Alex Ovechkin very likely wants to play another season.<\/p>\n
The Washington Capitals don\u2019t necessarily want that.<\/p>\n
Ovechkin scored 32 goals this season but his mobility has declined. He might be 30 pounds overweight.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s the NHL\u2019s all-time leading goal-scorer and the franchise\u2019s best player ever.<\/p>\n
The Capitals can\u2019t tell Ovechkin no.<\/p>\n
That scenario might ring a bell. Not exactly so, but close.<\/p>\n
As a Penguins lifer, I have no problem with maintaining the core three of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.<\/p>\n
For another season, indefinitely, however long. Until Crosby retires or leaves.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s out of gratitude, nothing else. I see the negative impact on getting the franchise to the next phase.<\/p>\n
Crosby is still one of the NHL\u2019s best forwards.<\/p>\n
Malkin had 61 points in 56 games. That\u2019s not Art Ross territory, but it\u2019s not chopped liver.<\/p>\n
Letang was the Penguins\u2019 best player in their playoff loss to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Letang often gets left out of these discussions except for naysayers to call for his exit. (Which won\u2019t happen. He has two seasons remaining on his contract.)<\/p>\n
Letang has flaws.<\/p>\n
At 39, he\u2019s not adjusted like he should to the limitations of age. He tries to play like he\u2019s 29. Same tempo, same risk, same game.<\/p>\n
But when he\u2019s on, Letang is still very good. And there\u2019s nobody to take on his role or his minutes. (Maybe if the organization hadn\u2019t sabotaged Harrison Brunicke\u2019s season via indecision.)<\/p>\n
Make no mistake, it\u2019s a core three. Not Crosby by himself or a combination of any two.<\/p>\n
Letang has been teammates with Crosby and Malkin for 20 seasons, has three Stanley Cup rings just like them and carries the same level of respect in the dressing room.<\/p>\n
The Penguins have to keep them all.<\/p>\n
Let them make the decision.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s too late to choose otherwise without severe complications: Fan outrage, dressing-room rancor, demonizing the new owners.<\/p>\n
But Crosby, Malkin and Letang are 38, 39 and 39.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t win with old.<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t build on old.<\/p>\n
The team is moving too slowly toward being a legit contender. If it\u2019s progressing in that direction at all. Mushy muddle maintained.<\/p>\n
But the groundwork for that choice was laid long ago.<\/p>\n
If you want to cry over spilt milk, weep about this:<\/p>\n
I advised that the Penguins trade Malkin after their second-round playoff loss to Washington in 2018 ended their quest for a third straight championship.<\/p>\n
Had the Penguins done so, they might have Aleksander Barkov and Jake Guentzel. Would have traded Malkin to Florida for Barkov, could have afforded to keep Guentzel.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the best-case scenario.<\/p>\n
The worst case is that the Penguins wouldn\u2019t have won any playoff series since.<\/p>\n
Which is what occurred.<\/p>\n
I also suggested trading Malkin in 2015. Good thing that didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a tangled web.<\/p>\n
President of hockey ops\/GM Kyle Dubas is entering the fourth season of his seven-year contract.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s rebuilt the system, but it lacks true top-end prospects because the Penguins never finish low enough to draft them. He\u2019s made great trades, like thieving winger Egor Chinakhov from Columbus. Ben Kindel was a steal at the 11th pick of last year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n
But the Penguins are mostly maintaining. Not building the next champion.<\/p>\n
When does that start?<\/p>\n
Or, if Sergei Murashov is all he\u2019s cracked up to be and even more, maybe the Penguins\u2019 next big run can be goalie-based. That would be quite a break from franchise tradition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Ovechkin very likely wants to play another season. The Washington Capitals don\u2019t necessarily want that. Ovechkin scored…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-633049","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\/633049","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=633049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}