Mike Zeisberger has been covering the NHL regularly since 1999. He used his extensive networks of hockey contacts during the first round of the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Sphere in Las Vegas on Friday to write his notes column, “Zizing 'Em Up.”
LAS VEGAS -- Sidney Crosby said Friday that discussions have taken place with the Pittsburgh Penguins regarding a new contract.
But in typical Crosby fashion, the Penguins captain wasn’t about to offer up any specifics regarding negotiations with general manager Kyle Dubas.
“There’s been a little bit of talk,” Crosby said.
“It’s something that I’ll keep between Kyle and I, but we’ve had some conversations. I’ll just kind of leave it at that.”
Asked if he expected a deal to be reached this summer, Crosby grinned wryly.
“We’re talking. I’ll leave it at that.”
Dubas was just as sly, refusing to offer any details on potential progress. But he did offer insight as to the Penguins blueprint to try to win while Crosby, who turns 37 in August, is still in the fold.
“Sid is an ultra-competitive person and wants the team to be a contender,” Dubas said. “As long as you have someone like Sid on the team and likes the players we have, the process we have to follow is as urgently as possible acquire younger, hungrier players that can help us get back to that time.
“The real goal is to try to take where we’re at and the era that the team has just been through and to be able to hand that over to the next era. But we have to build that era up. It started last year, goes to the Trade Deadline, not a popular decision but something we felt we had to do, and at the Draft, and again on July 1.”
To that end, Dubas said any shopping done starting with the opening of free agency on Monday likely would involve short-term contracts that would not handcuff the team for a number of years.
Crosby is entering the final year of the 12-year, $104.4 million contract ($8.7 million average annual value) he signed July 1, 2012. He is eligible to sign another contract starting Monday.
Matthews backs Marner
Mitch Marner has been a polarizing figure for the fan base of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Entering the final season of a six-year, $65.358 million contract ($10.893 million average annual value) he signed Sept. 13, 2019, the forward’s name has been mentioned in constant trade rumors since the Maple Leafs were eliminated by the Boston Bruins in seven games of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round.
The Maple Leafs have won just one postseason series since the team’s so-called Core Four of forwards Marner, Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares have been together after Tavares signed a seven-year, $77 million contract with Toronto on July 1, 2018.
With Matthews and Nylander signing long-term extensions last season, Marner would seem to be the most likely candidate to be moved. Tavares and Marner each has a contract that expires at the end of the 2024-2025 season, but Tavares’ $11 million average annual value would seem difficult for another team to digest for a 33-year-old.
If it was up to Matthews, however, Marner would be staying put.
"All I'm going to say is we love Mitch,” the Toronto center said Friday. “Obviously there's a lot of noise involving all that, but we love ‘Mitchie.’ He's a great person, great teammate. I can't speak highly enough about him.”
Earlier this week, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving called Marner “a superstar.” To that end, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Toronto could be preparing an offer for a Marner extension.
Stay tuned.
Sweet music for Montreal
When the Montreal Canadiens selected Ivan Demidov with the No. 5 pick in the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft at Sphere on Friday, he was in for a surprise.
So were all Canadiens fans.
The selection was made by entertainer Celine Dion, the Charlemagne, Quebec, native whom Montreal general manager Kent Hughes referred to as “the Canadiens' No. 1 fan.”
