Sidney Crosby is now the highest paid teenager in NHL history.

Crosby, 19, re-signed a five-year, $43 million contract extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins, which will take effect for the 2008-09 season and runs through to the 2012-13 season.

The deal breaks down to $8.7 million per season, less than the 20% maximum a team is allowed to spend on a single player under the current salary cap (currently just over $10 million).

To be honest, I expected Crosby to accept less than this to allow the Pens the cap space to build and maintain the roster around him, but I suppose his agent and the NHLPA wanted to ensure he got as much as possible so as not to adversely skew the salary structure.

Still, I doubt knowledgeable hockey fans, especially those in Pittsburgh, will quibble over the amount. Besides, if the cap keeps rising from now until 2012, potentially hitting $60 million by that time, his contract will look like a bargain in the latter years of the deal.

The scary thing is, Crosby hasn't even hit his prime yet. He turns 20 in August, meaning he's still five years away from entering the period considered a forward's playing prime (25-31).

And really, what choice did the Penguins have? This kid is their franchise saviour as well as its best player. He was eligible for restricted free agency next summer, but you just know at least a dozen teams would've been poised to swoop in with mind-boggling offer sheets, likely considerably more than the $8.7 million they got him for today.

Smart management by Pens GM Ray Shero to avoid that possibility and for not playing "hardball" with his best player. As if the latter was ever on his mind to begin with!