The Penguins re-upped Evgeni Malkin.

Does that necessarily mean they’re running it back?

Retaining Malkin was an obvious move, however against the grain of what president of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas ultimately wants to do. It satisfied the nostalgia, “he’s owed that” crowd.

But maybe that’s merely throwing a bone.

Perhaps Rickard Rakell and/or Bryan Rust get traded.

Despite a salary cap hit of $11.5 million, Erik Karlsson got more marketable after resurrecting his game this past season.

The Penguins need to move 30-somethings and get 20-somethings, even if it means taking risk.

Even if it means dropping in the standings.

That might let the Penguins draft the star-caliber forward they currently don’t have in their system. Ben Kindel, Egor Chinakhov and Bill Zonnon are pretty near but not plumb.

Sidney Crosby talks like he’s going to play forever.

Forever is a long time. Another window to win could open up inside of forever.

That process should have started seven or eight years ago.

Dubas just finished the third year of his seven-year contract and the Penguins are no closer to building their next legit contender. Dubas has mostly done well, but splitting the difference is impossible.

So, it needs to stop.

It won’t.

The Penguins won’t burn it down.

That’s why they’re the Steelers.

Get into the playoffs and see what happens.

Except nothing good happens.

Are you watching the Stanley Cup playoffs? The Penguins are light years behind the teams that made the final four, even the final eight.

But Crosby wants to win now.

So, here are two unrestricted free agents that Dubas should look at:

• Mason Marchment, left wing, Columbus.

Marchment, 30, is 6-foot-4, 220 pounds. He plays big, aggressive, tough and dirty.

Marchment scores just enough: 19 goals last season, 22 in each of the two seasons prior.

Marchment would add a shenanigans element the Penguins lacked in their playoff series against the Flyers. The ability to initiate. Because sometimes you have to.

• Patrik Laine, right wing, Montreal.

Laine, 28, is a scorer of pedigree: 80 goals in his first two NHL seasons after debuting with Winnipeg in 2016. He was the second pick in that year’s NHL draft. Great one-timer. Excellent on the power play.

But Laine played just five games this season after undergoing surgery in October for a core muscle injury. He hasn’t played more than 56 games in a season since 2019-20. Laine is brittle.

Laine might sign for a low guarantee with a truckload of incentives. He could see Pittsburgh as the place to relaunch his career, like Anthony Mantha did by scoring 33 goals this past season.

Signing Laine would be a gamble. But you’d be gambling on talent.

This column started out mooting that the Penguins dump veterans, then ricocheted to suggesting that they sign two vets who could help now. It’s all over the place.

That’s because the Penguins are all over the place.

I’ve got no idea what they really want to do.

I wonder if they do.