The Pittsburgh Penguins head into the All-Star Break in the final wild card spot of the Eastern Conference. How has Kris Letang Performed to this point in the season? Prior to the NHL All-Star break, it seemed that the Pittsburgh Penguins might be in dire straits more so than many of us may have believed around Christmas time. They will be coming out of the break with a 24-16-9 record. Technically speaking, they’ve lost more games this season than they’ve won. However, they have salvaged at least a point in 33 of their 49 games to this point. Not only are the Penguins trying to fend off division rivals such as the Washington Capitals and the New York Islanders but the hard charging Buffalo Sabres of the Atlantic Division are on the heels of the flightless birds of Pittsburgh sitting just two points behind them when the NHL resumes play on Monday. Even the Florida Panthers lurk just three points back of the Penguins. Not everyone can be the Boston Bruins or Carolina Hurricanes, the league’s only two teams remaining without double-digit regulation losses. However, with the caliber of players on Pittsburgh’s roster, there isn’t much reason they can’t turn things around and secure themselves a playoff spot over the next two and a half months. With the trade deadline approaching quickly and the schedule loaded with Metropolitan Divisional games the rest of the way, there is plenty to talk about regarding the current iteration of the Penguins. As I like to do in this space, I will share with you five of my thoughts about the current state of the team. BRYAN RUST COULD BECOME AN X-FACTOR Not too long ago, I wrote a piece on why the Penguins should acquire Max Domi. I know that he profiles as more than just bottom-six depth which is where the Penguins lack the most currently. But, finding someone to plug into the top-six would allow the Penguins to switch Bryan Rust into a third line role, one that would suit him better than his current role. Rust isn’t scoring enough right now to justify the contract he was given which is one befitting of a top-six piece. If someone like Domi was acquired, the Penguins could slot Rust into a third line role where he’d likely be the driving force of that specific line and may benefit more from being that guy. He’d likely be the wing for either Teddy Blueger or Ryan Poehling depending on how things were playing out at the time of the trade. The Penguins were at their best when they could roll four lines. Prior to the break, they were rolling two with the fourth line starting to find some chemistry. The third line has been an absolute black hole offensively for about a month now. Rust hasn’t had a problem shooting the puck this season. He ranks third on the team with 126 shots. Only Sidney Crosby (137) and Jake Guentzel (129) rank above him. Their conversion rates have obviously been higher this season as they’re both on pace for 35+ goals. Rust currently has 11 and may struggle to get to 20 this season at his current rate. Rust has had separate goalless streaks of nine, seven, and six games this season. That won’t cut it as a top-six winger playing with Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. He’s scored 20+ goals for three straight seasons now and despite never profiling as a prolific goal scorer in his minor league days, he’s been an integral piece of the top-six. Instead of making a play for another mediocre bottom-six scorer, the Penguins could make another Rickard Rakell-like deal and acquire a more prolific piece that would allow Rust to move into a third line role. There’s obvious cap restraints and other things that will make that tough but with Hextall’s radio silence on the trade-front, it would behoove him to parlay that into an impact deal to get the Penguins moving North in the standings instead of South. A COMPLETELY HEALTHY TRISTAN JARRY WOULD HELP Casey DeSmith has been nothing short of awful this season. He’s had some shining moments and then he’ll allow six goals to a team like the Sharks right before the break when the Penguins need nothing less than a win to go in on a high note. Don’t get me wrong, DeSmith has faced some hard luck. The defensive core in front of him had been without Kris Letang, Marcus Pettersson and Jeff Petry for a stretch of games. P.O. Joseph’s stellar play has regressed a little over the past month. Chad Ruhwedel is playing some of the worst hockey he has in his Penguins tenure. There are certainly variables. Good goaltenders overcome things like that and take over games. That’s where Jarry comes in. Say what you will about Jarry but he is one of the top-10 regular season goalies in the NHL when he’s healthy. You have to add the “regular season” part in there because of his playoff struggles and lack of availability until he’s able to prove otherwise. Jarry is playing for a contract this season. Whether that comes from Pittsburgh or another NHL club in free agency remains to be seen. But right now, he’s the clear number one in Pittsburgh and that won’t change anytime soon unless the Penguins acquire a goaltender to push him over the next few weeks. He serves the Penguins no good being injured as often as he is. While sometimes it can’t be prevented, it is becoming too common of a theme at the worst times. For both his and the teams’ sake, hopefully he’ll be in the blue paint on Tuesday night when the Penguins host the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. And then hopefully for the vast majority of games the rest of the way down the stretch after that. When he returned from his first injury, he made a career-high in saves the night