Penguins Perspectives: It didn't have to be this way
Welcome to Penguins Perspectives, a weekly column by KDKA-TV Digital Producer Patrick Damp. Each Friday, Patrick will talk about the week that was, the week to come, what to watch for, and more.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - It didn't have to be this way.
Jake Guentzel is now a Carolina Hurricane and surely, as I write this, more players from the 2023-24 iteration of the Pittsburgh Penguins will follow.
Now, for the second consecutive season, the Penguins will, barring something miraculous, miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Something Sidney Crosby has never experienced in his NHL career.
Again, it did not have to be this way.
Last week, I went a little more analytical breaking down the moves made since about 2021 when Jim Rutherford resigned through the hiring of Ron Hextall and right through what Kyle Dubas has done so far as the Penguins' head of hockey operations.
Now, it's going to be a tad more emotional than analytical.
Certainly, since 2005 this city has been completely spoiled by its hockey club. I know the history, you know the history, we all got to live it live and in living color.
All empires eventually fall, and that's true, especially in sports. The Steelers of the 1970s didn't last into the 1980s. The Pirates of the same era didn't last much longer. The 1990s Penguins burned fast and bright, but not long.
The Edmonton Oilers dominated the 1980s and never really reached any type of similar success, though they could soon be close once again.
The Penguins' reign as one of the most elite franchises in the NHL's modern era was certainly going to come crashing down spectacularly at some point. When you focus on the here and now and not the future with the elite talents that have called Fifth Avenue home, it is bound to end and likely end in disaster.
Instead of that, it appears we're in for a slow, painful decline.
The Penguins might be the luckiest franchise in NHL history for a multitude of reasons. They've been able to draft generational talents almost like clockwork, they've employed stars at just about every position, and their five Stanley Cups are the most since they won their first in 1991.
When it comes to the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang, they've been able to beat back Father Time with relative ease. Crosby continued scoring at more than 90-point pace well into his 30s. Malkin produced at more than a 70-point pace and Guentzel added to the firepower with a more than 80-point pace, all while on cap hits that were well under value for those kinds of numbers.
Since about 2007, the Penguins' front office has been in go-for-it mode. Winning the Stanley Cup was always the goal, as it rightfully should have been when you have stars as your franchise's foundation.
Up until about 2020, they made move after move that contributed to that idea, and on three occasions, it ended with the marvelous silver chalice.
Once Rutherford abruptly resigned, the management teams leading the franchise have missed far more often than they have hit.
Yes, keeping the core together was smart, they've continued to produce and produce at a level that is conducive to winning championships.
It's the cast of characters around them who have not done their job or been unable to do their jobs.
Whether it was letting good talent walk out the door without a contract extension, trading them for lesser versions of themselves, or signing players to contracts that were not worth what they were producing, the Penguins have slid from a contender to a playoff bubble team, to possibly a bottom-10 team.
All the while the big three have continued to keep themselves in the conversation as some of the best players in hockey well into their 30s.
Yes, there's a very real chance this team could get a serious facelift in the summer and we get one more run to cap off what has been the greatest era in Penguins hockey, but given how the rest of the league is operating, it's unlikely.
It didn't have to be this way, but it is.