Sidney Crosby and his agent add fuel to the Montreal Canadiens trade rumours

The rumours of Sidney Crosby ending his career with the Montreal Canadiens have been a hot topic of discussion this summer. The trade makes sense for both parties. The Pittsburgh Penguins are on a downward trajectory, and it appears they are at the start of their rebuild, while the Canadiens are one of the teams on the rise, looking to finally refine their roster to become legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. There is also the added element of Crosby growing up a Canadiens fan, and it could be a perfect way to end his illustrious career.

Those rumours were put on ice with rumblings that Crosby would be against being moved midseason and that he would like to stay in town for as long as Evgeni Malkin remains in Pittsburgh. However, in a recent interview with Pierre LeBrun, Crosby spoke about the rumours of being traded to Montreal and did not completely shut down those claims.

Crosby’s agent, Pat Brisson, added more fuel to the fire when he was asked about the chances of the Penguins captain leaving.

A lot will still need to happen to one day see Crosby play in the bleu, blanc, et rouge, but this is definitely not a step in the wrong direction. Two clear things would need to happen. The Penguins would have to be a team near the bottom of the standings, and the Canadiens would have to continue on their upward trajectory. It has become painfully obvious that Crosby wants to end his career still playing competitively late into the season, and he would ideally like it to be with the Penguins, but if that is not possible, the Canadiens should definitely make Crosby priority number one going into next offseason.

It does not look like the rumours will be going away anytime soon, so Canadiens and Penguins fans will have to get used to the rumblings for at least another year. It is hard to imagine seeing Crosby wearing another team’s jersey, but we have seen all-time greats in every sport leave the franchise they spent their entire careers with because they believed they could still win. Ray Bourque left the Boston Bruins, Tom Brady left the New England Patriots, and Peyton Manning left the Indianapolis Colts. All at one point would have been insane to propose that they could finish off their careers in another team’s jersey. Bourque, Brady, and Manning won a championship with their second franchise, and what better way could Crosby end off his career than helping his boyhood team end their 30-plus-year Stanley Cup drought?