Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby (87) prepares for a face-off during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Colorado Avalanche Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
It seems that every decade, turmoil of some sort engulfs the Pittsburgh Penguins. It seems 2025-26 will be no different.
And so the upheaval has returned almost perfectly on schedule. The Penguins are being sold. Sidney Crosby’s agent, Pat Brisson, opened the door to a Crosby trade if the Penguins’ rebuild doesn’t get going quickly, or the team doesn’t try to make the playoffs.
In fact, Brisson seemed to advocate a trade when he said Crosby should be in the playoffs “every year.” Merely leaving open the possibility was a departure from Crosby’s steadfast refusal, and Brisson’s words have unleashed a wave of trade speculation.
And the roster is a bit messy with a glut of veterans holding spots that a rebuilding team would ordinarily hope to give to younger players.
A lot is going on.
In 1975, the team entered its first bankruptcy when owners couldn’t make a $6.5 million payment, including back taxes, and the IRS seized assets.
From 1982 through 1987, things stunk, culminating in 1987-88, when their inept coach didn’t know they needed to win the last game of the season to make the playoffs. Pierre Creamer played for a tie until Mario Lemieux scored one of his heroic goals in the final minute of OT, but the Penguins still missed the playoffs. The organization fired the coach, and more trades followed.
In 1994-95, the effects of cancer treatments and injuries forced Lemieux to sit out the season. The Penguins still beat the Washington Capitals in the playoffs, but the season set off a three-year ownership saga underscored by financial troubles, trades based on financial motives, and ended in the 1998 bankruptcy that allowed Lemieux to lead a group of investors to buy the team using his $22 million debt.
In 2005-06, the league emerged from the year-long lockout. The Penguins already had Crosby and Lemieux, then GM Craig Patrick threw off the shackles of poverty to go wild on the free agent market. Patrick signed older, big-name free agents with enthusiasm … and it all quickly fell apart. Lemieux retired at mid-season with a heart ailment. UFA signing Ziggy Palffy packed up and left the team. Goalie Jocelyn Thibault never really recovered from injury. Veterans were exceedingly rough on Crosby. Marc-Andre Fleury struggled at the NHL level. The coach, Eddie Olczyk, was fired, and the team was the worst in the NHL.
That team was only a ringmaster short of a circus.
In 2014-15, the Penguins organization was an absolute disaster. After firing Ray Shero, they couldn’t find a general manager until Carolina Hurricanes president Jim Rutherford stepped forward. The team had embarrassingly offered Pierre McGuire a short deal to take the job after others refused to work with president David Morehouse. Candidates pulled out, and Morehouse was the subject of a lot of negative chatter around the league … a lot.
Coaches rejected the job after Morehouse played games with outgoing coach Dan Bylsma. Remember the termination press conference for Shero and Bylsma? Morehouse only fired Shero, though when the team finally hired Jim Rutherford as GM, the first thing he did was fire Bylsma and admit that’s what his bosses wanted (Rutherford is honest to a fault). Rutherford had to scour the hockey world for coaches willing to take the job.
By 2015-16, there was credible talk of Crosby’s growing unhappiness with the organization. Coach Mike Johnston wasn’t well-received by the team, and chaos reigned.
And now 2025.
The latest Penguins soap opera also has many levels, from ownership to Crosby to the roster.
In fact, city sources insist to PHN that there could be problems with the land deals and a lack of development around PPG Paints Arena. However, people involved in current real estate talks have declined our request to speak, even off the record; one said it would be inappropriate to say anything about the situation. Those issues could be problems in the sale, as the promised developments worth hundreds of millions of dollars are facing hard deadlines to break ground. There could be severe consequences to missing deadlines, some of which are believed to be within the next couple of months.
Below the ownership level, there is even more change coming.
Within the team, after 20 years, there is a collision of the past and future, holding the present hostage. Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang will play their 20th season together, and a growing number of fans are growing anxious to see it be the last. One wouldn’t blame current GM Kyle Dubas for sharing that opinion, though he has done a fine job of avoiding talk of shedding the past.
And the current roster is a mishmash of talent, players looking for a second chance, and youngsters on their way up. Trades involving sending out talented veterans for young players or future assets have been hotly discussed, but none have taken place. And the roster is overflowing but unlikely good enough to seriously challenge for a playoff spot, but not bad enough to maximize chances for a top-five pick in the deep 2026 NHL Draft.
There is a deep uncertainty suddenly surrounding the organization. A sale isn’t done until papers are signed, but why is the Fenway Sports Group bailing just four years after a market-setting deal to buy the team? What will become of Crosby since Lemieux’s bid to rebuy the team failed, and tiptoeing in all directions has created growing unrest?
There could be extreme changes coming to the entire organization or none at all. And that seems on par for the Penguins … every 10 years.
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