The Friday Four is a collection of thoughts and information on some intriguing player storylines from around the NHL. On deck this week:
• Penguins have too many roster deficiencies for Crosby to overcome
• Stone still one of the game’s best when healthy
• Monahan easy to root for
• What Rossi’s next deal could look like after Lafreniere extension
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
Sidney Crosby was in vintage form Thursday night. His two goals, including a beautiful overtime winner, powered the Pittsburgh Penguins past the Anaheim Ducks 2-1. The Pens don’t get a much-needed two points without Crosby’s heroics, and it’s becoming increasingly clear they’ll need him to bear even more of the load going forward. But how much can he carry?
Even the most loyal Penguins fans couldn’t have had very high expectations this season after the way things went for the team last year, but I’m not sure anyone thought things would get this bad this fast. Prior to the victory over the Ducks, the Pens lost six straight games, and their only other victories came against Montreal, Buffalo and Detroit. They’ve given up four goals in eight of 12 games, sit 15th in the East and are digging themselves a hole they can’t get out of.
This certainly isn’t what Crosby had in mind when he extended in Pittsburgh for two more years just before the start of the season. Even at 37 years of age, Crosby is still an elite player and is coming off back-to-back 90-plus point seasons. He’s carried the Penguins on his back the past two years and kept them in the playoff chase right down to the wire, but it seems like any post-season aspirations for Crosby this year are going to be almost impossible to come by.
The Penguins rank last in the league when it comes to high-danger chances allowed, having conceded almost 30 more than the next closest team heading into Thursday night. Pittsburgh is giving up a lot, and Tristan Jarry is no longer able to help them. Jarry was made a healthy scratch and sent to the AHL after posting an .836 save percentage in three games. He’s on the books at $5.3 million for three years after this season, and he isn’t the only bad contract Pittsburgh is dealing with.
Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang are nowhere near the players they once were and will count significantly against the cap late into their 30s. Ryan Graves and Michael Bunting are both making $4.5 million a season and aren’t having nearly enough of an impact. Bunting has just a single point and was made a healthy scratch earlier in the year. Pittsburgh has a bunch of unmovable contracts and no cap space to do anything to acquire reinforcements for Crosby.
Evgeni Malkin, on the other hand, started the year on a torrid scoring pace but even that wasn’t enough to get the Pens going. Malkin is still an effective player and hasn’t missed a game in more than two seasons, which should further illustrate Pittsburgh’s conundrum. Even when Malkin and Crosby are at their best, it’s no longer enough to overcome the rest of the Penguins’ roster deficiencies.
For Crosby’s part, he’s still his usual efficient self and playing at a very high level. He’s averaging a point per game and is still a handful for opposing defences in the offensive zone. It won’t be long before Crosby passes Joe Sakic for ninth all-time in scoring, and if he plays a few more seasons, there’s a realistic chance he’ll crack the top five. Crosby may very well end up on the NHL’s Mount Rushmore when all is said and done, and it’s a shame we aren’t getting to see him play post-season hockey while he’s still at the top of his game. It’s not going to last forever.
Crosby has never wavered in his commitment to finish his career in Pittsburgh, but the team has never looked this bad since his rookie season. You’d think if it continues, Crosby would at least have a conversation with management next summer to get a temperature check on future plans for both parties. If he stays and, barring a drastic turn of events, Crosby will likely never compete for another Stanley Cup because it doesn’t feel like there’s anything close to a quick fix for this Penguins team.
On Tuesday night, Penguins fans were at least treated to a bit of nostalgia as the Minnesota Wild came to town and Marc-Andre Fleury made his final stop in Pittsburgh on his farewell tour. It put into perspective just how much time has passed for this Penguins core. As for the game itself, Crosby had three assists, but that wasn’t nearly enough, and the Pens still lost 5-3. It really did feel like the end of an era — in more ways than one.
Mark Stone, Vegas Golden Knights
During the summer and heading into the pre-season, Mark Stone likely wasn’t on many projection lists for Team Canada at the Four Nations Face-Off. Now he’s a virtual lock.
Stone has exploded out of the gates for 19 points and is tied for the league lead in scoring. The Vegas Golden Knights forward and teammate Jack Eichel have been unstoppable this season, as Stone has found the scoresheet in every game but one and Eichel in each contest but two. Vegas came into the season much thinner at the forward position and wasn’t receiving as much hype as the likes of Dallas, Edmonton and Vancouver. However, Stone is making sure no one forgets the Golden Knights are still a Western Conference powerhouse.
If Stone wasn’t on everyone’s radar for Team Canada heading into 2024-25, it’s likely because he’s been largely out of sight and out of mind over the past few regular seasons. Even though there was an impressive playoff run sandwiched in there that helped Vegas to a Cup, Stone has played just 37, 43 and 56 games, respectively, over the past three years. It feels like he’s spent forever on LTIR due to injuries, causing many to complain Vegas was doing it intentionally to circumvent the salary cap.
