Pittsburgh Penguins Season Preview 2023-24: An off-season of change brings new aura of excitement
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Sometimes, change can be a good thing.
The 2022-23 Pittsburgh Penguins were marked by the return and long-term investment into this core group of players, namely Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang.
Letang and Malkin were signed to new, long-term contracts last summer that will likely see them end their careers in the same city where their illustrious journeys began.
The hope was, going into last season, that this triumvirate would continue their impressive run of postseason appearances, and try to exorcise demons that have haunted them since 2018, the year the franchise last won a playoff series.
It was not meant to be.
On April 12, 2023, after a run of 16 consecutive postseason appearances, the longest streak of the four major North American men's sports leagues, these same Penguins were eliminated from postseason contention.
Change was on the horizon.
General manager Ron Hextall, who had assumed the position after the surprise resignation of Stanley Cup-winning architect, Jim Rutherford, was relieved of his duties by Fenway Sports Group. The ownership collective, certainly no stranger to winning championships, decided that a fresh face was needed to maximize the final years of this era.
Enter Kyle Dubas, now the former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Before arriving in Pittsburgh, Dubas had already established himself as a tech-savvy, analytically-driven executive who had constructed the current core of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
While Dubas was never able to lift Lord Stanley in Hockey Mecca, his reputation and availability were all Fenway Sports Group needed to pull the trigger and initiate change.
Dubas was hired as President of Hockey Operations on June 1, 2023.
Change had begun.
NEW FACES, DIFFERENT PLACES
Missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs is something Penguins fans, and players, aren't used to.
The team, until last season, held the longest postseason streak in North American professional sports, but a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in the penultimate game of the season brought that streak to an end.
With Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin both playing a full season for the first time in their careers, but failing to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it was time for a change.
The first domino to fall was unsurprising.
The team fired President of Hockey Operations, Brian Burke, and General Manager Ron Hextall.
Fenway Sports Group's search for a new front office was well underway when they were handed an unexpected gift.
All signs pointed to Kyle Dubas remaining as the Toronto Maple Leafs GM, but disagreements with the organization led to him leaving the team and he was a free agent of sorts.
On June 1, he was officially named the Penguins President of Hockey Operations.
He didn't wait long to make changes.
One of his first moves was to take advantage of the newly-minted Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights who found themselves in a salary cap crunch. For just a third-round pick, perennial 15-to-20-goal-scorer Reilly Smith became a Penguin.
A flurry of free agency moves brought in the likes of Noel Acciari, Lars Eller, Matt Nieto, and Ryan Graves. They also found a capable backup for Tristan Jarry in Alex Nedeljkovic.
However, it was August 6 when Kyle Dubas took his biggest swing.
A three-team trade involving the San Jose Sharks and Montreal Canadiens brought the reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson to the Penguins.
The Penguins sent a 2024 first-round pick along with Mikael Granlund and defenseman Jan Rutta to San Jose and a 2025 second-round pick, Jeff Petry, Nathan Legare, and Casey DeSmith to Montreal and San Jose sent Karlsson to the Penguins.
It was a move that signaled the Penguins were still very much in go-for-it mode, with the goal being a fourth Stanley Cup for this core of players.
METROPOLITAN MADNESS
As it has been since its inception a decade ago, the Metropolitan Division will be one of the most competitive in the National Hockey League.
The Penguins find themselves in an uphill battle in their division with the likes of the New Jersey Devils, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers, as well as the New York Islanders, and Washington Capitals.
While teams such as the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers find themselves in a rebuild, rivalries always bring out the best in our foes.
Most pundits look at the Metropolitan Division as something of a two-horse race this year, with the Hurricanes and Devils vying for the top spot in the division.
Carolina Hurricanes
Carolina's roster is packed to the gills with lethal scoring talent. The likes of Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Teuvo Teräväinen, and Martin Necas round, arguably, one of the best top-six units in the game.
And look no further than Carolina's blue line to see another collection of elite talent.
Jaccob Slavin and veteran Brent Burns, Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei, and new addition Dmitry Orlov and Tony DeAngelo create a defense corps that provides a solid blend of defense with enough offensive punch to keep opposing teams on their toes.
Can Carolina break through the glass ceiling and go on a long playoff run? The talent is there. Time will tell.
New Jersey Devils
These aren't your grandad's New Jersey Devils. Gone are the days of winning games with the neutral zone trap. Now, these Devils bring a youthful, offensive energy with them. Last season, New Jersey finished with 112 points, but the team doesn't appear to be a one-year wonder. They managed to sign Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt for the long term. Plus, they brought in a new forward, Tyler Toffoli, who scored 34 goals and 73 points last year.
The Devils did lose a few cogs on their blue line, notably Ryan Graves (to the Penguins) and Damon Severson (to the Columbus Blue Jackets), but there should be enough talent here to hold the line.
New York Rangers
The Blueshirts went all-in last season, acquiring Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane near the trade deadline to pair with Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck, Mika Zibanejad, and others.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Rangers were eliminated by the New Jersey Devils in seven games. Head coach Gerard Gallant resigned from his post after the elimination.
Now, longtime NHL coaching stalwart, Peter Laviolette, sits behind the bench.
Can this team maximize the potential of former No. 1 overall pick Alexis Lafreniere? Will goaltender Igor Shesterkin don his Superman cape once again? If these questions can't be answered, it could be a long season in the Big Apple.
New York Islanders
The "other" New York team still possesses one of the best defensive groups in all of hockey. Goaltender Ilya Sorokin remains talented enough to win the Vezina and hide some warts of a team that may not be scoring a lot of goals.
