The Pittsburgh Penguins' season ended with a dud, but how did they get there and where should they go?

Thursday marked an end to what was an incredibly disappointing season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Heading into the league’s final week, the Penguins controlled their destiny over their final two teams. All they had to do was defeat the two worst teams in hockey this season. They couldn’t beat either one.

With Columbus and Chicago’s wins over the Penguins, Anaheim weaseled their way into having the best odds to draft Connor Bedard. Funny how one team’s misfortunes can be another teams’ reward.

Pittsburgh's final tally on the season was 40-31-11 which was good for 91 points. Their goaltending betrayed them. Obviously, the Penguins weren’t a very good defensive team. Ryan Poehling is about the only player in the bottom-six who should be guaranteed a spot next season.

And all of this happened while Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin played a full schedule together for the first time in their illustrious Penguins careers and did so at a high level still.

Ron Hextall and Brian Burke are no longer in the front office as the Penguins and Fenway Sports Group moved in a different direction.

There will be plenty of changes this offseason and they begin with the front office moves. There is so much to discuss as things start to heat up for Pittsburgh. Without further ado, let’s discuss.

Penguins Must Get Goaltending Right

It’s often said that hot goaltending can take you further than anything in the playoffs, assuming you can get there. While Tristan Jarry has shown flashes of being the guy, they’ve been way too few and far between. His injury history will have a lot to do with that along with his inconsistent postseason play.

He’s a free agent this season and unless the Penguins want to gamble again, he can’t be given a contract resembling that of a number one goaltender. The Penguins don’t have the cap space for that kind of gamble.

If they had more cap, I’d suggest finding a goalie similar to Jarry’s skill level to be a 1A-1B tandem. They can’t afford that right now.

With limited cap space, the Penguins should let Jarry walk and take a massive swing to address their goaltending. Call Anaheim and try to rescue Whitehall native John Gibson. I’m not sure Nashville would do it, but call about Jusse Saros’ availability anyway. If the incoming General Manager wants to make an immediate splash, do it with the goaltending.

The Penguins can not go into another season with the Jarry-Casey DeSmith tandem. It’s proven to have failed on multiple occasions now. It’s time for a change.

Let Most UFA’s Walk

Most of the big name free agents already re-signed with their teams prior to reaching free agency. It’s a rather weak class with the likes of Patrick Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan O’Reilly, and Alex DeBrincat being the top dogs.

That’s good news for the Penguins because they won’t be in on those names. They don’t really need to be. Pittsburgh can’t fill their entire bottom-six with free agents, they just become too expensive this time of year. But there are plenty of options out there for them to consider so maybe the supply-and-demand can work out for the Penguins.

Trades will likely be made to beef up the bottom-six as well.

As far as the Penguins’ free agents are concerned, I don’t foresee the organization being too aggressive in attempting to re-sign many of their own free agents.

Brian Dumoulin, Dmitry Kulikov, and Danton Heinen figure to be as good as gone. Nick Bonino would be an intriguing option just because he didn’t get to play many games upon his return to Pittsburgh. Jarry’s aforementioned case can be seen above. There’s plenty of Josh Archibald’s in free agency as well.

Jason Zucker would be a loss that makes the Penguins a lesser team. There’s no doubt about that. However, he played so well that he may have priced himself out of Pittsburgh and it seems unlikely he’d take any sort of discount to stick with Pittsburgh.

RFA’s like Drew O’Connor, Alex Nylander, Ryan Poehling, and Filip Hallander will likely get deals for an opportunity to compete for a bottom-six spot. Ty Smith will almost definitely be retained as well unless he’s traded.

Outside of that, the Penguins should look much different next season.

Defensive Revamp Again in Store

Year after year, the Penguins have gotten progressively worse on the blue line. This season, it all but imploded right in their collective faces.

Kris Letang had the most trying of seasons. While he wasn’t great on a consistent basis, he did play well enough to show that the uber amounts of talent that he’s possessed throughout his career are still there.

Marcus Pettersson became a huge part of the team after it was reported Hextall tried to trade him prior to the season. For all the mistakes that Hextall made, this somehow would’ve been his biggest one. Thank him for this much at least.

Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta were added to the blue line this past offseason at the expense of Mike Matheson and John Marino. The moves didn’t quite work out how the Penguins intended.

Dumoulin is likely to move on. The rotating door of guys like P.O. Joseph, Chad Ruhwedel, Mark Friedman and Taylor Fedun didn’t serve the Penguins very well either.

As in many other facets of the Penguins’ team, change is very much needed.

Ty Smith either needs to be brought up or traded. It seems likely that he could be on the outs solely because he’ll be a left over from the previous regime. He hasn’t been very good defensively and the Penguins can’t afford many more offensive-minded defensemen with a secondary emphasis on playing their actual position.

The market for defensemen will be one the Penguins certainly will be playing in. There are some names that could provide some upgrade for the Penguins based on the game that Mike Sullivan wants the Penguins to play. It’s all about fit and not just overloading the team with talent.

Embrace the Young Guys

Think back to the Stanley Cup days. What was the common theme? Young guys who had a lot to play for to stick.

Bryan Rust. Jake Guentzel. Scott Wilson. Tom Kuhnhackl. These are just a handful of guys whe parlayed successful Cup runs into a nice NHL career.

For the current Penguins, there are some young options that could get opportunities. Alex Nylander played nine games with the big club this year despite being bounced back and forth like a pinball. Drew O’Connor faded towards the end of the season but deserved a chance to compete for a spot next year. Jonathan Gruden had a short lived stay with the Penguins earlier this season but looked like a potential NHL’er in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Valterri Puustinnen deserves a chance in the NHL.

There are a handful of guys that could potentially impact the Penguins in a positive way. They come relatively cheap as they’re on league minimum deals for the most part and the Pens may benefit from allowing those types of guys to litter the bottom-six.

Credit to Sid and Geno

It’s legitimately crazy to think that the Penguins got a full 82-game slate out of Crosby and Malkin and missed the playoffs. Crosby had 93 points and Malkin posted 83. At ages 35 and 36, respectively, both guys still posted a point per game season.

Hextall’s moves ensured they won’t have a chance at another Cup this season. That is just sad.

It’s not often in sports at all that guys spend entire careers with their teams. For those two, and Letang, to likely accomplish that feat is pretty awesome. They’ve seen four different general managers come through and the closest they got to being blown up was this past offseason when Malkin and Letang were due contracts.

Now, they’ll face their fifth general manager once such a position is named. Here’s hoping that guy or girl decides to keep the band together until the end.

Make sure you bookmark Inside the Penguins for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more!

Management Changes Means Penguins Won't Pursue J.T. Miller

Penguins' Jake Guentzel Plans on Playing in World Championship

Penguins Need to Construct Younger Lineup in 2023-24

Upcoming UFA's Hope to Remain Penguins

Sidney Crosby Hope to Only Play With Penguins

• undefined
• undefined