Penguins Update: Decline of a Champion

To everything there is a season.

While it may seem odd to open a blog post with a Bible verse (Ecclesiastes 3:1), it is appropriate. Everything in our world runs in cycles. The four seasons, for example. Winter, spring, summer, and fall. A time to plant and a time to harvest.

The same holds true for hockey teams. They run in cycles, too. There’s a time to build. A time to achieve. And a time to tear down and start over.

On rare occasions a team is able to blend these cycles. The Chicago Blackhawks, for one. After winning a Stanley Cup in 2010, Stan Bowman tore his team apart and then adroitly repositioned it for two more Cups through successful drafts and savvy free-agent signings. The fortunes of most teams, however, rise and fall like the tides.

Our Penguins are in the autumn of an extended season of success that began the day they won the right to draft phenom Sidney Crosby. One that most teams would surely envy. Since the dawn of the Ray Shero-era, the black and gold have compiled a stunning regular-season record (420-224-68). They’ve been to the playoffs nine-straight seasons, including two trips to the Cup Finals. They hoisted the Cup in ’09. Along the way, they’ve provided a ton of thrills. Enough to last a lifetime.

Yet somehow it feels hollow. Like the team didn’t quite achieve all that it could. Heck, a second Cup (or more) was practically guaranteed.

“This team is set up for a great future,” then-Pens forward (and current assistant GM) Bill Guerin said in the afterglow of victory. “These guys are all in their early twenties.”

Venerable Eddie Johnston, who’d seen his share of hockey, thought so, too.

“We could have clubs like this for the next eight or nine years,” EJ gushed.

As the final curtain descends on our flickering hopes for another Cup, those words have become an albatross. A symbol of promise unfulfilled.

Go for It

The instinct to go for the gold is commendable. And understandable. Especially when you have a superstar core of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. There’s only a certain window of opportunity. Go for it while you can.

If it means trading a few draft picks or favoring battle-tested vets over unproven youngsters? So be it. When Shero dealt away a first-round pick and two second-round choices—along with prospect Joe Morrow—for veterans Jarome Iginla, Brenden Morrow, and Douglas Murray in 2013, I thought another Cup was in the bag. I imagine everyone in the organization, from owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle to coach Dan Bylsma, felt the same way.

All the while our dwindling cache of prospects and draft picks escaped detection.

Craig Patrick blazed a similar trail in the ‘90s. In the wake of back-to-back Cups and the shoulda-been-Cup-season of ’93, when a devastating loss to the Islanders left the club and fan base crestfallen, the Hall-of-Fame GM imported hired guns Petr Nedved, Tomas Sandstrom, and Sergei Zubov to compliment Mario and fellow superstar Jaromir Jagr. They danced and dazzled. But the Cup remained an elusive step away.

Patrick, too, forgot to restock the cupboard. Following a glorious 11-year postseason run, the Pens collapsed in the early 2000s. With a dearth of young talent, the team morphed from contender to laughingstock in the blink of an eye.

JR’s Dilemma

I don’t fault general manager Jim Rutherford for the Pens’ present shortcomings. When he was hired to replace Shero, the former ‘Canes GM was handed a nearly impossible task. Turn a crumbling former champion choked with cap issues and manacled to several declining veterans on onerous long-term contracts into a legit Cup contender. And do it with little help from a bone-dry farm system.

Good luck with that.

JR has tried his best. He’s rolled the dice on several big deals, including this summer’s blockbuster for sniper Phil Kessel. Some have worked. Others, most notably last season’s clunker that sent a first-round pick to the Oilers for snake-bitten David Perron?

Not so much.

In the meantime, free agents come and go at a furious pace while JR and his staff search in vain for the right mix. Not that the newcomers aren’t good guys. Most hockey players are. But it’s a revolving door. There’s little continuity or chance to develop chemistry and team unity.

That’s why building a foundation from within the organization is critical. Remember the way players like Colby Armstrong, Tyler Kennedy, Ryan Malone, and Max Talbot battled and stuck together? It was a spirit honed from coming of age in the same developmental pipeline. Each had a Penguin logo stenciled on his heart. They were young and hungry.

The same held true during the first Cup era. Role players Phil Bourque, Bob Errey, and Troy Loney endured the miserable Boys-of-Winter days to become cornerstone contributors on a champion.

You simply can’t build that sense of teamwork and comradery—not to mention pride in the jersey— with scrap-heap pickups and journeymen free agents on one-year contracts.

Where to Go From Here

The Penguins’ mandate is two-fold. They must develop the young talent—scarce as it is—that presently exists within the organization. And they must commit to building with youth. This means hanging on to future top draft picks instead of leveraging them as trade fodder.

While you don’t want to rush the kids—and risk impeding their development in the long run—Derrick Pouliot, Daniel Sprong, and Oskar Sundqvist should be given every opportunity. Even if it means absorbing a few knocks along the way. It’s encouraging that Brian Dumoulin and Bryan Rust have been given a shot. But the Pens need to do more. Much more.

The flip side? The black and gold can no longer afford to carry dead weight. Veterans who can’t produce or contribute in a tangible way need to be weeded out. Even if it means taking a financial hit.

A shift in the organization’s flawed philosophy is required, too. Enough with trying to play Olympic-style hockey in the NHL. It doesn’t work. Try blending in some toughness and character. Think Marc-Andre Fleury wouldn’t appreciate a defenseman or two who actually move bodies from the slot instead of blocking his vision?

The window for another Stanley Cup has all but closed. There are plenty of teams that are bigger, younger, stronger, and faster. The Pens’ brass has a choice. They can control the rebuilding process. Or they can sit on their hands and wait for the team to implode, just as it did in the early 2000s.

A change of season is coming.