Molinari: So You’re Saying There’s a Chance … Sort Of

When the NHL’s regular season resumes Saturday, the Pittsburgh Penguins will be very much alive in the race for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference playoff field.

Mathematically, anyway.

Realistically?

Well, that’s another matter.

Oh, it’s possible that the Penguins will win their remaining 25 games — or even 24 of ’em — and clinch a playoff berth long before the regular season expires. Maybe even bully their way into being one of the favorites to win a Cup.

Yep, it’s possible. It’s also true that bookies who would handle such a wager would be grateful for your donation to their kid’s college fund.

The hard truth is, the Penguins’ playoff outlook is pretty as a picture.

One drawn by a two-year-old. A two-year-old chimpanzee.

Paint their situation by the numbers, and it’s easy to appreciate just how dire it is.

When Washington comes to PPG Paints Arena Saturday at 3:08 p.m., the Penguins will be in a three-way tie with Montreal and Philadelphia for 13th place in the East. They have 55 points, which leaves them six behind Detroit, current occupant of the No. 2 wild card.

That might not seem insurmountable, but neither is it that simple.

That’s because there are four teams — Columbus, Boston, the New York Rangers and New York Islanders — separating the Penguins, Canadiens and Flyers from the Red Wings.

Any club that wants to overtake Detroit — let alone Ottawa, which has 62 points and the first wild-card — must climb past all of those clubs, too.

Which is where things get particularly dicey for the Penguins.

Even if they manage to pull away from Montreal and Philadelphia, having 55 points in 57 games doesn’t bode well for their chances of making a serious move up. Consider the points/games played of the teams ahead of them:

Ottawa: 62/56

Detroit 61/55

Columbus 60/56

Boston 60/57

Rangers 58/55

Islanders 57/55

With the exception of Boston, all of those teams that have more points than the Penguins also have played fewer games than them. Get a point or two out of their games-in-hand, and the Penguins’ prospects for overtaking them dim even more.

And with president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas likely to auction off quite a few players before the March 7 trade deadline, the Penguins’ chances of getting into the playoffs will shrivel from miniscule to microscopic.

So while there are good reasons to pay attention to the Penguins before the regular season ends — from savoring the game-in, game out brilliance of Sidney Crosby to seeing precisely where they sit in the order of selection going into the draft lottery — expecting them to make a spirited run at qualifying for postseason play for the first time since 2022 is nowhere on the list.

In praise of Pettersson

Marcus Pettersson was having a subpar season before being traded to Vancouver with Drew O’Connor last month, perhaps because of uncertainty over where he’d be playing after his contract expired this summer.

The Canucks removed that concern by not only acquiring Pettersson, but almost immediately signing him to a three-year deal that carries a salary-cap hit of $5.5 million per season.

While that is the richest contract Pettersson has received since entering the NHL with Anaheim during the 2017-18 season, it is not the most revealing about the kind of priorities he brings to work.

That distinction belongs to the one he accepted in 2019, when Pettersson agreed to a one-year deal worth $874,125, which was well below his market value. His motivation in doing so was simple: Penguins GM Jim Rutherford was having severe salary-cap issues, and Pettersson didn’t want to compound Rutherford’s problems by demanding a salary that accurately reflected his value.

Pettersson never made a public issue of the personal sacrifice he made for the sake of the franchise, but Rutherford, now president of hockey operations in Vancouver, certainly recognized it. Which might be part of the reason Rutherford and Canucks GM Patrik Allvin, who was also with the Penguins at the time, were so eager to add Pettersson when it became clear the Penguins weren’t going to re-sign him.

Jarry’s accountability

It’s hard to say much good about Tristan Jarry’s goaltending this season — he is with their farm team in Wilkes-Barre on merit, not because someone drew his name out of a hat — and he never was a guy reporters sought out for a spicy quote or any great insight.

Frankly, most of what he said in interviews was so dry that there were fears his quotes might spontaneously combust.

But he talked.

After the most painful defeats, he stood at his stall in the locker room and answered questions from the media.

He didn’t often say anything noteworthy, but he did publicly hold himself accountable, which has become all too rare in today’s NHL.

There was a time when it was a given that players who were not receiving medical treatment would be at their lockers after games, fielding questions for as long as anyone cared to ask them.

Those days are long gone, and in recent years, the Penguins’ locker room generally clears out after games as if someone had phoned in a bomb threat.

While Jarry usually was out of the room when reporters entered, he almost invariably returned to speak with them.

There’s not much to praise him for this winter, but the way he held himself accountable to the media — and thus, the fans — is on the list.