after seeing this deal, you have to wonder now if he'll ever get his ring.