The Pittsburgh Penguins announced Thursday that captain Sidney Crosby will sign a 12-year, $104.4 million contract extension on Sunday that begins after next season.
Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the new deal cannot be signed until July 1.
"This is a great day for hockey and tremendous news for the Pittsburgh Penguins and our fans," co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle said in a joint statement. "We are grateful for all that Sidney Crosby has done for our franchise since coming to Pittsburgh in 2005, both on and off the ice, and we look forward to having him in a Penguins uniform for the rest of his career. He is an excellent player and an even better person, and he is a great ambassador for the Penguins and for Pittsburgh."
Crosby, 24, is entering the final season of a five-year, $43.5 million US contract extension signed in 2007. For each of the first four seasons of the last extension, Crosby was paid $9 million, and $7.5 million in 2012-2013.
Crosby, who has already won the Hart Trophy, the Art Ross and Rocket Richard Trophies and the Stanley Cup before his 25th birthday, missed the second half of the 2010-11 season and most of 2011-12 because of a concussion and neck injury.
The 24-year-old superstar played just 22 regular-season games last season. He was hurt in January 2011 and missed the remainder of the 2010-11 season before returning last November, then played eight games before a recurrence of symptoms forced him out again until March 15.
Crosby posted eight goals and 29 assists for 37 points in his 22 games during the regular season, then added three goals and five assists in six playoff games as the Pens were ousted by Philadelphia in the first round.
In 434 career regular-season games, Crosby has 223 goals and 609 points. In 2006-07, at just 19 years of age, he won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL scoring champion and the Hart Trophy as the league's regular-season MVP. He helped the Penguins to the Stanley Cup title in the spring of 2009.
“In an era when players often move from team to team, it's gratifying to see a young man who is so committed to one city and one franchise,” said David Morehouse, CEO and President of the Penguins. “He's meant so much to the Penguins, to the growth of youth hockey in Pittsburgh, and to the NHL and the game of hockey in general. It's a tremendous feeling to know he'll be here through 2025.”
