The Pittsburgh Penguins are barely hanging on to a playoff spot. Even if they make it, there's speculation on if the team should still make changes.
The Pittsburgh Penguins enter this week struggling to hang onto the final Eastern Conference playoff berth. They have the NHL's oldest roster, according to eliteprospects.com, and have played like it on too many nights this season.
While the Penguins could hang on to claim their 17th straight post-season appearance, it won't mollify their critics. Pittsburgh Hockey Now's Dan Kingerski believes a housecleaning is in order even if they manage to surprise and win a playoff round or two.
Kingerski felt that coach Mike Sullivan's job is still safe but thinks he needs a roster with players willing to buy into his message. Outside of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, he believes no one on the roster should be safe, including Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust and Jeff Petry.
Time will tell if the Penguins' front office arrives at the same conclusion. Nevertheless, there's no question this roster needs an injection of younger talent.
It likely won't be coming from within their system. Earlier this season, The Athletic's Scott Wheeler ranked their prospect pipeline 29th among the 32 NHL clubs. The Hockey News' recent Future Watch issue ranks the Penguins' prospect pool 31st.
CapFriendly shows the Penguins have $20.2 million in projected cap space for 2023-24 with 14 roster players under contract. Goaltender Tristan Jarry and winger Jason Zucker are their notable UFAs.
The Penguins could go the free-agent route to replace Jarry and Zucker. However, this summer's market isn't a deep one with mostly aging stars such as Patrick Kane, Ryan O'Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko.
Guentzel could fetch the best return if they decide to shop a veteran or two. Shipping him out could hurt their offense unless they get a promising scorer in return.