For the second straight year, the Penguins flamed out of the playoffs against a team with fewer stars but stunningly more discipline and determination.
The Montreal Canadiens, the 24th seed in the NHL’s expanded 24-team postseason field, finished them off Friday with a 2-0 win at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena.
When this happened a year ago, in that four-game sweep at the hands of the New York Islanders, the Penguins traded Phil Kessel and Olli Maatta. But they hung on to Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang after discussing the merits of dealing each player. They also doubled down on their commitment to coach Mike Sullivan.
This offseason, after another postseason dud, the changes may be seismic.
Hall of Fame general manager Jim Rutherford got a contract extension during the 2018-19 season and has since given no indication that he plans to retire.
On July 15, he called Sullivan “the best coach in the game.” It would be a surprise if he fired that coach just three weeks later, especially when you consider the team furloughed a bunch of employees early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Ownership will spend to win, but that sure would be a lot of money to light on fire.
So that GM-coach duo, if it indeed remains intact, must take a long look in the mirror to determine if Sullivan’s speed-first philosophy can still allow the Penguins to win one more Stanley Cup with Sidney Crosby, and whether Rutherford has to trade a fan favorite or two to assemble a new championship core.
Here are seven guys who could be goners once that self-reflection is finished:
Nick Bjugstad: Injuries wrecked the big center’s season, and he underwent spinal surgery in May, ending his season. Without him, the Penguins were never able to settle on a third-line center. His production hasn’t matched his possession stats in his 49 games with the Penguins, including playoffs. And his $4.1 million salary is not ideal. But with one year left on it, the Penguins can likely find a hockey deal that includes him if they decide they want to try yet another third-line center.
Jack Johnson: Don’t get your hopes up. Yeah, you figure the Penguins may look to move on from the embattled blue liner. But with a flat salary cap due to financial losses from the pandemic, dumping his $3.25 million salary will be difficult. Heck, if Johnson was making just $3.25, finding a taker would be tough enough. Are they willing to throw in something of real value to get him off the books?
Kris Letang: It was a quiet playoff series for Letang, both in a good way and in a bad way. The All-Star was more cautious and defended much better than he did against the Islanders last year. But he was less assertive offensively and had just one point against Montreal. He has two years left on the contract that pays him an annual salary of $7,250,000 — not an unreasonable salary given his play this season.
But Sullivan and Letang do not always see eye-to-eye when it comes to his cavalier style, and John Marino might be ready for a top-pair role. Given the cap situation, moving Letang might be the only way for Rutherford to make significant changes to this roster. It’s unclear if ownership will insist Letang be a Penguin for life.
Matt Murray: We wrote about 2,000 words in April about how the Penguins have reached a crossroads in the crease, with Murray and Tristan Jarry both set to be restricted free agents. There is a ton of analysis in there about both Murray’s play and his value. Mostly everything remains relevant today after he did not, in this postseason, make a case to be locked up long term. Jarry replaced him in Game 4.
Sadly, the final lasting memory of Murray in black and gold could be Jeff Petry’s shot sneaking over his right shoulder for the back-breaking goal in Game 3. That would be a shame because he earned his multiple inscriptions on the Stanley Cup here and the 26-year-old can still turn his career around with a change of scenery.
Mark Recchi: Sullivan is expected to stick around, but he might have to make a change or two to his coaching staff. Recchi, a Hall of Fame player, joined Sullivan behind the bench after Rick Tocchet left for Arizona in 2017. One of Recchi’s main duties is focusing on their power play, which was unable to find fixes this season after Kessel joined Tocchet in Arizona and the Penguins battled injuries.
Justin Schultz: The puck-moving blue liner has arguably been Rutherford’s most successful reclamation project here and the Penguins don’t go all the way in 2017 without him playing the way he did once Letang was lost. But he rarely resembled that player the past two seasons, in part due to injury. Schultz was a mess in these playoffs, too. The Penguins probably let him skate away to free agency.
Conor Sheary: It was worth a shot bringing him back at the trade deadline, giving up a different type of middle-six player in Dominik Kahun to get him. But Sheary didn’t produce on the Crosby line despite ample opportunities. He, too, will be an unrestricted free agent and must take a bargain-bin deal to be back.
Veteran wing Patrick Marleau is also an unrestricted free agent and can’t possibly return. The team’s restricted free agents include forwards Jared McCann, Dominik Simon, Sam Lafferty and Evan Rodrigues and defenseman Juuso Riikola.
Matt Vensel: mvensel@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mattvensel.
First Published: August 8, 2020, 11:00 a.m.