Alex Ovechkin Has Lobbied To Bring The Three-Time Stanley Cup Champion - His Longtime Nemesis - To DC
Sidney Crosby playing an NHL game in a jersey not emblazoned with the Pittsburgh Penguins logo is a possibility, at least according to his agent.
There’s been no playoff hockey in the Steel City over the last three seasons. That’s increased speculation that the 38-year-old centerman could be moved to a contending club for one last shot at a championship before presumably calling it a career once his current contract is up after the 2026-27 season.
“Let’s put it this way, it’s always a possibility, you know?” Crosby’s longtime agent, Pat Brisson of CAA Sports, told The Athletic on Monday night regarding a possible trade. “It’s been three years they haven’t made the playoffs. It all depends on how Sid is going to be and how the team is going to do. I maintain the same position that I do believe that he should be playing playoff hockey every year. In my opinion.”
The Penguins were relatively quiet during the summer, adding just goalie Arturs Silovs and defenseman Matt Dumba via trades. Hardly win-now moves that will boost Crosby’s Stanley Cup prospects in Brisson’s eyes, especially with a ticking clock on his client’s career.
“First of all, he’s been so consistent for 20 years. He had another great year last season. He just keeps going,” Brisson said. “The comparison is Tom Brady. We want Sidney to hopefully be in the playoffs every year. We want him to hopefully win another Cup or two. So each year the team that he’s playing for fails to make the playoffs, it creates a lot of speculation. In reality, he’s not getting any younger. We’re here to support him. It’s the beginning of the season here. Let’s see how things are going. Hopefully they have a great season and the speculation will go away.”
Last season Crosby logged his third consecutive campaign with at least 90 points (33g, 58a, 91pts), the first time he’s done so in his illustrious career. “[T]he reason we all talk about this is because he’s such a great player still,” Brisson said.
Crosby himself isn’t ruling anything out but publicly he continues to stay loyal to the team that drafted him first overall in 2005.
“If it ever came to that point, I would discuss it, but I don’t feel like I’m there (yet),” Crosby told NHL.com Tuesday. “I’m worried about playing for Pittsburgh. I haven’t seriously considered anything else.”
But he has considered other things. The Nova Scotia native told The Athletic the same day he’s heard the rumors surrounding a potential reunion with the Montreal Canadiens, his boyhood favorite club.
“I get it,” Crosby said. “Trust me, growing up a Montreal fan and being from not too far from there, I understand how passionate they are… And I get it why [trade speculation] would come up and that sort of thing. It doesn’t make it any easier when you’re losing to hear those things. But at the same time, to know that a team like that wants you, it’s not the end of the world. It could be worse.”
Even his nemesis-turned-friend Alex Ovechkin has lobbied to bring the three-time Stanley Cup champion to DC.
“If this happens, it would be wonderful,” Ovechkin told a Russian outlet in July when asked about Crosby trade speculation.
If things don’t improve soon for the Penguins, the timing of a Crosby trade is up in the air. Insider Frank Seravalli told Bleacher Report’s Open Ice the conversation surrounding the issue “will continue to evolve.”
“I also tend to believe [the conversation] is not one that would happen mid-season,” he added. “I’m not expecting something this year but who knows what one-year’s time will play out like.”
Despite the noise, Crosby says he remains focused on winning games with Pittsburgh. He’d “rather be talking about who we’re getting at the [trade] deadline” than discussing his own potential departure.
“It doesn’t change my approach,” he added. “I still go out there trying to win every single game and try to be the best that I can be.”
Kellen Moore’s Head Coaching Debut Called ‘Completely Awful’ After Saints’ Loss to Cardinals
No one thought Kellen Moore was going to go directly from his one year as Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator to making the New Orleans Saints less of a joke than they’ve been in recent years.
But to look even worse, somehow? That wasn’t in the plans, either.
The Athletic’s Mike Jones (who?) called out Moore for what proved to be a completely awful debut as the new head coach of the Saints in a 23-20 Week 1 loss to the equally moribund Arizona Cardinals.
Jones did point out the Saints … seemed to try hard?
Talk about damning with faint praise.
” … Moore’s players displayed some fight,” Jones wrote on September 10. “Quarterback Spencer Rattler had some bright spots and kept slinging despite some tough situations. But poor clock management, a few questionable decisions and sloppy play ultimately overshadowed Moore’s head coaching debut. Moore, a sharp offensive mind as a coordinator, showed his inexperience at times. He went in at halftime with all three timeouts in his back pocket and later explained he was trying his best to save his timeouts. Saving them for what, though?”
Saints Job Seemed Radioactive In Offseason
There’s probably a reason the Saints job was the first head coaching spot to open and the last to close.
New Orleans fired Dennis Allen after a 2-7 start in 2024 — they ultimately finished 5-12 — then the Saints were the last of 6 head coaching vacancies filled when Moore was hired just days after he helped lead the Eagles to a 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX on February 9 in New Orleans.
That reason? Anyone considering the Saints job also had to consider its fraught leadership situation with owner Gayle Benson and general manager Mickey Loomis — a duo that has seemingly run the franchise into the ground since the late Tom Benson’s death in 2018.
That starts with the losses of Payton and future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees in consecutive years — Brees in 2021 and Payton in 2022 — and continues with some questionable draft decisions, including taking offensive tackles in the first round each of the last 2 years.
In 2024, the Saints selected offensive tackle Taliese Fuaga at No. 14 overall — ahead of NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and Pro Bowl edge rusher Jared Verse at No. 19 to the Los Angeles Rams and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year finalist and Pro Bowl wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. at No. 23 to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Saints haven’t made the playoffs since 2020, when they went 12-4 in Payton’s next-to-last season.
From Record Setting College QB to NFL Head Coach
Most football fans first met Moore for the first time as the starting quarterback for Boise State, where he went 49-3 from 2008 to 2011, including an undefeated, 14-0 record in 2009, and walked away with the FBS record for wins.
Moore spent 6 seasons as a backup quarterback for the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys before going directly into coaching, eventually becoming an offensive coordinator for the Cowboys and Los Angeles Chargers before his breakthrough season with the Eagles led to a Super Bowl win following last season.