Sorokin saved 38.5 goals above expected last season while posting a .924 save percentage. The Isles still have Bo Horvat and Mat Barzal to give the team some offensive firepower. The Islanders could be a pesky team that sneaks into a wild card berth or a lottery pick. Quite the range of outcomes here.
Washington Capitals
Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby's careers have been intertwined since day one. This is a rivalry that has defined a generation of hockey. But both Ovechkin and Crosby, now sporting more gray throughout their hair, are captains of aging squads.
While Pittsburgh doubled down and acquired the reigning Norris Trophy winner in Karlsson, bringing a newfound sense of optimism, it seems the days of routinely competing for championships have subsided in Washington.
That doesn't mean it's all doom and gloom in the nation's capital.
Tom Wilson, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and T.J. Oshie still give Ovechkin a decent supporting cast, but the health of these players will be one of the bigger question marks.
Ovechkin remains on the brink of history. The lucky number is 73, as in the number of goals that Alex Ovechkin needs to surpass Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL goals record. He has proven to be, arguably, the greatest goalscorer of this or any generation, and the countdown will remain as he looks to topple a record once thought to be unbreakable.
Columbus Blue Jackets
It has been quite the off-season for the Blue Jackets.
On the ice, the team may be primed for a step forward, even if they're still in a rebuild.
Forward Johnny Gaudreau, who was signed last season, and Patrik Laine, will give Columbus goals, and rookie Adam Fantilli, who was drafted third overall in June's draft, may give Columbus the franchise-altering center they have been searching for.
Columbus acquired defensemen Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson during the summer months, but the blue line still carries with it some question marks.
Goaltending may be this team's kryptonite, however. Elvis Merzlikins finished last season with a .876 save percentage while giving up 25.9 goals above expected. Merzlikins has shown flashes of being a starting-caliber goalie and is a prime candidate for a rebound season.
Off the ice, veteran NHL head coach Mike Babcock was hired as Columbus' new bench boss on July 1 but resigned before even coaching a game, on Sept. 17 amidst investigations into allegations of misconduct.
Front office instability and a core of unproven players point to the rebuild still raging on in Ohio's capital city.
Philadelphia Flyers
The Penguins' cross-state rivals are also well into a rebuild of their own. Claude Giroux has departed, leaving Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson with the task of staying healthy and keeping the Flyers in games.
Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett round out a forward group that will always bring a "compete level" that coaches wax poetic about.
The defense may be this team's weakest link. Rasmus Ristolainen enjoyed a fine year last season, but can he once again carry the load of being this team's top defender? Will Travis Sanheim return to form?
Goaltender Carter Hart finished with a .907 save percentage last season while saving 10.3 goals above expected. Can he give a similar output this season?
The Flyers remain hopeful that new leadership from Keith Jones and Daniel Briere can guide them into a new era, but hope only gets you so far.
SEASON EXPECTATIONS & PREDICTIONS
The goal, as always, remains the same on Fifth Avenue - win the Stanley Cup.
However, this year, it's a little more complicated than meets the eye. Yes, on paper, this is one very talented team. Sidney Crosby, even into his mid-30s is still operating a point-per-game pace, and so is Evgeni Malkin. Kris Letang, despite a myriad of injuries and personal struggles, is among one of the best and most well-conditioned defensemen in the NHL.
Add in a sprinkle of Erik Karlsson and this is a team that can, and should, score a lot of goals in a league that has been steadily seeing an increase in scoring.
But should a fourth Stanley Cup for the Penguins' greatest triumvirate be the expectation?
It's hard to say, because as Sidney Crosby describes it, "the age thing" could play a huge factor in how this season goes.
All of the big guns are on the wrong side of 30 and Jake Guentzel isn't far behind them.
But, Head Coach Mike Sullivan, has said that this team is "older, not old."
That has to be the hope for this group. As I often say in Penguins Perspectives, Father Time is the only undefeated entity in professional sports, and the Penguins are certainly no exception.
The best-case scenario for this squad is that Tristan Jarry remains healthy and regains his status as one of the better starting goaltenders in the National Hockey League, Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Karlsson, and their band of merry men push back Father Time for one more year and go on a run.
The worst case is that the clock finally strikes midnight.
While Crosby and Malkin, and Letang and Karlsson for that matter, won't become bad players, time catches up to them and they're simply not as productive as they need to be to carry this team to the promised land.
Realistically, for this team, the expectation should be getting into the Stanley Cup Playoffs and winning the first round, getting their first series victory since 2018.
As we have seen on multiple occasions, winning a round in the postseason can give a team the jolt they need to go far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
A Stanley Cup in 2024 may not be a guarantee, but it's certainly not out of the question.
Final prediction:
Penguins get their first series win since 2018, win the second round, but fall in the Eastern Conference Final.
-Patrick Damp
Is it strange to feel excited about the possibility of winning more silverware when the youngest player of your three-man core is 36 years old?
A fresh-faced general manager with a 21st-century approach to hockey operations, a newly revamped bottom-six, the acquisition of one of the greatest defensemen of all time, and the determination and motivation from the Big Three of Crosby, Malkin, and Letang?
Sign me up.
While this group may never win another championship, a newfound sense of optimism and excitement is all that I need to be invested in the twilight of this generation of Penguins hockey.
Final prediction:
The Penguins win their first opening-round series since 2018 but will fall short in seven games in round two of the playoffs.
-Garrett Behanna