It\u2019s imperative that the Penguins get a top-five pick in next year\u2019s NHL draft. It\u2019s a top-heavy draft. Potential stars are available, not least Penn State\u2019s Gavin McKenna, the presumptive first choice overall.<\/p>\n
President of hockey ops\/GM Kyle Dubas has done a good job restocking the Penguins\u2019 system. But that system lacks a likely star.<\/p>\n
That noted, why the heck are wingers Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust still on the Penguins?<\/p>\n
I get why Erik Karlsson is still there.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s 35, a human hand grenade on defense and carries a salary cap hit of $11.5 million through the 2026-27 season. (Former employer San Jose kept $1.5 million of that.) He\u2019s also got a total no-movement clause. Karlsson must approve whatever team he goes to.<\/p>\n
But Karlsson is only owed $4 million in actual salary for the coming season, the Penguins having paid a $5 million bonus due on July 1. He\u2019s cheap. All it takes is one contender fooling itself into thinking Karlsson can find his old form and be the missing link.<\/p>\n
Rakell and Rust are easier to move. Neither has a no-movement clause. Rust had one, but it expired July 1.<\/p>\n
Rakell, 32, had a career-best 35 goals last season.<\/p>\n
Rust, 33, had a career-best 31 goals last season. Rust is a two-time Stanley Cup champion. He\u2019s versatile and plays winning hockey. He\u2019d serve a contender well.<\/p>\n
You might get more for either at the coming season\u2019s trade deadline.<\/p>\n
But what if Rakell or Rust are hurt at the trade deadline? Rust has missed 20 or more games in four of his last six seasons.<\/p>\n
The primary goal of trading Rakell and Rust isn\u2019t to get great return.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s to get them off the Penguins so the team can finish near the NHL\u2019s bottom and get as many balls as possible in the draft lottery.<\/p>\n
What if the Penguins won the lottery and got McKenna? After winning the lottery to get Sidney Crosby in 2005 and tanking to get Mario Lemieux in 1984. Several NHL cities might spontaneously combust. I\u2019ll bring the marshmallows.<\/p>\n
Right now, the Penguins have bad defense and questionable goaltending.<\/p>\n
But they could put together three decent lines.<\/p>\n
That needs to be sabotaged.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the reality of the upcoming season. Anybody complaining about that should examine the foundation the franchise\u2019s greatness is built upon.<\/p>\n
Every once in a while, you\u2019ve got to suck. Embrace it. Don\u2019t be the Steelers. Avoid the mushy middle.<\/p>\n
It would be a shame if Crosby\u2019s points-per-game streak got sacrificed at the altar of having inferior wings to play with.<\/p>\n
But that can\u2019t be a major concern. Anyway, he\u2019s already got the NHL record at 20 seasons.<\/p>\n
Put Evgeni Malkin on his wing. Crosby\u2019s preference is a big reason Malkin is still a Penguin.<\/p>\n
Or youth can be served: Use rookies Ville Koivunen and\/or Rutger McGroarty.<\/p>\n
If either Rakell or Rust was kept to skate on Crosby\u2019s wing till the trade deadline, that wouldn\u2019t be outrageous. But it\u2019s not what\u2019s best for rebuilding.<\/p>\n
It would be sad to see Rust go. Rust is OG.<\/p>\n
Part of me thinks there\u2019s value in retaining Rust and letting him be an influence on the younger players. But that\u2019s Crosby\u2019s job, and he\u2019s good at it.<\/p>\n
Keeping Rust would be subverting reality for the sake of nostalgia. That\u2019s what put the Penguins in their current hole.<\/p>\n
Trading Rakell and\/or Rust will reopen questions about Crosby\u2019s future. Will he finish his career as a Penguin?<\/p>\n
I believe that is 100% Crosby\u2019s intent.<\/p>\n
I also believe this season will be so bad as to test his resolve.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s hoping Canada\u2019s hockey team gets gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy by way of satiating Crosby\u2019s lust for winning.<\/p>\n
Winning is all Crosby wants to do.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s going to continue posing a problem for him in Pittsburgh. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s imperative that the Penguins get a top-five pick in next year\u2019s NHL draft. It\u2019s a top-heavy draft.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-42929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}