Nathan MacKinnon expected to pressure Sidney Crosby to leave Pittsburgh.

One of the National Hockey League's top insiders has just made some very spicy comments regarding the futures of both Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon and Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.

On Monday, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman discussed his very real belief that MacKinnon, after suffering a brutal loss in Game 7 at the hands of the Dallas Stars, will use this summer to put the full court press on his long time friend Crosby in the hopes of getting Crosby to step away from the only team he has ever played for in the NHL.

"You know who I feel the worst for?" asked Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast. "Sidney Crosby. We found out Sunday that he is gonna play for Canada at the World Championship and so is MacKinnon."

Friedman continued from there, stating his belief that MacKinnon will point to a number of factors in an effort to get his friend to leave the Penguins.

"And you don't think MacKinnon is gonna be all over Crosby about 'Hey the NHL needs you in the playoffs, Pittsburgh just made a coaching change because Kyle Dubas and Mike Sullivan disagreed on the path from here. Sullivan wants to win sooner, Dubas sees more of a rebuild.' You don't think MacKinnon is gonna be all over Crosby saying 'You wanna miss more years in the playoffs? Why don't you come to Colorado and play with me and we rule the league from the Western Conference?' And when he isn't gonna be saying it he's just gonna be staring at Crosby, burning holes in his head."

While Friedman's tone was jovial in nature, he did make it clear that he wasn't joking about his prediction for the summer.

"I am not even saying it as a joke," said Friedman. "MacKinnon is gonna be thinking about this all summer. All summer it's going to be on his mind."

Friedman believes MacKinnon will have plenty of time to get in Crosby's ear on this very topic.

"It's gonna be like this the whole summer," said Friedman. "First at the World Championship and then when they get back to Nova-Scotia. Long summer for MacKinnon to work Crosby."

In spite of the insider's belief that MacKinnon will try to work his magic over the summer, this still seems like an impossible scenario. No general manager wants to be known as the man who traded Sidney Crosby and I doubt very much that Kyle Dubas is an exception to that rule. Any trade involving Crosby would have to see the Penguins recoup a huge return given his legendary status in both that city and across the NHL, and the Avalanche simply don't have the assets after going all in this season to make a trade of that magnitude a reality.

That being said, there's nothing to stop MacKinnon from trying.