It's not fun watching other teams in the playoffs, but the Pittsburgh Penguins have opportunities to improve.

At the end of the day, every player, coach, front office member, and fan should have wanted to see the Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs, but they fell just short.

For the first time since 2006, the Penguins are missing out on the battle for the Stanley Cup, but there are definitely some silver linings to the situation.

New Management on the Way

For starters, the verbal requests of the fans have been answered; Fenway Sports Group (FSG) stepped in and fired general manager Ron Hextall.

President of hockey operations Brian Burke and assistant general manager Chris Pryor were also caught in the crossfire, but FSG stated they want to build a whole new hockey operations department.

The coming weeks will be interesting and game changing for the Penguins as FSG looks to find their group to put in charge.

Whoever steps in will have a tall task ahead of them, but any new name in the front office will benefit the Penguins.

The First Round Pick

One of Hextall’s flaws in the closing months of his tenure in Pittsburgh was not utilizing the Penguins’ 2023 first round pick at the trade deadline.

With that pick still in the Penguins’ possession, there are a few different directions a new front office staff can go.

Whoever FSG puts in place can either hold onto the pick and take a prospect in the top half of the draft, it can be traded for a proven NHL commodity, or it can be strapped to an existing contract to be taken off the books.

Still having that first round pick is one of the more underrated points to this offseason.

At this moment, while waiting on the NHL Draft Lottery still to take place, the Penguins are picking 14^th overall, but with a 1.5% of moving up.

If the Penguins ‘win’ the lottery, they can move up as many as 10 places, and could be picking as high as 4^th overall.

It’s a slim chance of movement, but something the Penguins will surely be keeping an eye on.

Regardless, the Penguins hold their highest draft pick since 2012; what they decide to do with it is still to be determined.

Player Movement

Almost everyone can agree there were players on the Penguins’ roster that just weren’t good enough.

Sure, everyone across the organization takes responsibility for missing the postseason, but there needs to be a fair bit of turnover on the ice this summer.

The Penguins have to find younger players somewhere and find a way out of certain contracts.

Guys who spent a majority of the season in the AHL like Ty Smith, Alex Nylander, and Filip Hallander deserve more of a shot at the NHL.

With 10 players on expiring deals, there is plenty of opportunity and possible salary cap space to make some moves.

A lot of what needs to change with the Penguins boils down to the decision making of management.

There will be plenty of pressure on FSG to hire the right group; Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang aren’t getting any younger and it’s not certain they have the same production or health in 2023-24.

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