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Sidney Crosby Found Awesome Way to Spend His Free Time After Getting Hurt at Olympics

Never change, Sid.
Kristen Wong|
Penguins star Sidney Crosby will be out for at least four weeks after suffering a lower-body injury while playing for Team Canada at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Penguins star Sidney Crosby will be out for at least four weeks after suffering a lower-body injury while playing for Team Canada at the Milan Cortina Olympics. | Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

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Pittsburgh Penguins

The messy aftermath of the U.S. men’s hockey team’s gold medal win at the Milan Cortina Olympics has left some feeling jaded about the future of the sport. But have no fear, Sid is here.

Beloved Penguins star Sidney Crosby has returned to the U.S. following Canada’s heartbreaking loss to Team USA in the Olympic final, and he’s ready to get back to work—taping sticks, that is.

Crosby was placed on injured reserve for a lower-body injury that he suffered in Canada’s quarterfinal win over Czechia, which means he’ll be out for at least the next four weeks. The Canadian captain has already found something to do with his free time, though, and it’s just as classy as you would expect from him.

Crosby was seen helping tape a kid’s hockey stick at a Penguins youth clinic on Wednesday, the same day Pittsburgh placed him on IR.

What a legend:

Hockey fans loved seeing their nonchalant king at work, and a few also cautioned Crosby to be extra careful with his right leg:

What Sidney Crosby said about his 2026 Olympic run with Canada

Crosby also took some time on Wednesday to speak with reporters about his recent injury and share his thoughts on his third career Winter Games. The 38-year-old didn’t give any details on his lower-body injury and only said he wanted to make sure he was at his best before returning to action. Crosby left Canada’s quarterfinal win on Feb. 18 after getting hit by Czechia’s Radko Gudas and appeared to suffer a right leg injury as he limped off the ice; he was later ruled out for the rest of the contest and didn’t play in Canada’s final two games of the tournament.

“I’ll be honest with you, all I cared about was playing that game and focusing on that,” Crosby said when asked whether he was thinking about the Penguins when he got hurt. “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.”

In what could be his final Olympics, Crosby finished with two goals and six points across four games and also became Canada’s all-time points leader in Winter Games featuring NHL players. After clinching gold in 2010 and ‘14, Crosby had to settle for a silver medal in Milan, with Canada losing to the U.S. in a 2-1 overtime thriller. Hopefully the GOAT can come out on top back in the states, where his Penguins sit in second in the Metropolitan Division and are itching for their first Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance since 2022.

“That’s why we play,” Crosby continued. “Obviously, the Olympics is a great opportunity and experience. But 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. That’s where my mind is at.”

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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.

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