Penguins
Realistic Penguins Goals; Is it Worth Talking About Another Stanley Cup?
The Stanley Cup is the reason they play the game. To win is the only goal for players, coaches, and executives. But is it the Pittsburgh Penguins’ realistic goal within the near or even intermediate future?
Well, no.
The Penguins hoisted three trophies. Sidney Crosby flexed his muscles with a pair of Conn Smythe trophies. Evgeni Malkin has etched his name on the same trophy, and the crew, with Marc-Andre Fleury, Kris Letang, and a few others, will walk together forever.
Penguins fans aren’t usually ones for nostalgia, unless it involves Fleury returning. While crosstown neighbors, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the faithful drip in nostalgia for the 1970s and Super Bowl trophies, Penguins fans have always been about what’s next.
What’s next isn’t as much fun. There are no parades or magazine covers.
There is not now nor should there be shame if the core of the Penguins never again lifts that glorious 34 pounds of silver. Sure, president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas will try. Crosby will drag his team forward with all his might. And stranger things have happened.
In 2009, Tom Watson played in the final pairing of the British Open at 59 years old. In 1991, 39-year-old Jimmy Connors made it to the U.S. Open semi-final.
There are moments when the greats defy age for a moment, taking fans on a nostalgia-filled joyride, adding pages to the already full scrapbook.
It’s possible.
Perhaps Erik Karlsson will turn up the heat next season, and Tristan Jarry will find his true potential and claim the net without stumbling late in the season. Malkin will strengthen his legs, and we will again see that gallop. And sure, Dubas could work magic with the roster, turning superfluous veterans into invaluable cogs that fill one net and protect the other.
Perhaps the hockey gods will visit coach Mike Sullivan in his sleep with an epiphany that redefines the game like the Penguins did in 2016 when they skated circles around the league.
Sure, it could happen. But it probably won’t.
And therein lies the next chapter of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It should be enough just to make the playoffs and to be competitive. Perhaps fans must learn to enjoy the journey instead of demanding the highest result.
Struggling and fighting to be in the top half is where it’s headed, and it will be that way for a good while.
The Philadelphia Flyers haven’t won in my lifetime, they haven’t lifted the Stanley Cup since Gerald Ford was president. I’ll give you a moment to snicker. The Toronto Maple Leafs have been perennially competitive but haven’t lifted the Stanley Cup since Lyndon Johnson secretly sent troops into Laos under the umbrella of the Vietnam War and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
I only vaguely remember the New York Islanders dynasty. Buffalo, Winnipeg, Florida, San Jose, and Nashville have waited decades to see Lord Stanley dance upon their streets.
The Florida Panthers should deliver on that promise this week, but should the rest fold? Should fans turn off the TV, forgo their tickets, and hang a banner, “Call me when we win the Cup”?
Of course not. It’s a matter of perspective. As Florida prepares for their first Cup after more than 30 years in the league, and others watch wistfully, hoping their team will soon have their turn, it becomes a matter of rooting for the next step.
The Penguins had their turn on center stage. If they didn’t keep trying to win it, they would be rightfully booed out of the building, but watching the Cup Final unfold, the thought occurs that success for the Penguins must be redefined. Understanding their current situation is why Dubas said he’s hunting for more draft picks and prospects.
Unfortunately, understanding the Penguins’ situation also means adjusting external expectations.
It means taking solace in little victories and lower expectations. It means rooting for the young players without expecting them to save the team; there are no players in the pipeline nearly capable of that. It means rooting for Dubas to properly execute his plan, whether that is to retool or rebuild or something in the middle.
Right now, Dubas’s plan seems to be the impossible dichotomy of building for the future while supporting the current team.
As fans of the Generation Next team of the early 2000s found, there can be joy in the hockey and players without the glory. There’s no nobility in shunning a team that has already won three Stanley Cups.
None of the above means we’ll ease up on coverage or expectations to be successful. Florida retooled on the fly with a bevy of trades and bargain-free agents. The process took only a couple or few years.
That’s the goal, and that’s the standard by which it makes sense to judge Dubas, but it doesn’t yet make sense to judge the Penguins, Crosby or even Dubas by the Stanley Cup standard any longer.
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Sadly, it’s not realistic. The core is past making that impact and they have really no gamebreakers in the line-up in that 25-28 yr old range. They are a bubble team.
I don’t have high expectations, I just want to enjoy the last few years of this core because it could very well be a LONG time before we ever see anything like that again
The goal should be to win one playoff series. Six years of failure.
Way past time for a new coach.
