Penguins in a Hex-Stall

“Time to take your medicine.”

As kids we probably all heard a parent utter those dreaded words as they approached, spoon and bottle of Rx in hand. If you’re like me, you probably tried to hide or at the very least flee. No way I wanted to down what was sure to be a foul-tasting liquid, even if it was good for what ailed me.

Well, that kind of feels like where our Penguins are these days. Having to swallow some medicine that doesn’t taste good, but ultimately might be the best thing for the franchise.

I’ll be the first to confess I haven’t been very happy with our summer thus far. We bled off three solid hockey players in Cody Ceci, Jared McCann and Brandon Tanev, along with a highly serviceable depth forward in Frederick Gaudreau. Save for the addition of gritty winger Brock McGinn, IMHO we didn’t really replace them. Nor did we add anything resembling a physical presence, as general manager Ron Hextall and Brian Burke all but promised we would. (I’ll give Hextall props for signing top goaltending prospect Filip Lindberg.)

I’d hoped, perhaps naively, Hextall would be able to negotiate the salary cap snake pit he’d inherited from Jim Rutherford and somehow position us for one last run at a Stanley Cup. It now appears those hopes were misplaced. Unless the Pens’ GM has a trump card or two stuffed somewhere up his sleeve, the team as presently constructed is decidedly less than Cup caliber. Especially with Evgeni Malkin poised to miss Lord knows how many games to start the season.

I personally think it’ll be an uphill battle for us just to make the playoffs.

While I’m disappointed in our haul this summer, I do credit Hextall for being prudent and not forcing things that perhaps weren’t there just for the sake of making moves. Case in point, Marcus Pettersson, who apparently has drawn interest from other clubs, albeit at a cost to us either in the form of held-back salary or assets (or both).

Still, it’s taking some time to get used to Hextall’s measured and methodical approach, especially when compared to his predecessor’s shoot-from-the-hip style. How pronounced is the difference? Night and day. Tortoise and the hare. Bugs and Daffy.

Rutherford was a man for his season, in many ways the perfect GM while we were in a position to chase Stanley Cups. No trade was too bold, no price tag too hefty to pay. If it put us a serious shortfall down the road? The cost of doing business.

Hextall, too, is a man for his season. In some ways, the perfect choice to succeed JR. Patient, some would say to a fault. Calculating. Definitely in it for the long-haul.

It’s kind of like replacing a riverboat gambler at the helm with a CPA.

Which brings me to the original point of this article. Although no one in the black-and-gold hierarchy is admitting to it, it feels like we crossed an invisible line in the ice and entered the early stages of a long put off rebuild. That fact that we weren’t able to improve the team over the offseason let alone tread water speaks to it. It’s also clear Hextall doesn’t plan to part with assets, be it young talent or draft picks, to prop the team up in the short run.

All the while he’s making front-office hires to strength the team’s infrastructure.

In a way, it reminds me of when a young Dan Rooney wrestled control of the Steelers from wheeler-dealer coach Buddy Parker back in the mid-1960s and brought an end to the latter’s ruinous practice of trading draft choices for veterans.

It took some time. Ten seasons of mostly losing. But then came those Super Bowls.

While I hope Hextall’s rebuild won’t be as prolonged or bloody, here’s hoping the end results are just as good.