In terms of the speculation, yeah, it's that Crosby sees the writing on the wall. In the event that he asks out, there is probably a short list of teams he would want to play for. No idea if we would be on it.
If Crosby were traded (I still think it's pretty unlikely, and mainly click bait for Canadians), it would be for one year of him. I would give up a lot for one year of Crosby, as long as salary is going out too. Thus, when he walked, we would have a lot of space to work with. Our only trade piece that gets us close is Cirelli. I mean, Cirelli for Crosby in most circumstances is nuts. But it's one year of Crosby, in a situation where he has given the Pens a limited number of teams to work with.
One can dream.