Kingerski: Why Penguins Veterans Should Embrace Leaving

Jordan Staal was the first to leave. Brooks Orpik was the second. Others followed, some by choice, others involuntarily, but not every member of the Pittsburgh Penguins championship core took salary discounts or vociferously chose to stay.

And most of them were better for leaving.

The improvement was not because the Penguins’ organization was a limiting factor, but because change is a good thing. Leaving the past and changing situations behind, and being well-fitted to a new situation has a lot of benefits.

It seems Sidney Crosby and his resolute desire to remain with one team for the entirety of his career has become an epidemic that has spread to many others, league-wide.

But it shouldn’t.

Would Staal have become a cornerstone with a commensurate salary if he stayed with the Penguins as the third center behind Crosby and Evgeni Malkin? Orpik cashed in and was paid handsomely by the Washington Capitals, not only expanding his bank account but also earning industry recognition as he introduced his snarling defensive game to a whole new fan base.

Sometimes, change is forced, but it doesn’t diminish the potential. When Marc-Andre Fleury was cast aside for Matt Murray in 2017, he had no way of knowing the pain he felt would become the best thing that could have happened to his career.

A Vezina Trophy, an adoring city, and league-wide recognition as one of the best followed. Fleury being sent away was the wrong move for the Penguins organization (and yes, I wrote that several times in 2017. You can look up the waves of argument and hate that came my way), but a freeing moment for the gleeful goalie because all of his baggage was left behind.

He was no longer held accountable by fans and hockey for the playoff implosions of 2012 and 2013. He was no longer the goalie who nearly lost his job to journeyman Ty Conklin or Tomas Vokoun a few years prior, or the scrambly netminder he could sometimes be, and some fans would not forget.

Sure, everyone loves Fleury now. He’s the story of the World Championships as he finally … FINALLY … made his Team Canada debut Sunday with a resounding win over Latvia. But the undeniable truth is that had Fleury stayed in 2017, he would have been saddled with the baggage for the remainder of his career, every loss proof that his failures were truth and his successes brushed aside as inconvenient details.

For the inverse of Fleury, see also: Kris Letang.

Letang never had that moment of being loved by a new fanbase and touted by a media contingent, thus changing the perceptions. He’s carried the labels slapped upon him by the locals of turnovers and risky play without the adulation of a fresh start.

A reader recently called Letang a first-ballot Hall of Famer (the expression rings true in American sports, though a selection committee chooses members in hockey). I’ve assumed that to be true, but then I wondered. Letang was not named to the Quarter Century Team.

Drew Doughty and Duncan Keith made NHL.com’s picks. While Letang is absolutely deserving to be inducted the moment he’s eligible, perhaps he won’t be. Perhaps the cacophony of criticism that dogged Letang for nearly two decades has indeed sullied the view of those from the outside.

One can’t help but apply the same corollary to coach Mike Sullivan, now the New York Rangers boss. He, too, is getting a fresh start. He quickly bolstered the New York Rangers’ outlook and projections.

No longer the miserly commander who hates young players or won’t make changes, he, too, left his baggage in Pittsburgh.

Wayne Gretzky didn’t get to stay in Edmonton. Or LA.

Yes, Mario Lemieux did remain in Pittsburgh for the entirety of his three careers, two stints as a player and one as owner. Steve Yzerman anchored the Detroit Red Wings from the glory days of the mid-1990s championships through the greatest teams money could buy of the early 2000s, and now leads them as the president of hockey operations/GM.

Evgeni Malkin declined his potential moves. Oh, teams such as the Florida Panthers tried to make it happen, yet Malkin chose to return on a four-year contract that expires after next season despite the knowledge that he would have had a line of suitors on the free agent market.

Letang passed on the same free agency opportunities.

As players cleaned out last month, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell firmly stated their desire to stay.

When Letang spoke to PHN in March, he was firm that he knew the game was just a business, but he controls his fate with a no-movement clause for another season. The NMC will be mitigated by a 10-team approved trade clause on July 1, 2026.

And so with the same scenario again playing out in which a new beginning is enhancing a core member’s wallet and prestige (if Sullivan counts core), again playing out with Sullivan in New York, perhaps its time for Penguins GM Kyle Dubas and other core players to realize leaving isn’t the end of the world.

In fact, it’s probably just the beginning for both sides.

Just don’t tell Crosby.