Now, that’s often the first thing that comes to some people’s minds when you mention Stone, and it can overshadow just how elite of a player he is at both ends of the ice. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, Stone has notched 264 points in his past 267 games. Not to mention, he had 11 goals and more than a point per game during Vegas’ run to the Cup.
Stone is also a force on the defensive end as well. He pressures the puck relentlessly and has averaged well over a takeaway per game over the past three seasons, and has been named a Selke finalist on multiple occasions in his career.
When you consider the direction Stone’s career has taken, I can’t help but draw comparisons to Peter Forsberg. Much like Stone, Forsberg was an ultra-competitive two-way player but had a lot more high-end skill and a career that was derailed by injuries. Forsberg was limited to just 708 games and although it was clear he was an elite talent, we unfortunately never got the full picture of his greatness.
Stone is currently sitting at 651 career games, and we can only hope he can stay healthy and continue writing his story for several more seasons. He’s one of the game’s unheralded superstars.
Sean Monahan, Columbus Blue Jackets
No one could blame Sean Monahan if he wasn’t at his best this season.
The tragic deaths of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau are no doubt weighing heavily on the Columbus Blue Jackets forward, who played with Johnny for nine seasons in Calgary and was a close friend. One of the reasons Monahan chose Columbus in free agency was the chance to be reunited with Gaudreau.
That alone would make it understandable if Monahan got off to a slow start, but the Blue Jackets forwards have also been depleted by injuries. Boone Jenner, Dmitri Voronkov and Kent Johnson have all been sidelined, leaving the Jackets very thin up front and placing more pressure on Monahan to produce. Instead of struggling, though, Monahan is thriving with five goals and nine points in his first nine games.
As unlikely as this start has been for Monahan, many perhaps doubted he would ever be a productive NHL player again well before this season. A myriad of serious injuries and surgeries in recent years really put Monahan’s future playing career in question, culminating in the Flames essentially giving him to the Montreal Canadiens along with a first-round pick just to get his cap hit off their books. However, the 30-year-old has done an incredible job rebuilding his career, notching 26 goals and nearly 60 points last season while splitting time with Montreal and Winnipeg. Monahan parlayed that into a lucrative deal in Columbus, where the franchise and city dealt with an unthinkable tragedy before he even stepped on the ice.
Like Monahan, the Blue Jackets have turned heads this season with their inspired play. Columbus owns convincing victories over Toronto, Edmonton and Colorado and has scored six goals four times. Even if you aren’t a Blue Jackets fan, most are pulling for Columbus and Monahan in some capacity this season. He’s an easy player to root for.
Marco Rossi, Minnesota Wild
While Igor Shesterkin’s pending contract extension has received all the attention on Broadway, the New York Rangers completed another tidy bit of business this week in locking up Alexis Lafreniere. The 23-year-old signed a lucrative extension for seven years with an AAV of $7.45 million, and it’s a deal that looks like it’s going to age very well.
Lafreniere took a few seasons to really make an impact, finally scoring 28 goals last season and following that up with 14 points in 16 playoff games. It feels like Lafreniere is just scratching the surface of his abilities, and he should be a steal at that price for years to come while playing next to Artemi Panarin.
Another player from Lafreniere’s draft class who went in the top 10 has also taken some time to prove his value. Marco Rossi, who will need a new deal at the end of the season, looks cemented as the Wild’s top centre and has notched eight points in nine games. So, what will Rossi’s deal look like compared to Lafreniere’s?
For starters, Rossi hasn’t had anywhere near the success Lafreniere has had. He did score 21 goals last season but topped out at just 40 points. That said, Rossi is a centre, whereas Lafreniere plays the wing, and centres are much more valuable, especially to Minnesota. The Wild have been looking for a first-line pivot to pair with Kirill Kaprizov for some time, and it appears Rossi is ready to fill that role on a permanent basis.
You’d also have to think Minnesota would like to lock him up sooner rather than later and probably for as much term as possible. They could always propose a bridge deal to Rossi, but that runs the risk of watching him play a couple more years with Kaprizov and racking up the points. Offensive production always equals more dollars on a contract, and the Wild could end up paying a much larger AAV if Rossi pops off for a couple of big scoring seasons on a bridge.
That said, the Wild will be operating with significantly more cap space next season. Currently, they have $14.7 million of dead cap thanks to the buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. In 2025-26, that number drops down to $1.6 million. Minnesota could obviously use a chunk of that to extend Rossi, but they also may want to make a bigger splash in free agency next summer. It’s something they’ve been unable to do in recent years because of the Suter and Parise buyouts.
If I were in Bill Guerin’s shoes, I’d try to extend Rossi for as long as possible with a number similar to Lafreniere’s. No. 1 centres are hard to find, and Rossi’s value will only increase as he continues to build chemistry with Kaprizov.