The Pittsburgh Penguins are barely hanging on to a fourth ace berth in the playoffs with the Florida Panthers blowing their necks months into a potentially game-changing summer for the team. of Pennsylvania.
Sidney Crosby is not getting any younger even though he is producing more than a point per game with his 88 points in 77 games, good for 16th in NHL scoring.
The centerman from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, will still be 36 next August and wants to be the best example of an aging team.
In fact, the site eliteprospects.com tells us that the Pens form the oldest team in the NHL with an average age of 30.12 years. It is the only formation in the league to exceed the bar of 30 years on average.
Endangered Series
Since Crosby’s arrival in Pittsburgh in 2005-2006, the Penguins have missed the playoffs only once and it was precisely during this first season.
Since then, Mario Lemieux’s team has maintained a qualifying streak that spans sixteen seasons, but only one misstep in its last five games and that streak to be over.
Besides Crosby, who is 35, 14 other players aged 30 or over have played for the Penguins this season.
And many of these are part of the heart of the team. We think among others of Jeff Carter (38 years old), Evgeni Malin (36 years old), Kristopher Letang (35 years old), Jeff Petry (35 years old) and Nick Bonino (34 years old).
wind of change
Pittsburgh analyst Dan Kingerski believes that the team will see many changes in the coming months even if it manages to surprise with an interesting run in the playoffs.
According to Kingerski, who says the team has delivered a season below expectations, head coach Mike Sullivan has nothing to fear for his position.
On the ice, he believes only Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang should be part of the equation among veterans.
The others, including Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust and Jeff Petry, can leave if the circumstances are right.
Reconstruction
Dan Kingerski also raises doubts about the reconstruction of the team which is not bearing fruit, according to him. He wonders where the free agents are from the college ranks (NCAA) or from Europe.
And we shouldn’t rely too much on the current succession for the team to negotiate the youth shift it must undertake.
According to Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, Penguins prospects rank 29th among the 32 NHL teams. It’s worse on the side of The Hockey News who recently put them in the 31st echelon.
The Penguins could make a few acquisitions over the summer, however, to speed up that rebuild. According to CapFriendy, they will have $20.2 million under the salary cap for the 2023-2024 season with 14 players under contract.
However, they will have to negotiate with a few free agents, including goaltender Tristan Jarry and winger Jason Zucker.
We are therefore starting to be a long way from the Penguins who won three Stanley Cups between 2009 and 2017.