Through the Penguins' slump, and through weeks of speculation that eventually led to first-year Pittsburgh GM Kyle Dubas trading homegrown hero Jake Guentzel, Sidney Crosby has publicly maintained the position he's long held: He wants to be a lifelong Penguin.
"I've said that forever," he told The Athletic's Rob Rossi on Feb. 19. "But right now I'm trying to focus on getting into the playoffs."
No player has had more of an impact on the game of hockey, and on the people of the game of hockey, than Crosby for the past two decades. The phrase "hockey culture" is having a reckoning right now and rightfully so – the implications of hockey before all and "we" before "I" are not always good.