Saw this Q & A on The Athletic lol ….today
Based on the moves they have made this offseason; do you expect the Penguins to be able to make it through this temporary retooling and still be legit contenders (and/or major FA players) headed into the last year of Sid’s new deal? — Daniel K.
In a word, no. It’s just too imperfect a roster construction, something that isn’t completely on the current general manager, Kyle Dubas, but is a function of how he responded to the team he inherited from Ron Hextall, his predecessor. Now I do understand why Hextall wanted to keep
Evgeni Malkin and
Kris Letang around and signed them to their extensions; they played prominent roles in what the Penguins achieved over the past decade and a half and still had some mileage left on the tires. Moreover, those matching $6.1 million AAVs don’t look bad considering the inflationary salary spiral we’re seeing as the cap rises. I was less excited about the $5 million annually that Hextall spent to retain
Rickard Rakell. That set a bad precedent. Dubas’ signature splashy move, acquiring
Erik Karlsson from San Jose, never made any sense. Too expensive — at a $10 million AAV. It just felt as if Karlsson and Letang spent all of last season trying to get out of each other’s way.
It reminded me of when Karlsson and
Brent Burns manned the right side of the defense in San Jose, where neither could assume the full alpha role. Both were better when Burns moved on to Carolina.
In goal, I’ve been forever beating the drums of a John-Gibson-to-Pittsburgh trade. Gibson, I’m convinced, wants out of Anaheim and Anaheim would be ready to move on. Instead, the Penguins opted to retain
Tristan Jarry on a pricey extension that didn’t work out, not last year anyway. All the money they allocated elsewhere, which meant they couldn’t retain
Jake Guentzel, was baffling and shortsighted. As for the pieces they’ve added ahead of this year’s training camp, they all feel like spare parts rather than difference-makers (
Kevin Hayes,
Cody Glass,
Blake Lizotte,
Anthony Beauvillier,
Emil Bemstrom).
The Penguins have missed the playoffs for two consecutive seasons, their prospect pipeline doesn’t feature much in the way of grade-A talent, and their best veterans are all a year older. That all suggests they aren’t legit contenders and won’t be during Crosby’s remaining years. Crosby is such a singular talent, practically an NHL unicorn on some levels, but hockey remains the ultimate team sport. One individual, even an individual of Crosby’s accomplishments and pedigree, is not enough to turn an average team into a contender.