Kingerski: Where is Ron Hextall?

There has not been a Pittsburgh Penguins trade in over seven months. It’s not like Penguins GM Ron Hextall is on golf vacations or jet-setting around the world and neglecting his duties. No, the Penguins’ GM is at most, if not all, games. He is frequently seen popping into the coach’s office for brief visits after road games and frequently is beside the president of hockey operations, Brian Burke.

Attendance isn’t Hextall’s problem.

Actions are.

Hextall hasn’t moved a player into or out of the organization since July 16, when he acquired Jeff Petry and Ryan Poehling for Mike Matheson and a fourth-rounder.

That was more than seven months and 44 games ago. For a team fighting to stay afloat and extend its streak of playoff appearances to 17 years, the inaction stands in stark contrast to his predecessors. Continuing the analogy, the hull has been breached, and the boat is taking on water.

The Penguins hold the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but are not making up ground on the rest of the Metropolitan Division. They are 10 points behind the second-place New Jersey Devils and 11 behind the Carolina Hurricanes, to whom they lost all four games this season.

Based on games-in-hand, the Penguins are one to five points ahead of the New York Islanders, four to six points ahead of the improving Buffalo Sabres for that final spot, and four to eight points ahead of the reigning Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers.

No one should feel comfortable about that.

Securing the 17th straight playoff appearance is no longer a formality. It seems in greater peril than at any time since the beginning of coach Mike Sullivan’s tenure in December, 2015.

Hextall signed Kasperi Kapanen and Danton Heinen last summer, committing a total of $4.2 million to fourth-line, press-box players who have contributed nothing close to comparable value for the expense.

Instead, the Penguins have less than $100,000 in salary-cap space. When the team called up Jonathan Gruden this week, its cap space shrunk to just over $18,000.

The team couldn’t afford to add another player, even at $15 per hour.

The problems are getting worse, not better. Hopes that the situation with the Penguins’ bottom-six would course-correct should be doused by now.

The cascading results are putting the Penguins’ top players on the wrong side of the puck. It also adds a few more hard miles on the scorers, instead of less-taxing minutes in the offensive zone.

Where is Hextall?

I also think coach Mike Sullivan’s anger on Wednesday was stoked by frustration at the lineup he’s been running out on the ice. After elevating Teddy Blueger to third-line center and sliding Jeff Carter to the right wing, Sullivan has officially tried everything possible.

And nothing has worked.

Many GMs also hold mid-season press conferences.

Question No. 1 would be, “Ron, how do you assess the bottom-six forwards, and do you feel you have to add?”

As Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman noted on a recent 32 Thoughts podcast, “Ron Hextall absolutely hates trade rumors.” Most GMs do, except the ones that make them work for them instead of against them.

The attendance at PPG Paints Arena has not been great this season. Significant no-shows, if not unsold tickets, have become obvious both on TV and in person. Penguins fans have lost some enthusiasm.

Where is Hextall?

I also wonder if some of the players are losing a little enthusiasm. Bad performances have been too common. The struggles, the lackluster efforts, and the malaise have become commonplace.

Hextall is the one person in a position to begin fixing the team he built, albeit with the best of intentions. He didn’t necessarily make big mistakes, except re-signing Kapanen, but not every decision will work out. A GM must adjust.

The Penguins are in a playoff position in part because of their 15-3-2 run beginning in November, and in part because the young Sabres spent the first half of the season getting their footing and the New York Islanders are a flawed team capable of stellar play and awful games within the same week.

Pittsburgh Penguins Urgency?

After the Ottawa Senators beat the Penguins Wednesday night, Brady Tkachuk said Ottawa would treat the remaining games against the Penguins as “do-or-die.”

Ottawa trails the Penguins by eight points for a playoff spot. Such desperation in January is admirable, if not enviable.

Could you imagine any of the Penguins proclaiming the upcoming games against their Metro rivals in the top three to be do-or-die?

No, that level of urgency has not existed in this Penguins locker room this season. Actions speak louder than words.

Perhaps the worst part of being an established NHLer in your 30s is having enough perspective to know the sun will still rise tomorrow, regardless of last night’s results.

And perhaps that is also part of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ problem. 

A team built to win now isn’t winning. A 22-15-7 record means they have lost as many games as they’ve won.

Where is Hextall?