Loose puck | Imitate the Capitals?

Sidney Crosby just did the Penguins a huge favor by agreeing to a two-year deal worth $8.7 million per season. He’ll make the same amount this year, the last year of his 12-year deal that he signed in 2012.

Obviously, you always have to put things in perspective when you talk about amounts of this size, but Crosby is an NHL hockey player, the best of his generation, and not a white or blue collar worker or a journalist…

Crosby had 94 points, including 42 goals, last season. Elias Pettersson had 89 points and is worth $11.6 million annually. Sebastian Aho, also with 89 points, has a contract worth $9.7 million annually.

William Nylander, Jonathan Huberdeau, Jack Eichel, Tyler Seguin, Brayden Point, Mark Stone, Mathew Barzal and Timo Meier will all have higher average salaries than Sidney Crosby in 2025-26. Patrik Laine will be tied with him…

Crosby’s goal is clear: give his boss Kyle Dubas and the organization financial flexibility to get reinforcements and allow Crosby to hope for one last glorious lap. A bit like Patrice Bergeron did with the Bruins a few years ago.

But how can you regenerate a team quickly when the talent pool is almost empty? Boston could have been an interesting model to imitate.

The Bruins have been able to add Pavel Zacha, Hampus Lindholm and Linus Ullmark to their roster over the last few years without costing them much. But they already had important players in their prime like David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, Brad Marchand and Jeremy Swayman.

That’s not the case for the Penguins. One player who fell into that category was Jake Guentzel. He will now play for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

If Dubas is looking for inspiration, he can look 400 kilometres southeast to the Penguins’ arch-rivals of two decades, the Washington Capitals.

Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan has just made a bargain-basement makeover. Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeni Kuznetsov, Braden Holtby and Matt Niskanen have all left without warning.

The Capitals now have two centers 27 or younger, two third-round picks in 2015 and 2016, Dylan Strome and Pierre-Luc Dubois. Dumped by Chicago, Strome is coming off seasons of 65 and 67 points. He initially cost $3.5 million for one year, before being offered a five-year, $25 million contract extension last year.

A similar bet was made with Pierre-Luc Dubois, 26, acquired from the Los Angeles Kings this summer for a goalie relegated to the number two role over the winter, Darcy Kuemper. Dubois has an annual salary of $8.7 million for another seven years, but Washington had room on its payroll to accommodate him. The Quebecer disappointed in Los Angeles last season, but he had amassed 63 points in 73 games in Winnipeg the season before, 70 points over a full 82-game season.

Andrew Mangiapane, 28, 35 goals in 2021-22 in Calgary, cost just a second-round pick in 2025. Defenseman Jakob Chychrun, 26, was acquired by the Ottawa Senators in March 2023 for a $12.5 billion draft pick.^e and two second-round picks. MacLellan got him 18 months later for a backup defenseman and a second-round pick.

To everyone’s surprise, the Capitals made the playoffs last spring. But they were swept in four games by the New York Rangers, scoring just seven goals.

Despite this major change, will the Capitals have the club to compete in the medium and long term with teams like the New York Rangers or the New Jersey Devils, whose rejuvenation phase has been more painful, but effective?

We would so much like to wish Sidney Crosby, an extraordinary ambassador for his sport and an exceptional role model for young people, an elegant exit. Let’s see if Dubas can pull a few rabbits out of his hat.

Big problem solved in Detroit

Steve Yzerman just broke the deadlock with his most gifted forward, Lucas Raymond, 22, 72 points, including 31 goals, in 82 games last year. Raymond, the fourth pick in 2020, just signed an eight-year contract at an annual salary of $8 million, a salary slightly higher than that of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield in Montreal.

Juraj Slafkovsky, 20, will make $7.6 million annually starting next year. If he continues to develop as expected, he may have been offered this contract extension at the right time.