Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is excited for the upcoming season and he said he is very pleased with the team's offseason acquisition of Phil Kessel.
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The Penguins acquired Kessel, a five-time 30-goal scorer, from the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 1 and he will either play with Crosby as his center or Evgeni Malkin.
All Crosby cares about right now is that it bolstered the club.
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"It's a nice addition to our team, obviously," Crosby told CTV News Atlantic, according to NHL.com. "He's a great scorer, he brings a lot, and offensively he's going to help any team. So we're happy to have him, and I think from talking to him he seems like he's excited, and I think it'll be something that everyone's looking forward to this season, a lot of anticipation."
The Penguins are anxious for the new season to start after settling for a wild-card spot at the end of the 2014-15 campaign and getting eliminated in the first round of the playoffs when injuries caught up to them.
Crosby finished third in the NHL with 84 points and 56 assists last season, but the Penguins failed to get deep in the playoffs.
Kessel had 25 goals and 35 assists for 61 points in 2014-15 for the Maple Leafs, a team that finished with the second-worst record in the east.
Pittsburgh ended up with a 43-27-12 record and settled for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference this past season. The club then fell to the Presidents' Trophy-winning New York Rangers in five games in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Crosby also gave advice to young Oilers No. 1 overall draft pick Connor McDavid, who has drawn parallels to the Penguins captain and is a huge part of Edmonton's plan to rebuild.
"Just enjoy it; it goes by quick," Crosby said. "It's hard to believe, when I think about when I was in that position, it was 10 years ago, so it goes by really quick, and I think the main thing is, when you're that age you're just so worried about proving yourself and getting to the NHL and doing those kind of things that sometimes you forget to just kind of live in the moment and enjoy it because it does go by quick. He's got a lot of expectations, but he seems like he's able to handle it pretty well and should do great."
The Penguins season opens up on Oct. 8 against the Stars in Dallas while the first Crosby vs. McDavid matchup is likely to occur when the two clubs meet for the first time in 2015-16 on Nov. 6 in Edmonton.
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