A couple days ago I endorsed what could be a potential landing spot for Pittsburgh Penguins generational talent Sidney Crosby. One reason is because I asked myself the burning question: Does the Penguins current core have another playoff run left in them?
If the answer's not a resounding 'no' yet, it will be come November or, at the absolute latest, December. And that doesn't need to be a bad thing. The Pens have an advantage here, and it's one they could've had this offseason if general manager Kyle Dubas would just part ways with a few players.
Now, I'm writing about this as an outlier, not some insider with direct access to the Pens. So I'm just speculating that maybe teams inquired and they couldn't come to an agreement. Or, maybe Dubas wants to keep the core together a little longer, and see if he can salvage anything.
If he's doing the latter, he's wasting his time. We've seen the Penguins fall short of the postseason for three yars running, and that's all I need to see. That said, Dubas needs to get decisive sooner rather than later, make some big trades, get younger, build the prospect pipeline, and collect draft picks.
Getting decisive on a rebuild right now would pay dividends for Kyle Dubas
It's all about being decisive, and right now, Dubas has been anything but. This past offseason, he kept the aging core intact, then brought in guys like Anthony Mantha and Connor Clifton, both of whom look like rentals to me. Rentals who'll give you some respectable play, but won't transform you into a contender.
And again, the offseason hurt Dubas. Why not, if you wanted to contend, bring in more proven, established talent? There's nothing wrong with guys like Mantha and Clifton, or even Mathew Dumba. Inject a game-changer in there, and all three of those guys look like good acquisitons.
But Dubas didn't do that. Instead, he's keeping veterans around who would still be valuable in the trade market. And he's filling the team with patchwork players without bringing in just one game-breaker who'd be more capable.
Pittsburgh Penguins could rebuild at the right time if Dubas gets decisive
It's why I said before that the Penguins don't have a good chance to make the postseason this year. Maybe Dubas will finally get decisive in a season where a lot of hockey fans will keep an eye on that deep draft class. A draft class that should give every team picking in the top five a player to build around.
That's what the Pens need as their current core ages out. And while there are a few prospects in the pipeline who I like, there's nobody there who I can point to and say, "Yeah, the Pens can build a future championship-caliber contender around him."
So take advantage of this draft class. It's too rich with talent to botch when you could easily have a strategy in place to land a top three, let alone a top five, pick.