he came back. The Penguins didn’t look good in front of him but he was the difference and beat an Ottawa team that the Penguins should beat and did so because their goaltender stole a game for them. Pittsburgh needs Tristan Jarry to be healthy in the worst way. Truthfully, if Jarry wants any sort of long-term financial security this offseason, he’s got to get back pretty soon too. MIKE SULLIVAN’S STUBBORNNESS NEEDS TO RELENT Sullivan has a ton of respect and admiration for his players, especially the ones who have been with the team clear back to their championship runs. However, that grace period has ended. They need to be given the leeway they deserve through their play and guys like Brian Dumoulin probably don’t deserve that much at the moment. Admittedly, Dumoulin’s play has been a bit better the past few weeks leading up to the break. He has been playing with more confidence and steadier than he had been. It’s earned him a chance to play with Kris Letang again now that he is healthy. There was a long period of time this year where he played so poorly that most any other player would find themselves in the press box. Far too often, Sullivan finds too much trust in some players and makes it quite obvious of those he doesn’t care for. Evan Rodrigues would’ve been a valuable re-sign for the Penguins this season. He took one bad penalty in game six of the Rangers series last season and, despite scoring in game seven, was allowed to walk. Mark Friedman is one of the only fiery guys on the roster. Yet, he finds himself sitting more often than not as guys like Dumoulin and Ruhwedel struggle through their respective slumps. And no one needs to be told about the love affair for Jeff Carter. Sullivan is one of the best coaches in the NHL. The Penguins’ season has been saved by him on multiple occasions. But his stubbornness and unwillingness to give some of the younger guys more playing time in the NHL by benching the struggling veterans who make money is starting to cost the Penguins valuable points in the standings. I don’t think a 2015-style of youth infusion is going to save this team. However, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton points leaders Alex Nylander and Valterri Puustinen have yet to see a solitary game in a Penguins uniform this season. It’s not like the Penguins’ forward corps has been overly healthy and vastly productive this year. More of this is needed in the second half. We know what the other guys bring and the ones who aren’t bringing what they’re being paid to bring should sit in favor of guys hungry for a chance to make their mark in the NHL. Sullivan possibly can’t be this naive to the notion that many of his current lineup pieces aren’t doing their job. WHAT ARE RON HEXTALL’S OPTIONS? Things won’t be easy for Hextall as he approaches the trade deadline. Many reports have said he’s been radio silent on the trade front and believes in this group to turn it around. Just this past week, the Penguins have been linked to goaltenders like Thatcher Demko and Cam Talbot. I’m not quite sure exactly what Hextall is going to do, if anything. He doesn’t have a whole lot of cap space and much of the NHL right now isn’t making any moves. The Islanders made the biggest deal so far in acquiring Bo Horvat from Vancouver and getting out in front of everyone else in that market. That’s a big jolt for a team trailing the Penguins and certainly should put some worry into Penguins’ fans hearts. Hextall’s big contracts like Rust and Dumoulin likely won’t fetch much in return. Could guys like that be sent out to make cap room? Certainly. Hextall could opt to trade Jason Zucker on the final year of a deal paying him north of $5 million but he’s currently one of the hottest Penguins and seems like a glue guy in the locker room much in the way that Patric Hornqvist was. Ripping the heart and soul out of an already depleted team seems like a rough move to make. Trading Teddy Blueger could entice a team as he is a solid penalty killer despite one goal in his last 66 games. A move like that would free up a little more than $2 million to work with. According to CapFriendly, the Penguins have $2.125 million to play with at the moment as that’s what they’ve accrued throughout the season to this point. Jan Rutta and Josh Archibald are currently on the Long Term Injured Reserve, however, so they will end up eating up most of that when they return. He’s got his hands full but it’s a mess that he did make and now has to find a way to clean up without mortgaging too much of the future to do so. AVOIDING OVERTIME NEEDS TO BE A FOCUS Pittsburgh has 13 divisional games left. They’ll see the Islanders three more times and the Capitals once. Three of those four matchups against their closely-following foes will take place at PPG Paints Arena. Those are games that would be huge to win. The Penguins have played in 13 overtime contests this season. They’re 4-9 in such instances. That will make a huge difference come playoff time. They’ve squandered nine extra points now and that is something they can’t keep doing, especially if these Metropolitan Division games are close. Finishing things off in regulation has to be a point of emphasis for the Penguins the rest of the way. With 13 divisional games remaining total, those points will be heightened in importance. If they are to play in a bunch of extra time the rest of the way, the results must be better. There is entirely too much talent on this team to be losing this often in 3-on-3 hockey. They have to be better, plain and simple. 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