Sidney Crosby makes a strong statement against the Penguins tanking the 2025-26 season

Last week Sidney Crosby and his agent Pat Brisson dropped a bombshell of a rumor on the hockey world.

The Pittsburgh Penguins' captain had an interview with TSN insider Pierre LeBrun on Tuesday where he was asked point blank about the possibility of leaving the Penguins to join the Montreal Canadiens, his favorite NHL team from his childhood.

“I get it,” Crosby said. “Trust me, growing up a Montreal fan and being from not too far from there, I understand how passionate (the fans) are. You know whether it’s those experiences or guys that I’ve played with that have played there, or playing there in the playoffs or 4 Nations — all these different things — I get it."

Today, he was asked again about a potential trade during the season, but this time he made it clear that he's happy in Pittsburgh and he's happy to address the rumors head one.

"There’s a lot of narratives out there and I don’t think a lot of those have come from me, so this is where I want to be," Crosby said in Pittsburgh today. "I love it here. I can’t keep having to answer the same question over again because of these narratives, you know? If people want to write about that or say that, that’s fine, but I can’t really control that. Obviously, when you lose and when there’s certain things that happen, it’s normal for that stuff to come up. But that’s how I feel.”

Crosby was asked then about the team's roster makeup and the potential of "tanking" the season for a rebuild. The captain let it be known that he's very against that type of thing.

"It's professional sports. You play to win. That's how I view it and you're not going to convince me otherwise. If you're one of those people that believes in that (tanking) then you're entitled to believe in that but that's not why I signed up to play the game and that's not the game that I know."

And if that wasn't enough to spark speculation from Habs fans, just check out what Crosby's agent Pat Brisson had to say about the possibility of a trade.

“Well, it’s a reality,” Brisson told LeBrun. “First of all, he’s been so consistent for 20 years. He had another great year last season. He just keeps going. 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.”

LeBrun reports that Brisson is receiving interest from NHL teams on his client's availability.

"Brisson has gotten a fair number of nudge, nudge, wink, wink whispers from NHL teams this summer, wondering about Crosby’s intentions," LeBrun reports.

Let's be honest... the Penguins aren't going to make the playoffs this upcoming season so who is Brisson kidding?

He went on say that it's "always a possibility" that Crosby gets traded if the Penguins can't turn things around.

“I mean, I’m answering something that … let’s put it this way, it’s always a possibility, you know?” Brisson said. “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.”

So... what does Sid himself think about the possibility of a trade?

“I mean, I understand it,” Crosby said. “It’s not something you want to discuss. You’d rather be talking about who we’re getting at the (trade) deadline or, you know, where we’re at as far as, are we one or two or three in the division? But you know, it’s one of those things. That’s the hard part about losing. I think everybody thinks that the buzzer goes and you lose a game and that sucks, but there’s so much more than that. It’s the (roster) turnover. It’s the unknown, the uncertainty, the question marks — that’s the stuff that’s tough. It makes you appreciate all those years that we were competing and going after the big acquisition every single trade deadline. I don’t think I took it for granted, but I definitely appreciate it that much more now."

I've got to say... Crosby has never spoken publicly like this before. He has always maintained that he'd end his career with the Penguins. To hear him speak so openly about joining another team is pretty remarkable, honestly.

Thoughts, Penguins fans?