Penguins Perspectives: The Tortured Penguins Department
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 is rare, but you remember it all too well: the Pittsburgh Penguins are not in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
When the season began, we were ready for combat. The short-lived but horribly disappointing Hextall era was behind us and Kyle Dubas took over the hockey operations department.
He immediately laid the groundwork and like clockwork, a ton of bad contracts were off the books: Jeff Petry, Jan Rutta, and Mikael Granlund amongst others were turned into the reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson.
There were new additions such as Noel Acciari, Lars Eller, Ryan Graves, and Matt Nieto and we were ready for it. A season that would wipe away the stench of losing the longest postseason streak in North American sports.
The hope turned out to be treacherous and we once again find ourselves in the same position we were just one short year ago - a point outside of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and plenty more questions than answers.
Maybe, just maybe, there were clues that we didn't see.
More than anything, the biggest questions remains: what do you do now and where do you go from here?
It's easy to give into the temptation to say a rebuild is due. Two years of missing the postseason certainly doesn't make things seem bright and optimistic.
We've seen this film before and we didn't like the ending.
And yet…Crosby showed he still has greatness in him. Evgeni Malkin, after finally getting a competent winger in Michael Bunting, raised his game. Kris Letang accepted a lesser role with Karlsson on the roster and battled through what certainly had to be an injury to end the season.
There's also the thought that we aren't quite out of the woods when it comes to the previous management. Jeff Carter remained but in a lesser role. Rickard Rakell was still here and did not live up to the contract he was signed to.
We learned to live with the pain.
All of this is to say, when it comes to this era of the Penguins, the end game is this offseason.
There's one more kick at the can left, but it can't be strictly on the backs of the core, but so it goes.
For Kyle Dubas, this summer has to be what he has already said: getting younger, faster, and deeper. It's no coincidence over the last month that this team played some of its best hockey when younger legs such as Bunting, St. Ivany, Puustinen, O'Connor, and others were given bigger roles.
It's delicate, but it can be done.
There's no real definitive way to wrap this one up, it's too soon and we don't know what will come this offseason, but it's sure to be another hugely consequential one.
Standing pat is not an option, and outside of the big names, the team requires a facelift.
Otherwise, we'll be in for another cruel summer this time next year.