Despite Struggles, Any Sidney Crosby Trade Talk Is Still Just Fiction…for Now

It is more of a parlor game at this point than a reality-based situation. Real-life check-ins with a couple of top NHL general managers by Bleacher Report on Thursday regarding the question, "Is Sidney Crosby available in a trade right now?" yielded the following nutshell answers: "Not that I've heard, no."

Here's the barstool question of the moment in some hockey circles, however: Would the best thing for both parties be for Crosby to leave the Pittsburgh Penguins via trade?

Think it's impossible? Hey, Wayne Gretzky was traded once.

First off, there are a couple of great reasons why Crosby is not believed to be on the block despite his slowest start to a season in his career (six goals, 13 assists in 30 games) and a disappointing last few years of playoff showings by the team.

"The Pittsburgh Penguins are for sale, and I don't see how trading Sidney Crosby right now would enhance franchise value," NBC hockey analyst Pierre McGuire told Bleacher Report. 

Good point. The Penguins are indeed for sale for a reported asking price of $750 million. Whether they get it or not, anything remotely close would be a pretty nice return for a group led by Mario Lemieux that rescued the team from bankruptcy. 

The rapid rise in franchise value started with the Pens winning the draft lottery in 2005 when Crosby was first eligible to turn pro. 

So, do the math from there.

Crosby, slow start and all, remains the biggest name in the game, the arguably one and only household name—we're talking in the U.S. here—the league has.

Secondly, the NHL is a salary-cap league. In the old days, a team like the Edmonton Oilers could trade Gretzky for roughly half of Hollywood, which was what took place in the landmark 1988 deal between Peter Pocklington's Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings' Bruce McNall. And they didn't have to worry about no stinkin' salary cap.

Now, trades have to be matched mostly dollar for dollar, asset for asset.

Case in point: If the Montreal Canadiens wanted to make a big pitch for Crosby, what would they have to do?

First, they'd have to fit Crosby's $8.7 million cap hit under their current NHL-imposed ceiling of $71.4 million. The Canadiens are at $70.1 million.

For a trade to work, the Habs would have to part with roughly $9 million in cap space, so...part with Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacioretty ($9.5 million cap hit between the two)? Part with P.K. Subban ($9 million hit by himself)?

Nearly half of the league's teams are $3 million or less under the cap ceiling, which makes it difficult for them to make a deal of that magnitude.

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If the Habs asked Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford to take a couple of first-round picks and a prospect or two, would that satisfy Pens fans? Given that the Canadiens figure to have a bottom-five pick in next year's draft, that's not likely.

Repeat that situation with most top teams, and you have your answer as to why moving Crosby would be so tough.

And, by the way, Crosby has a full no-movement clause in his contract. According to the Fourth Period, the Penguins wouldn't be able to trade him just anywhere without his formal approval of such a deal.

If Crosby doesn't want to be moved until the end of the 2024-25 season when his contract expires, he has the power to do that—or not do that, as it were.

Sure, Crosby might entertain a trade to Montreal, but that would be very hard on paper. It wouldn't be as hard on paper to a team well under the cap, such as Arizona ($10.8 million under) or Winnipeg ($11.6 million under).

But would Crosby really waive his no-movement clause to go to teams like the Coyotes or Jets?

Unlikely.

If trading Crosby isn't a realistic option for the Penguins, what needs to happen for him to get his game going again? The parlor game is open to contestants.

Even McGuire, a former Penguins employee who is known as a confidant of sorts to Crosby, seemed surprised at his play this season—especially during Wednesday's 3-0 loss at Boston.

"I did the game (Wednesday) night, and I'll be honest with you: I did not see Sidney Crosby have that extra gear that I've always been used to seeing," McGuire said. "I'm so used to seeing him dominate on the puck below the hashmarks. But I didn't see that in Boston. I don't know whether Sidney is hurt a little bit or something else is wrong, but it was not the Sidney Crosby I've always been used to seeing. The extra gear just wasn't there.

"But I can say this for an absolute fact: Sidney Crosby's passion for the game of hockey has not diminished this year. And his passion for the Pittsburgh Penguins as a place to play has not diminished. He is as hungry for success as he's ever been."

McGuire blames Pittsburgh management for getting rid of too many good puck-moving, leadership-driven defensemen in the last couple of years, which he said has made the Penguins too one-dimensional.

He believes the losses of Matt Niskanen, Paul Martin and Brooks Orpik, among others, have not been adequately addressed, and in today's NHL, if a forward doesn't have enough secondary offensive support from the defense, it doesn't matter what your name is.

"You need defensemen to create offense," the NHL's all-time coaching wins leader, Scotty Bowman, told Bleacher Report. "When they're skating with a top line, it's a big help. Otherwise, the other top-six forwards who don't skate with them as much—they become checkers."

"Pittsburgh got rid of a murderer's row of puck-movers," McGuire said. "It's hurt them a lot offensively."

Still, don't the Penguins have a pretty good puck-moving defenseman already in Kris Letang? Granted, he is out with an upper-body injury, but he has played 25 games this season for the Pens and is coming off a 54-point campaign over 69 contests.

Pittsburgh also had the services of a reputable offensive defenseman in Boston on Wednesday in newly acquired Trevor Daley, but the Penguins and Crosby looked worse than ever in the shutout loss.

Many in the pundit class said Crosby's big problem was the conservative system employed under former coach Mike Johnston. But since the Penguins fired Johnston last Saturday and replaced him with Mike Sullivan, Crosby has zero points in two games. Crosby had points in eight of his previous 10 games under Johnston.

The list of excuses is growing shorter to explain Crosby's drop-off.

If it was all about coaching, No. 87 has done a poor job of showing it so far since Johnston was shown the door. 

If it was all about not having a talented enough winger on his side, wasn't that what the acquisition of Phil Kessel this summer was supposed to address?

If it is all about having to have a virtuoso puck-moving defenseman behind him, then what explains the drop-off with Letang and—for one game—Daley? And what does it say about a supposed superstar that he needs others to prop him up?

Granted, it's still early in the Sullivan era. The Penguins have only missed the playoffs once in Crosby's career (2005-06). They are still right there in contention for another trip to the postseason, and a lot of great hockey players have told me they don't really start paying attention until after Christmas.

But it's been a while now since the alleged best player in the game has been in the Stanley Cup Final. It certainly doesn't look like this year will be any different.

Maybe—just maybe—Crosby needs a change of scenery.

Unless otherwise noted, salary information courtesy of General Fanager.

Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him @Adater.