A tanking by any other name | Penguins Perspectives
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Call it whatever you want - a retooling on the fly, a rebuild, a transitional period, but let's call it what it really is: tanking.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are tanking and you may be surprised to hear that it's by design.
Regardless of what Kyle Dubas, Mike Sullivan, Sidney Crosby, and whoever else say, the Penguins were not built to be good this year.
Now, were they built to be this bad? Of that, we can never be sure, but it feels extremely doubtful.
Since the Penguins sent Jake Guentzel to Carolina just before the trade deadline last year, the plan has been apparent. The Penguins are setting out to hit a soft reset button on their franchise before the big names hang up the skates for good.
It's not unlike what the Washington Capitals began doing a couple of years ago - parting with some of their bigger role players in exchange for young players, prospects, draft picks, and cap space.
Of course, it could be too late for that. Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Erik Karlsson are not getting any younger, and the NHL is not getting any easier. The grind of an 82-game season takes its toll, and it's not a low fare.
However, this is what the Penguins need to keep themselves in the mix in the near term and the far term. Their prospect pool has consistently been in the high 20s or low 30s for years now. A team that was, understandably, chasing Stanley Cups and not the future had no issues using their young players and draft picks for talent that could help in the immediate.
Now, as it presently stands, the Penguins have added multiple young players who could be contributors at the NHL level in 1-2 years. Rutger McGroarty, Tristan Broz, Vasily Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen, Avery Hayes, Harrison Brunicke, and a couple of others are on the way.
They also will, for the time being, have 29 draft picks over the next three seasons. Of course, that number is expected to fluctuate as trades get made, which they most certainly will.
When you look at the Penguins' current salary cap situation, there are problems. Ryan Graves and Tristan Jarry are signed for too much for too long and have varying degrees of trade protection. But players such as Marcus Pettersson, Drew O'Connor, Anthony Beauilliver, and others will certainly be dealt near or at the deadline for more futures.
There will most certainly be teams who are going for it the next two years that fall short of the ultimate prize and they will be ready to make irrational decisions by parting with key pieces in an effort to "shake it up." That's where the Penguins could come into play.
When you check their cap space over the next three years, all the big pieces are locked up and their cap space rises to nearly $45 million in two years.
It would also be malpractice to not mention that it might not work out at all. These young players may never reach the expected potential, that's not at all uncommon. After two very solid drafts, Dubas could swing and miss on a few of the picks, setting this plan back.
That said, not trying this at this point in the Penguins' timeline is exactly how they've ended up here. Years and years of mortgaging the future for the present leaves you trying to patch holes with very expensive contracts that rarely live up to the billing.
It also means that putting this plan in motion will lead to a season or two of disappointment.
This current season? It's frustrating, it's maddening, and there will be more pain on the way, but remember - it's supposed to be that way.
Whether it's retooling, transitioning, or whatever else, a tanking by any other name would be just as bittersweet.