The Penguins haven’t exactly squashed all this Evgeni Malkin trade talk. To the contrary, they have fed it.
The question is: why?
Are they trying to send a message to Malkin beyond the formality of an exit meeting, letting him know by real action (or at least the threat of it) that they deemed his attitude and production inexcusable this season?
Are they floating a trial balloon to see how the public would react to a franchise icon on the block?
Are they trying to pick at Malkin’s pride to the point where he budges on his no-movement clause and agrees to a trade?
Are they simply motivated to get younger and build a different core around Sidney Crosby before it's too late?
I’d pick the first of those, but once this door is opened, it can be difficult to shut. Think of the Pirates’ relationship with Andrew McCutchen fracturing once it became known they no longer considered him untouchable.
It’s not crazy to weigh the pros and cons of moving Malkin. The time might be right. I just believe the Penguins’ issues are a whole lot more complicated, and I wonder if all the relevant parties feel implicated. Because they should.
Yet as I watched general manager Jim Rutherford and coach Mike Sullivan together in their season-ending news conference, framing the team’s embarrassing exit as a players-blew-it situation, I couldn’t help but wonder if the men in power are asking the right questions.
Like this one: How did we get here?
How did the we go from two-time defending champions to first-round sweep victims looking (maybe) to break up our core?
There is not one answer.
Part of it is the other guys get paid, too. Once upon a time, the Penguins beat teams with speed. Teams caught up. It’s a competitive league.
Part of it, no doubt, is attrition. Nobody stays on top forever. Players grow old. A coach’s voice can, too.
Part of it is luck. The bounce you get against Ottawa or Washington one year turns into a bogus review of a Patric Hornqvist goal another year, or a Tom Kuhnhackl shot that nicks the post.
Part of it is breaking up — part by choice, part by necessity — the band of brothers that won those Cups. Who can say how that, combined with staff changes, might weaken the championship potion?
The Penguins never replaced the heart and versatility of Nick Bonino, for example, or the speed of Carl Hagelin or the will of Chris Kunitz. I don’t know of an advanced analytic called “Wins Cups,” but I know Kunitz led the league in that category.
When the cast changes, the chemistry does, too. Rutherford says his most recent defensive unit was his best, but that’s an insult to the defensemen who actually won here together — players such as Ian Cole, Ben Lovejoy, Trevor Daley and Ron Hainsey. They won. This group did not — and each one of them made at least one grievous error in the Islanders series, which was the kind of series where one grievous error could make all the difference.
The party line, at least as Rutherford espouses it, seems to be this: Some of our fat-cat players didn’t try hard enough or listen to the coach.
Maybe there’s truth in that. But does it mean the people running the team are exempt from blame?
It surely shouldn’t.
How much of Malkin’s declined production and increased disenchantment is related to the deterioration of the team around him?
Sullivan, meanwhile, is a great coach. But he cannot be absolved. He had no answers against Barry Trotz, who has now beaten him eight times in their past nine playoff games, and if I credited Sullivan for spanking Trotz in Game 7 in 2017 — and I did — I’m going to have to say he’s getting outcoached by the same guy since then. A lot.
I would also remind you that Sullivan pushed hard for Derick Brassard, whom he’d coached in New York, and if I could point to one big-picture move that led the Penguins astray, it might be that one.
What’s more, haven’t we always heard the biggest part of the coach’s job here — in this particular environment — is controlling the stars? If I gave Sullivan credit for getting the most out of his star players when he got here (we all did, rightfully), then how can he go blame-free when some of them go astray?
Could it be that Sullivan’s voice starts to grate?
I’m not saying that’s the case. I’m asking. I hope the Penguins are, too.
In the end, I’m guessing Phil Kessel goes and Malkin stays — but once that door is opened, anything is possible.
And make no mistake: That door is open.
Joe Starkey: jstarkey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @joestarkey1. Joe Starkey can be heard on the “Cook and Joe” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
First Published: May 2, 2019, 10:30 a.m.