It’s not the coach. Your team is cooked, your core, with the exception of Crosby is toast and your team has no money to acquire new talent because of the unwieldy contracts handed out to those fading superstars. Because of the Pens relentless pursuit of the Cup, they traded away every decent prospect in their system as well as future draft picks. Face it, that team is old and devoid of any talent. It’s not the coach.
Just the easiest one to blame. We can argue all day about what strategies we’d like to see, but, the root problem certainly is not the coach.
Keep Sully, keep losing.
He’s the one making the decisions each and every game. There are so many things to coach does and he has not done his job the past 7 years.
Keep Sully, keep losing.
Well said. Thanks Dan. Unfortunately, not enough people will agree. It seems most Pens fans, definitely younger ones, only know the best of times. They didn’t suffer through the pre-Lemieux and pre-Crosby days to understand.
No problem once the contracts of those playing do not exceed expectations. Do you like paying millions of dollars for a tent or would you buy a house for that money? Nobody pays that much to dwell with bottom feeders. The end season “resurgence”, which I wouldn’t call that way, was more due to other teams being bad. So, no problem, just put some underdogs on ice and I’ll be happy to root for them whatever the result may be. Don’t give me overpaid stars that don’t care, and I don’t mean the core. The underdogs will at least fight.… Read more »
Nope if they were serious about that they would’ve traded Malkin in 2018. They’ve been living in denial ever since. And to think, they could’ve had Barkov in a deal for Malkin.
Amen Matthew! They have allowed certain players and Sullivan to destroy this organization. This ownership group deserves what they are going to get. They allowed certain individuals to use they’re influence to keeping certain players and the Coach. Dubas is part of problem. Old, small, soft and no character. No blood and guts. Women’s US team tougher.
They also could have drafted McDavid if they traded Crosby in 2015.
You can snicker at the Flyers all you want, but don’t forget that the ONLY reason the Penguins have any Cups is because they were soooo abysmal that they (twice) were able to score generational talents in Lemieux and Crosby. In fact, during both of those bottom feeder eras Pittsburgh nearly lost their franchise. It was only because of one of those generational talents chose to step up and save the franchise. So before you snicker too much, better worry about whether your fickle fan base will stick around and support what is sure to be another bottom feeder team… Read more »
Penguins will still win another cup before the Flyers do. Kick rocks! Sssshhhhh
And yet I still will snicker. In my lifetime, I’ve seen 3 cups, and that’s 3 more than you’ll ever see the Flyers lift in your lifetime.
Dubas had a plan, it was to duplicate the mess he made of the salary structure in Toronto to his new team. He made a trade for Karlsson because Crosby and Letang told him to by all appearances. A GM should listen to his stars, sure, but it was a mistake. Now, he has seen how weak the team is in future assets and is desperately trying to start drafting. I’d ask how confident Pens fans should feel about him picking in the first round when all he does is trade 1st round picks. Habs were the true winners in… Read more »
Karlsson >Petry+Granlund+Rutta+DeSmith
Those players added nothing to the team. Was Karlsson what the Penguins actually needed? Probably not, but he still brings way more than the players that were subtracted. I would still take that trade any day of the week.
Yes, and Karlsson will bring what we need if Quinn is allowed to use him properly and has buy-in from those on the power play.
“All he does is trade 1st round picks”? Think again. He’s only been here a year. Rutherford was the one that traded future picks and that’s the reason why we have so little in the pipeline. The scouting staff needs to also bear much of the blame as they appear to be a poor judge of talent.
So, you’re saying Dubas’s plan is to make a mess. Crosby and Letang told him to get Karlsson, so he complied. That’s some heavy duty contortion
So you’re saying there’s a chance? Even I’d agree there’s a chance. Hockey is a funny game. I’d trade them all.
I’m only here for the “enlightening” comments.
I am going to make stuff up too. It’s fun
I’m tired of the core and Sulli move on from them. It’s over no matter who you bring in.
There are 31 other nhl teams to watch
Clyde, you seem like a glass-half-empty kinda guy. Fun to be around, I bet. So many terrible takes in here it’s as if a lot of people didn’t really read the article and think about how much success the Pens have had in the last 16 years compared to many other franchises.
This discussion is similar to the “one for the thumb” obsession with the Steelers of the 1980s. We just see the uniforms and think that they will translated into wins. The discussion ought to be whether the Penguins can even make the playoffs, not win the SC.
“Sure, it could happen. But it probably won’t.” is true for ALL 32 Teams in this League on Day 1. Even for the Defending Stanley Cup Champion. So… no point in not going for it.
Tired of the core they are why the team is where it is.