Sidney Crosby will represent Canada at the upcoming World Championship. (USATSI)
Sidney Crosby will represent Canada at the upcoming World Championship. (USATSI)

The Pittsburgh Penguins are done for the year after getting bounced from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the New York Rangers on Friday night. Their captain will be playing on, however.

Sidney Crosby confirmed Sunday that he will join Team Canada for the upcoming IIHF World Championship in the Czech Republic. The tournament starts May 1. He'll join a Canadian roster that already features a litany of NHL stars.

Among the other big names on the roster are Claude Giroux, Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, Taylor Hall and Matt Duchene, just to name a few. Adding Crosby to the mix sure puts Canada in a good spot to win the whole thing.

If they do, Crosby would enter the exclusive "Triple Gold Club," which celebrates those that have won the Stanley Cup, Olympic gold and World Championship gold. Only 25 players in the history of hockey have accomplished this feat. Perhaps that was part of Crosby's motivation for accepting an invite.

Crosby will be playing in the World Championship for the first time since 2006 following his rookie NHL season. That year he had 16 points in nine games, including eight goals as Canada finished fourth.

There are probably some nervous Penguins fans (and executives) right now with Crosby going to a competitive offseason tournament after a long season. There is obviously always a risk of injury and with Crosby having spent most of the last offseason recovering from injury, I'm sure there are more than a few people who wish he would stay home.

The World Championship isn't always the most popular thing among NHL players for that reason. Take one look at Team USA's roster for this year's event against the available players and you'll see just how hard it can be to get stars to sign on. You have to give Crosby credit for going to represent his country, at least.

Including training camp time, players commit essentially a full month of their offseason to playing in this tournament. Should Canada advance all the way to one of the two medal games, the team will play a total 10 games over that span, not including pre-tournament exhibitions.

Canada hasn't won gold at the World Championship since 2007, but has won gold at each of the past two Winter Olympics.