Crosby Addresses Injury, Talks Olympic Experience

When the Pittsburgh Penguins took to the ice for practice on Wednesday, they did it without captain Sidney Crosby joining them.

And it will be that way for a while.

Crosby, 38, sustained a lower-body injury while playing for Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina, and he is expected to miss four weeks – a critical four weeks for the Penguins, who have a tough schedule in March and currently rank second in the Metropolitan Division with 70 points.

But despite the knowledge that he won’t be able to help his team on the ice during their stretch run to the playoffs, Crosby was in good spirits as he spoke with Pittsburgh media Wednesday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, Pa. and reflected on his time in Milan.

“Yeah, it was great. Awesome experience, really, everything,” Crosby said. “The hockey, just the setup there, being able to experience the Olympics, it was special.

“Obviously, I was hoping for a different outcome but couldn’t be more proud of the team, and just the experience overall was unbelievable.”

It comes as no surprise that Crosby is disappointed that his injury will hold him out of the NHL season, and that was the same sentiment in Milan, when he missed Canada’s final two games against Finland and Team USA in the medal round and the team came up short, earning the silver medal after an overtime defeat at the hands of the Americans.

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But, even as he weighed whether or not he could play, he admits that playing in the gold medal game was all he had his mind set on – and not necessarily the ramifications for his NHL season.

“I’ll be honest with you… all I cared about was playing that game and focusing on that,” Crosby said. “That’s not any disrespect to our team or what I feel about this season or anything like that. We all put a lot of work in to try to be as successful as possible here. But, given the opportunity to play in the Olympics and in that game, I think trying to play was all my focus was on.”

He maintains that he made the right decision to hold out knowing that he wouldn’t have been able to operate close to 100 percent and that there was a healthy player who could take his spot instead. But, that said, he also mentioned that he was very close to playing.

“Close. A lot closer than I thought. A day or two after, I thought that I might be… yeah, I didn’t think it was necessarily going to be an option, so the fact that I even had a chance or was close to it… yeah, the staff there was unbelievable in trying to go through that whole process.”

He added: “If you can’t go out there and do a job and be relied upon with the team and the guy next to you, then you can’t force it. And that’s what it came down to.”

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Given his injury, it’s fair to wonder whether he things the risk outweighs the benefit of NHL players going to the Olympics. But he knows how much it means to the players to have the chance to go represent their countries on the biggest stage and how much it means to himself.

And that is especially true for Crosby, as Milan could very well have been his final Olympic appearance.

So, what about 2030? Is Crosby thinking ahead?

“Yeah, I try not to think that far ahead,” Crosby said. “My mind was just on trying to play, and you can’t let that creep into your head. When you’re trying to overcome something or when you have something that’s challenging, I think the worst thing you can do is think of worst-case scenarios… it’s still a long ways away, but that wasn’t really something I tried to think about too much.”

Well, that’s just about the answer one should expect from a two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time Stanley Cup champion, especially with his team in the midst of a playoff stretch run and his production refusing to slow down. Crosby is still hungry as ever to win, and he has a chance to do so with the Penguins this season.

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He believes in the group that the Penguins have, especially since they’ve already dealt with a lot of adversity this season.

“I’m confident,” Crosby said. “I think we’ve shown all year, we’ve had injuries, and guys have stepped up. To get to where we’re at at this point, I think it’s because of our team play. I don’t think it’s been any one person. It’s because, collectively as a group, we’ve found different ways to win, and different guys have stepped up. So, as long as we continue to do that and understand that, I think we give ourselves a good chance.”

And Crosby very much wants to be back in the Stanley Cup playoffs once again.

“That’s why we play,” Crosby said. “Obviously, the Olympics was a great opportunity and an experience, but I think you shift your focus to [playing] in the playoffs. It’s so special and so fun to be in those big games and play for that.

“So, that’s where my mind’s at.”