Penguins' GM reportedly told Crosby he couldn't play in game 6 despite being medically cleared
I'm going to file this one in the 'I'm not too sure about this' category. According to Rob Rossi, who covers the Pittsburgh Penguins for The Athletic, Sidney Crosby was medically cleared to play in game 6 of the Pens' opening round series against the New York Rangers, but was told he needed to sit one out by Ron Hextall, the team's general manager.
I can understand the team being concerned given his history of concussions, but it would be a strange situation in the NHL for a GM to tell a player who is medically cleared and wants to play that he can't. Especially a star like Sidney Crosby in a game that was really important to the team. The Rangers won game 6 5-3 and would go on to win game 7 as well to eliminate Pittsburgh from the playoffs. If this is true, you have to think there'd be some tension there between Hextall and Crosby. It's also been reported that Crosby isn't happy after teammates Evgeni Malkin and Kris LeTang, who become free agents on July 1st, were offered three year contracts at $5 million per season. Crosby reportedly felt this was a lowball offer and he wasn't happy about it.
Rossi's comments seems to be getting met with plenty of skepticism on Twitter.
Update: Pens' head coach comments on report Crosby was cleared to play game 6 but team wouldn't let him
| POLL | ||
MAI 17 | 194 ANSWERS Penguins' GM reportedly told Crosby he couldn't play in game 6 despite being medically cleared Do you think there's any truth to the report that Hextall stopped Crosby from playing in game 6? | ||
| Sounds like something Hextall would do | 67 | 34.5 % |
| This doesn't sound believable | 79 | 40.7 % |
| I'm not sure | 48 | 24.7 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 6, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Martinook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||