The Core Deserves Better from Penguins

Tuesday night was supposed to be a joyous occasion for the Pittsburgh Penguins. In an ideal world, they would beat the Chicago Blackhawks, the NHL’s worst team, at PPG Paints Arena. After that, they’d celebrate with the fans for the annual “Shirts of the Players’ Backs” as part of Fan Appreciation Night. They’d enter their final game of the season in control of their own destiny.

Or at least that’s how the perfect script would’ve been written.

Instead, the Penguins suffered what could be seen as the worst loss in the core’s era as their playoff odds took a drastic hit following an embarrassing 5-2 loss against the Blackhawks. The Penguins 16-straight playoff appearances now hang in the balance.

With the Penguins down one in the third period, they finally broke through and scored on the power play with a goal by Evgeni Malkin.

It’s funny, isn’t it?

Just a few games back, it was Malkin who scored the season’s largest goal - at the time - late against the Washington Capitals to all but eliminate them from playoff contention and strengthen the Penguins’ own standing. Tuesday night, it was Malkin trying to play hero and scoring the tying goal hoping to get the team going.

Kris Letang was voted as the Penguins nominee for the Masterton Trophy this past weekend. If you didn’t know, the trophy is given to those who show perseverance, sportsmanship, and a dedication to hockey. Letang not only suffered a second stroke at such a young age but also lost his father.

Here he is, at 35-years-old, playing some of the best hockey of his life despite all of this. If he doesn’t win the award, I don’t know what the voters are thinking.

Last, but certainly never the least, the captain.

Sidney Crosby is also 35-years-old. He just posted his 18th straight point per game season, one season shy of the record Wayne Gretzky set. Sure, he went stretches this season without playing his best hockey but at his age carrying the team for as long as he has, he’s due a little less production from time to time.

There is a very good chance that this past season will be the last time that all three combined play at the highest of levels. Father Time is going to get them soon enough and the regression has to come soon. It’s just the way sports work.

Yet, somehow, the majority of the team and the organization let them down.

Name any player in the top-six and they get a pass. Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust were a bit streakier than they typically are. Both still posted 20+ goals this season. Rickard Rakell has been a top tier winger whether he was on the ice with Malkin or Crosby throughout the year. And words can’t even begin to talk about how important Jason Zucker’s been to the team.

Comparatively, name a player in the Penguins’ bottom-six and they likely gave you a handful of reasons why they shouldn’t be here next season save for maybe Drew O’Connor.

Defensively, outside of Letang of course, the Penguins can’t hang their hat on too much this season either.

Marcus Pettersson had himself one heck of a year. Brian Dumoulin was borderline unplayable for much of the season but got better down the stretch. Jan Rutta and Jeff Petry were brought in over the offseason and became bitter disappointments by the halfway point of the season. The rotating door of sixth defensemen didn’t really provide much in the way of confidence either outside of an early season stretch by P.O. Joseph.

And the goaltending…I’m not sure anyone needs a sermon on that.

Chiefly among all of this, however, is the assembly of the roster which falls squarely on the front office.

Jeff Carter can’t help that his career went down the toilet once he signed his extension. Brock McGinn and Kasperi Kapanen can’t help that they were not good fits for this team. Mikael Granlund can’t help that Ron Hextall liked his game so much that Hextall took on his $5 million cap hit for a second round pick.

These things all fall on the front office.

The coaching? That wasn’t great, either. The power play, which all three of the core are a part of, has fallen limp under the tutelage of Todd Reirden. The stubbornness of Mike Sullivan arguably lost the Penguins a handful of games this season.

The problem even goes far enough up the ladder to the Fenway Sports Group. The owners of the Penguins could hardly be bothered to show up to games this year to see the product they invested in blow up on the ice. I’m not positive they could pick Sidney Crosby out of a lineup. A disengaged ownership group is a recipe for disaster in itself.

Crosby, Malkin, and Letang are all on team-friendly deals to try and give the team a better shot to win. The front office had tons of wiggle room and astonishingly created this disaster.

Now, we wait. Maybe the Montreal Canadiens can beat the Islanders in regulation and the Penguins will have one more chance at making the playoffs.

All they would have to do is beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, the league’s second worst hockey team.

Ah, come one. Who are we kidding here?

It’s a shame that the core are being subjected to this as their storied careers near a potentially dark ending if things don’t change quickly in Pittsburgh.

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