The first annual 4 Nations Face-Off is well underway with all four teams participating to play in the final game for a gold medal. Team Canada has played well and showed signs of being the strongest team in the tournament, despite losing 3-1 to Team USA. Canadian’s Mitchell Marner and Sidney Crosby have looked extremely strong together and have been two of the best players in the tournament, with some fans starting to fantasize about what the two playing together full-time could look like. With the Pittsburgh Penguins being in the middle of a rebuild, trading a veteran forward for assets makes sense, but not Crosby, never in a million years.
Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs should not get excited about that ever happening, considering there are numerous reasons it wouldn’t come to fruition. It’s fun to watch some of the best players in the world play together for their country, but it’s the only time that will happen for some of them. Crosby ever being in a Maple Leafs is not only impossible, but it’s also insane to consider thinking about.
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Crosby, who is 37 years old, has established himself as one of the strongest players to ever play hockey. This season he has scored 17 goals and added 41 assists for 58 points through 55 games with the Penguins. Throughout his career, he has scored 609 goals and added 1045 assists for 1654 points through 1327 games which comes out to a 1.25 points-per-game average.
Crosby Wants to Remain a Penguin Forever
Crosby has made it known on multiple occasions that he doesn’t want to play for another team in his entire career, and he wants to retire as a member of the Penguins. It would be cool to see him play for a contending team and push for another Stanley Cup before he announces his retirement, but if he wants to play for the same team until then, he’s going to be able to do that. The Penguins won’t trade him unless he asks to be moved, and that won’t happen.
There are a couple of other reasons why he’d never be moved, including the fact he wasn’t even a Maple Leafs fan growing up and likely wouldn’t have an interest in waiving his trade protection to join them. Things can change as players grow up and they could feel differently toward teams, but this doesn’t seem to be one of those situations. Despite the Maple Leafs being a contender, he doesn’t seem interested in joining them.
On top of that, joining the Maple Leafs doesn’t make sense. He likely wouldn’t get as much ice time as he does with the Penguins considering the difference in depth between the teams, and because the Maple Leafs don’t have the cap space to make any type of deal work unless a third team is involved, it makes an already improbable deal even more complicated.
Some local journalists in Pittsburgh have suggested Crosby could be available or could be open to a trade, on top of popular analyst Paul Bissonnette pushing the idea of a trade, but no trusted sources have ever given any indication that the Penguins have ever considered trading him. Things can always change in the NHL, but Crosby being traded seems like something that will never happen, and cold water should be tossed on the idea of him ever joining the Maple Leafs.
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