Analyst Believes One Specific $2B Scenario May Be Causing Sidney Crosby Trade Buzz

For months now, Sidney Crosby has continued to push back on trade speculation, but this week something has changed, with both he and his agent Pat Brisson adding fuel to the fire with their comments.

This is a major shock to most fans that have seen Crosby's loyalty to the Penguins for the last two decades, and now, analysts have noted that there may be a bigger reason why this is now happening.

As of late, there have been rumours over the Hoffmann Family, who currently own the ECHL's Florida Everblades, a group that have now emerged as the favourite to buy the organization for $2 billion.

In his latest piece for TribLIVE, Tim Benz has revealed that he believes Crosby and Brisson may be stoking the fires of trade rumours to force FSG to sell the team to Mario Lemieux rather than the Hoffmann Family, as they could lose their most valuable asset before the Hoffmann's take over.

It's unclear if there is any validity to this reporting at all, but given the timing of the situation with Crosby and his agent, it's hard not to look deeper into their sudden change of stance on the whole trade situation.

Ultimately, Crosby is likely just looking out for his best interest, as a player should always do, and if he believes there's a better chance of winning a Stanley Cup elsewhere, he's going to take a genuine look into that scenario.