Pens aim for respect
Disappointing playoff seasons have Penguins refocused The Pittsburgh Penguins had finally shown a chink in their armor when they were defeated by their long-time rival Washington Capitals in the 2018 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals in six games, ruining the chance for the Penguins to achieve the rare three-peat. Alex Ovechkin and his Capitals would move on to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning in a seven-game Eastern Conference Finals, finally exorcising their demons with a Stanley Cp championship.
The team reloaded, finished third in the Metropolitan division, and made the playoffs for their 13th consecutive season. They were challenged by long-time adversary New York Islanders, expected to become a long and rigorous series.
The Penguins were dumped out of the playoffs in a four-game sweep.
It felt as though the dreams of the Penguins continuing to be a Stanley Cup contender were slowly slipping away. The Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers, and New York Islanders were making the Metropolitan Division even more formidable. The Tampa Bay Lightning have been running the Eastern Conference, and the youthful Toronto Maple Leafs are no longer a team to sniff at.
A long off-season provided the Penguins the ability to rest up, link their wounds, and most importantly, re-focus their efforts.
The team added skilled winger Jason Zucker in a trade with the Minnesota Wild that saw the team trade out Alex Galchenyuk, Calen Addison, and their first-round draft pick in next year's draft.
They added veteran talent like Patrick Marleau, while adding solid depth players in Nick Bjustad and Brandon Tanev. Add in former Second-Team All-Ivy League defenseman John Marino, who is primed for a solid rookie season, and the team looks fully prepared to take another run.
The concern is that their big-three - forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang - are now on the wrong side of 30. Crosby is 32 while Malkin and Letang are both 33. Crosby has struggled through an injury-plagued career, only having played a full 82-game season once in his career.
"As you get older, you start to realize you have to re-adjust your game," Crosby commented as the Penguins continue to roar through training camp, approaching their season opener against Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres. "I still have as much of an appreciation and fire to play this game, and I hope to have a long career."
The Penguins have seen the captain and arguably, most influential player of all-time not named Mario Lemieux, been replaced as the best player in the league by Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid.
Some would argue there are a few more that could be better than Crosby. Oilers' Leon Draisatl, Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov, or even Colorado Avalanche's winger Nathan MacKinnon, who trains with Crosby in their native Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia during the off-season.
Within the Penguins dressing room, the answer is clear.
"It's still Sid - people don't even see how complete of a player he is and some of the things he does, still sets him a whole world apart" commented winger Conor Sheary, who played almost exclusively with Crosby for their last two Stanley Cup championships. After a brief stint with the Buffalo Sabres, Sheary is back with the Penguins.
Eight years separate the Penguins' 2009 Stanley Cup championship and their 2016 Stanley Cup championship.
They don't intend to wait another eight years.