Molinari: Penguins Not Alone; Opportunities in Mediocrity (+)

It has been suggested that the task facing Kyle Dubas and his staff — to transform the Pittsburgh Penguins into a viable Stanley Cup contender at the same time their pool of quality prospects is being restocked — is tantamount to trying to fly a plane while simultaneously building it.

Not so.

It’s more like attempting to construct a space shuttle while piloting a glider.

And it shows in the results through the first two-plus months of the 2024-25 season.

Their 3-2 overtime loss in Ottawa Saturday means the Penguins (13-14-5) still haven’t made it to .500 since a 4-1 loss to Carolina Oct. 18 dropped them to 3-3.

And while it’s fair to view going 6-2-1 in their past nine games as evidence of progress, being on pace to finish with 79 points isn’t cause for a club to view itself as a viable playoff contender.

Most years, anyway.

But this isn’t one of those.

The simple truth is that, for all that’s gone wrong so far, the Penguins are one — yes, one — point out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. And had, say, Bryan Rust rather than Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk gotten the overtime winner at Canadian Tire Centre, the Penguins would be sharing that second wild card with Philadelphia and would be just two points behind Tampa Bay, which holds the first of those.

All of which is a searing indictment of the performance of quite a few Eastern Conference clubs, as of mid-December.

For every East team like Washington, which has wildly exceeded even the most outrageous expectations so far, a handful have underachieved. Often, by a dramatic margin.

Here’s a look at some of them: