Could this be Sidney Crosby's final playoff game? Or possibly his final game with the Penguins?
The Pittsburgh Penguins are on their last leg in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, raising several questions about Sidney Crosby's future.
Could this be Sidney Crosby's final playoff game? Or possibly his final game with the Penguins? originally appeared on The Sporting News .
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The Pittsburgh Penguins exceeded the expectations of many who believed they wouldn’t be a Stanley Cup playoff team this season. But in their first-round matchup against their arch-rival Philadelphia Flyers , the Penguins have been exposed – too old, too slow, too inferior in net – and the Pens are now down 3-0 in the series with the Flyers.
The end appears near for Pittsburgh, and that brings to mind questions nobody on the Penguins wants to ask – and that’s regarding the future of Penguins superstar center Sidney Crosby: Are we watching the final playoff games of Crosby’s Hockey-Hall-of-Fame career? And if this is how Crosby’s playoff experience ends, is it going to color his legacy negatively? To answer the first question – yes, this could likely be Crosby’s final few games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
He’s 38 years old, and the Penguins are in the early stages of a major rebuild. It’s entirely likely that Pittsburgh finishes out of the playoff mix next season, and it’s just as likely that the Penguins fail to make the playoffs the year after that. The Pens can barely keep up with the young Flyers in these playoffs, and the Metropolitan Division has several teams that will pass Pittsburgh in the standings sooner rather than later, beginning next season.