There should be a lot to watch with the Pittsburgh Penguins this offseason.
After three consecutive non-playoff seasons and the team now in a rebuilding phase, the on-ice expectations for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the short-term are probably as low as they have been in decades.
But that does not mean the offseason — and especially the next week or so with the NHL Draft and free agency beginning — is going to be boring.
Quite the opposite, actually.
This might be one of the most interesting and fascinating offseason the Penguins have had in decades.
- When it comes to the NHL Draft, the Penguins are going to be one of the busiest teams in the league one way or another. They have 11 draft picks as of Thursday, including two first-rounders in the top-12 and six of the first 85 picks in the class. It gives them plenty of options. They could move up in the draft to land a potentially higher-ceiing player. They can flip picks for a player or two. They could move back and keep accumulating more picks. They have options all over the place this weekend and are going to significantly add to a young talent pool that has already gotten deeper over the past year.
- There figures to be a ton of player movement, whether it be Erik Karlsson, Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, Kevin Hayes, Blake Lizotte, Danton Heinen, Noel Accairi, Tristan Jarry or some combination of them. Player movement is exciting, and the Penguins should have plenty of it. Especially since they are one of the only teams in the NHL that looks to be entering this offseason with the intention of selling veteran players.
- They have new voices and a new direction in charge of the organization. Kyle Dubas is still putting his stamp on the team, while new head coach Dan Muse is coming in to change the on-ice look of the team.
- After nearly two decades of sustained success and being a top-tier team in the NHL, the Penguins need to start a new phase and are pretty much working from a blank slate. It is going to be fascinating to see what direction they take that in.
Basically, a lot of things are going to be different. Change is on the horizon, and now it is arriving.
What I find most fascinating about this is that it’s been a long time since the Penguins have ever had to really do this sort of thing.
I don’t even think the rebuild that resulted in the Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin era is all that comparable.
That tear down was more about dumping finances and money so the team could remain afloat financially and hope for a new CBA system and arena to rescue the franchise. A lot of those trades and roster moves they made weren’t necessarily about improving the team short-term or long-term.
Did anybody really think trading Alex Kovalev for Richard Lintner, Joel Bouchard, Rico Fata and Mikael Samuelsson was done with hockey in mind?
It wasn’t.
This, on the other hand, is simply an old team needing to rebuild itself and reshape itself. There is going to be a lot of intrigue with it.
That all starts on Friday night with two first-round picks at No. 11 and 12 overall.
Those will be the Penguins’ highest draft picks since they selected Derrick Pouliot No. 8 overall in 2012, and that was only the result of a trade.
Having those two picks creates a lot of opportunities.
The most intriguing of those would be whether or not the presence of the No. 12 pick, as well as their additional draft capital in later rounds, would inspire them to get aggressive and try to move up from No. 11. The Penguins reportedly love Porter Marone. There is speculation James Hagens could take a little bit of a slide down the draft board, and perhaps even far enough to get into range for the Penguins to make a move.
It might take a couple of years for the Penguins to get back to where they want to be. It’s probably not going to happen overnight and in one offseason. It might even eventually get frustrating sooner rather than later.
But that does not take away from how fascinating this offseason could be to watch unfold.