Sidney Crosby in the middle of delivering season tickets today in Sewickley, where Mario Lemieux of all people drove by, essentially had a message for the local media:

‘Please Stop Asking me about the trade speculation.’

“I think anyone that knows what the city means to me, how special it is,” Crosby said, also adding he “loves it here” and this is where he wants to be.

Crosby was upfront of how he gets the questions and narratives with the situation the Penguins are in but it was a good attempt by him to tone the pressure down leading into camp.

What was truly newsworthy, though, was Crosby admitted he was surprised at Pat Brisson going public the way he did last week.

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Before some of the local media starts bashing the Canadian media up and down, I will continue to say this:

If Kyle Dubas tries to continue to tear the team down, which he pushed to do this summer, this is going to be a story again after the Olympics and very much so next summer. As loyal as Crosby is, it’s not some 100% guarantee Crosby is going to just stick around for a franchise playing the long rebuild game. In the present, it’s silly for the local and national media to be asking Crosby about this all the time in the early months of the season. That needs to end after today. But, let’s talk in February and March and see where this team is. At the end of the day there is going to have to be an attempt to speeding things up to appease one of the NHL’s All-Time Greats who made it clear today, he is not a fan of tanking.

“It’s professional sports, you play to win, that’s how I view it,” Crosby said. “You’re not To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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