The Penguins Could Learn a Thing or Two from…the Pirates?!?

I was reading an article on the Tribune-Review the other day about the Pittsburgh Pirates. Check that…our first-place Pirates…when I came upon a passage that struck a chord.

“The Pirates believe the energy inside their clubhouse is contagious, with a combination of veteran leadership and young talent sparking their turnaround,” wrote Kevin Gorman.

Indeed, thanks largely to the tireless efforts of general manager Ben Cherington, the Buccos seem to have a near perfect blend of experience and youth, with respected veterans like Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Santana, Bryan Reynolds, Rich Hill and Austin Hedges around to show the way for a passel of energetic and talented kids including Oneil Cruz, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Jack Suwinski, Rodolfo Castro, Ji Hwan Bae, Johan Oviedo and Roansy Contreras, to name a few.

Win or lose, these guys are fun to watch. They play with so much passion and fire.

It stands in stark contrast to our Pens, whose aging mix last season was at times as stale as month-old bread. Leading to far too few nights when the black-and-gold seemed emotionally invested.

“I think we tried so hard,” said Evgeni Malkin when summing up the season. “We tried everything. I try to play hard every game, you know. But the league is young. They play so hard. It’s a new generation…”

Still boasting a Hall-of-Fame core in Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang, the Pens certainly have the venerated leader part of the equation in place. What’s lacking is an underpinning of youth.

Due to our win-now philosophy and penchant for trading draft choices for veterans, there’s a dearth of young talent in the pipeline. And coach Mike Sullivan hasn’t exactly been kid-friendly, especially if there’s some development required. Indeed, he doles ice time to the kids with an eye-dropper.

Arguably the team’s most promising young forward, Drew O’Connor averaged under 10 minutes of ice time a game. Fellow 24-year-old Ryan Poehling…11:46. While probably on merit, 23-year-old defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph received sheltered minutes as well.

If the Pens are going to right their sinking ship and build a strong supporting cast for their core, eventually youth must be served. One only needs to glance at the Pirates to see the importance of affordable young talent.

There’s an on-ice precedent, too. The 2006-07 team that started our 16-season postseason run was teeming with young talent. Our back-to-back Cup winners were aided by the youthful spark provided by the likes of Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary, Tom Kuhnhackl and Scott Wilson. Not to mention Matt Murray between the pipes.

Problem is, there are very few promotable prospects in the system. Twenty-three year-old right wing Valtteri Puustinen tallied 44 goals for a poor Wilkes-Barre/Scranton team over the past two seasons. He deserves a look. Fellow forward Alex Nylander notched 25 goals in 55 games for the Baby Pens and showed well in a nine-game cameo with the Pens while flashing top-six skill.

Filip Hållander and Jonathan Gruden, both 22, put up okay to decent numbers at WBS, but underwhelmed in brief trials with the Pens. The latter, in particular, received the “Sully treatment” (5:20 ATOI).

On defense, 22-year-old cap casualty Ty Smith, who earned a spot on the ’20-21 NHL All-Rookie Team with the Devils, scored seven goals and 24 points in 39 games with the Baby Pens and another goal and four points in nine games with the big club.

After that, the drop-off’s pretty steep.

Once considered the crown jewels of our farm system not to mention potential building blocks, former junior hockey standouts Samuel Poulin and Nathan Légaré haven’t produced much thus far in their pro careers. We could certainly use a couple of young forwards with Poulin’s brawn and Légaré’s fire.

None of the triumvirate of young goalies who played on North American soil, Filip Lindberg, Taylor Gauthier and Joel Blomqvist, appear to be ready, either.

Compounding the issue, the Pens are at a significant crossroads as an organization…with no easy solutions. While the Pirates are definitely on the upswing, the Pens for all intents and purposes have reached the end of their championship cycle.

However, with Crosby under contract for two more seasons, Malkin three and Letang five, does it compel the Pens to continue their present course of retooling with veterans in hopes of catching lightning in a bottle? Or should they bite the bullet and execute a controlled teardown, perhaps peddling useful players like Rickard Rakell and Rust…heck, maybe even Guentzel…in an effort to begin stockpiling draft picks and/or young talent? Which, by the way, is a bit of a crapshoot these days.

I sure don’t envy our next general manager, who’s going to face some hard decisions. Decisions that could dramatically alter the course of the franchise for the foreseeable future.