Crosby focusing on winning, not trades for fading Penguins

Don't tell Sidney Crosby his struggling Pittsburgh Penguins should go into sell mode with the trade deadline approaching.

Following Sunday's 6-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, the future Hall of Famer gave a gruff response when asked if the bigger picture was starting to set in amid a three-game losing skid.

"The deadline date hasn't changed, and we still need to get points, so I don't know what picture you're talking about, but it's the same situation it was yesterday," Crosby said.

A late February report indicated the Penguins would listen to trade offers on all non-core players. A day later, club president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas left the door open when asked whether he'd deal two-time 40-goal scorer Jake Guentzel.

Pittsburgh was on the outside of the playoff picture looking in at the time and has fallen further out of the race since. The Pens entered Monday with an 18% chance of reaching the postseason, according to MoneyPuck.

They came into the week sitting second last in the Metropolitan Division and 10 points back of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with four games in hand on the Tampa Bay Lightning, who occupied that position.

The Penguins have several pending unrestricted free agents who could be trade candidates if the team waves the white flag on the season. That list includes veteran forward Jeff Carter and backup goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic.

Guentzel, another pending UFA, is injured but expected back about a week after the March 8 trade deadline.

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