Are you expecting the Penguins to not get worse? They are very reliant on ancient players producing. They are still years away from having a major youth infusion. Very likely age decline continues to erode the team away as it has been for the last three years.
The original point was with Crosby and Malkin it’s very difficult to finish bottom five. They are too good. Not just as players on the ice but as leaders. And it’s very hard to draft a new elite core picking outside of the top 5. Draft 8-15 and more than likely select players who, as they mature, keep the club in that middle group.
I think you're overestimating how strong the roster will be. Crosby is the only one that would even be a top line player on a contender. Malkin/Rakell/Rust/Karlsson are all 2nd liners on a good team and at their ages age decline and injury risk is high. Karlsson- their best dman- seems likely to get traded too. Which will give them likley the worst defense in the league. Pastrnak just had a better season than Crosby and Boston is 4th in the lotto. The team has been on a steady decline four years in a row. I see no reason to expect the course to reverse next season. Maybe in two years if the youth develops well.
Pasta is great. But that club was bad. They have no Malkin and no Letang. Not too sure if Dubas will pay the cost in picks (retention) to move off EK.
Again, Malkin is no major upgrade over Lindholm. Serviceable 2nd line centers but nothing special. Letang was awful. He's a bottom pairing dman at this point.
Malkin is significantly better than Lindholm. Malkin isn’t what he was, of course, but he’s still not far from that HHOF player. Lindholm was never in the category of player and has fallen off a cliff the last two years.
Charlie McAvoy joins him in 2-3 years. (Unless B’s name him captian and commit to him)
If they weren't closer to needing a rebuild than contending I think they would have been a slam dunk.
