The Penguins’ three-man core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang has played together for 19 seasons, a record for North American sports.
It’s a nice story. The unbreakable bond of eternal brotherhood.
It’s a success story. Three Stanley Cups, another Stanley Cup Final and over a decade of legitimate contention.
But there are reasons other teams don’t maintain their core indefinitely.
One reason is that it doesn’t work.
For teams to evolve and keep succeeding, change is integral. Things get stale, not least at the top. Priorities get skewed.
The Penguins should have traded Malkin in 2018 after losing to Washington in the second round of the playoffs. The core had its chance at a third straight Stanley Cup and failed.
Swapping Malkin would have returned a big infusion of youth, talent and future assets from a team desperate for a superstar. That could have been molded around Crosby. (Malkin would have waived his no-trade clause to go to a team like Florida, a likely partner in such a deal.)
Such a strategy affords no guarantees.
But it was a better option than choosing nostalgia.
The Penguins haven’t won a playoff series since ‘18. They haven’t been legit contenders during that time. Things didn’t fade quickly, but did clearly fade.
What the Penguins did was understandable.
The fans wanted the core to stay together, and still do. Tickets, merchandise, brand loyalty, etc.
But the Penguins have the second-fewest points in the Eastern Conference and are seven points out of a wild card. Only one NHL team has fewer wins in regulation. The Penguins just lost three straight to teams with fewer points than them — Anaheim, Seattle and San Jose — and totaled three goals in the process.
That’s not to blame the core. This is an awful roster that’s been assembled around them.
But the Penguins can no longer think about the core when making decisions.
It’s said that owners Fenway Sports Group have a mandate to try to contend as long as Crosby is on the team.
FSG might as well mandate a moon landing. That ship has sailed and sunk.
To be clear, none of the core makes demands.
But the organization tip-toes around them, especially Crosby.
Given the team’s current state, president of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas can’t do that anymore. It’s impossible for the team to be propped up to any remote level of contention around Crosby, Malkin and Letang.
So Dubas shouldn’t try.
That doesn’t mean gutting the team before this year’s trade deadline.
That doesn’t mean dismantling the core. (That will happen organically. Don’t expect Malkin to return for the final year of his contract next season.)
But everybody knows the Penguins will trade defensemen Marcus Pettersson and probably forward Drew O’Connor.
Both are free agents at season’s end. Both are small potatoes.
Pettersson has struggled a bit under the weight of his impending departure. O’Connor has no consistency to his game and little physicality given his size (6-foot-3, 200 pounds.)
Trading Pettersson and/or O’Connor won’t cause an uproar.
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But winger Rickard Rakell might be in demand.
With Malkin currently hurt, the Penguins have one top line and three fourth lines. Crosby centers Rakell and Bryan Rust. In 51 games, Rakell has a team-high 23 goals and 19 assists. Crosby has 53 points in 52 games, putting him on a pace to have his 20th straight season averaging at least a point per game.
Rakell is 31. He has three years remaining on a contract with an annual salary cap hit of $5 million.
Rakell won’t bring more value in a deal than now or this coming offseason. He only topped 20 goals once in the prior six seasons. Maybe this year is the outlier. What if a team makes a big offer before the March 8 trade deadline?
You want Crosby to have good linemates to maintain his streak. But should that be a factor given that the Penguins are rebuilding? (It’s time to use that word.)
Nobody wants to see Crosby deprived, or that streak halted.
But Rakell’s situation illustrates the tightrope involved with moving forward while considering the core’s feelings.
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You may remember that trading Jake Guentzel last season invoked the death scene from “Camille” inside the Penguins’ locker room. On the ice, too, where they went 1-7 on either side of that trade.
Dealing Guentzel wasn’t why the Penguins missed the playoffs. The locker room’s reaction was.
A long talk seems due between Dubas and the core, especially Crosby.
Crosby isn’t going anywhere, no matter what the Arizona Coyotes’ ex-mascot tries to wish into existence. Crosby has said that repeatedly.
But Crosby should very specifically be told the team’s direction.
Being part of a rebuilding process has nobility and value. Crosby has three Stanley Cup rings. At 37, a different sort of duty might appeal to him once he wraps his head around it.
Crosby already has a legacy beyond reproach.
The Penguins are his logo. He can still help it move forward.