I\u2019ve seen published evaluations of the Penguins\u2019 rebuilding process. Good, bad, indifferent, etc.<\/p>\n
But the Penguins aren\u2019t rebuilding.<\/p>\n
Six of their key players are 40, 39, 38, 37, 34 and 33.<\/p>\n
They have 13 veteran forwards under one-way NHL contracts. Ben Kindel is still on his rookie pact, a standard two-way deal.<\/p>\n
Kindel will make the team. (Duh.) But there doesn\u2019t appear to be room for youngsters like Avery Hayes, Rutger McGroarty, Bill Zonnon, etc.<\/p>\n
Rebuilding is impossible in that context.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s no criticism of president of hockey operations\/GM Kyle Dubas, who is doing an admirable job despite obvious limitations.<\/p>\n
Dubas is shackled by nostalgia, and by new owners who likely don\u2019t want to be seen as discarding old favorites.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an organization scared to death of its own dressing room.<\/p>\n
That room \u2014 and the fans \u2014 expect to have their cake and eat it, too. Preserve the old gang but still win.<\/p>\n
Which the Penguins did last season, albeit to the smallest degree.<\/p>\n
But that smacked of last gasp, not new beginning.<\/p>\n
All this got confirmed when the Penguins re-upped Evgeni Malkin, at 40, for another season.<\/p>\n
Malkin is serviceable. He got 61 points in 56 games. Was hurt a lot. There\u2019s absolutely no doubting his status as a franchise all-timer.<\/p>\n
But the Penguins likely re-signed Tommy Novak because he\u2019s a comfortable fit on a line with Malkin. Then there\u2019s the Russian connection with Malkin and Egor Chinakhov, which is way overblown.<\/p>\n
So, before you know it, Kindel is skating on the third line with leftovers. Instead of on the second line where he belongs.<\/p>\n
The logical thing to do, and unquestionably so, is to put Kindel and Chinakhov on the same line.<\/p>\n
Kindel is 19, Chinakhov 25. They\u2019re the Penguins\u2019 only two young forwards of pedigree who are clearly able to play in the NHL right now. Big upside to both.<\/p>\n
Play them together and see if they mesh. Find out if they can be two-thirds of a top line.<\/p>\n
But Malkin isn\u2019t a good fit with those two. Probably too slow.<\/p>\n
Malkin will not be on the third line. Zero chance.<\/p>\n
Sidney Crosby will skate between Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust.<\/p>\n
So, Kindel will be on the third line. Learning to be a third-liner.<\/p>\n
Dan Muse is an excellent coach.<\/p>\n
But Muse will be in his second year taking charge.<\/p>\n
Malkin is entering his 20th season as a Penguin.<\/p>\n
Muse isn\u2019t going to cross Malkin. Malkin is top-six no matter what.<\/p>\n
Same goes with the No. 1 power play.<\/p>\n
Kindel, despite his youth, is the Penguins\u2019 best power play mind. Chinakhov is an excellent pure shooter.<\/p>\n
But PP1 will be Crosby, Malkin, Rakell, Rust and Erik Karlsson. Write that in stone. Average age: 36.<\/p>\n
The organization shouldn\u2019t be so beholden to veterans when the team hasn\u2019t won a playoff series since 2018.<\/p>\n
But it is.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not outraged. I understand it.<\/p>\n
But because I understand it, I don\u2019t expect the Penguins to win, or develop.<\/p>\n
I expect them to tread sewage.<\/p>\n
It started as the mushy middle.<\/p>\n
Then it became quicksand.<\/p>\n
Now the cement has dried.<\/p>\n
The Penguins need to bottom out. The situation needs to be made obvious.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s going to happen, either.<\/p>\n
The wild card is rookie goalie Sergei Murashov.<\/p>\n
If he arrives in dramatic fashion, Murashov could be the savior.<\/p>\n
Or he could be a victim.<\/p>\n
Or he could keep the Penguins in the mushy middle. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve seen published evaluations of the Penguins\u2019 rebuilding process. Good, bad, indifferent, etc. But the Penguins aren\u2019t rebuilding.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-803838","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\/803838","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=803838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}