Only a few days ago, the oldest team in the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins, have just gotten even older. They acquired 34-year-old Jeff Petry from Montreal, signed 31-year-old former Tampa Bay defenseman Jan Rutta, and resigned 35-year-old Kris Letang and 35-year-old Evgeni Malkin in a pursuit for one last Stanely Cup run. Yet, we all know there is no hope of another cup for this Penguins core.
Ever since their incredible back-to-back Cup wins in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons, the Pittsburgh Penguins have been perennially playoff chokers. In past five years, the Penguins have won a grand total of 1 playoff round (and that was against the Flyers, so does it even really count?).
Anyway, for a roster that still has seven players from those cup winning years to only make it out of the First Round once is crazy. Especially when two of those players are Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
What’s worse is that their series victory over the Flyers came in the 2017/18 season. So, that means the Penguins have been knocked out of the First Round in four consecutive seasons. Normally, when a former-Cup winning core group of players start suffering perennial First Round exists, that’s when upper management blows everything up and rebuild.
But not in Pittsburgh. I guess three Stanley Cups with Crosby and Malkin has not been enough for the Penguins as new GM Ron Hextall ruined this team’s future by trading young starts and draft picks in order to get older.
First, let me address the Jeff Petry trade. The Canadiens defender has been a solid, reliable player throughout his career, and especially during Montreal’s Cup Final run a year ago.
Nonetheless, that was, like I said, a year ago. And this past season in Montreal was brutal for Petry. He had his lowest goals (6), assists (21), and points (27) tally since the 2015/16 season. And he finished the year with a +/- of -11. Of course, this was all on the worst team in the NHL last season, so I may be reading too much into his struggles.
Still, he is 34 years old and will be 35 come December.
As for the Jan Rutta signing, this was the Penguins best move of the offseason. I know bringing in Ty Smith from New Jersey (who I didn’t mention above) will probably be viewed as the best addition to the blue line, given his potential and youth. But Jan Rutta was an unsung hero for the Lightning’s three straight Cup Finals appearances. He should be a solid Top-4 defenseman come next year.
Now, to the two biggest elephants in the Penguins’ locker room: Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. Both 35-year-olds were out of contract and coming off very different seasons. For Letang, he scored career highs on assists (58) and points (68) last season, yet this was a career year at 35. Can he really follow it up when he is 36?
Malkin, on the other hand, managed to score 20 goals and 22 assists in just 41 games played due to injury and suspension. The Penguins center has become increasingly more brittle and unreliable as he ages.
Yet, GM Ron Hextall obviously has not watched his team this past season as he decided it would be a good idea to give Letang a SIX YEAR contract and Malkin a FOUR YEAR contract.
In my opinion, both of these guys should have been allowed to walk during free agency. That would have saved the Penguins over $12M in cap space to spend on other players, such as Nazem Kadri, Johnny Gaudreau, or John Klingberg. Instead, Pittsburgh now has two aged, brittle 35-year-olds under “impossible-to-move” long term contracts.
The Penguins did the same thing with their roster when Mario Lemieux was in his twilight years. Look where that got them. I guess they will never learn.
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