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My thoughts on Penguins thoughts
April 19, 2024, 3:43 PM ET [119 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSS • Archive • CONTACT
In most years the day after the season ends the players will have a day to collect themselves and the following day they will meet with the media. This year they did it immediately the day after. As a result some of the beat writers were still in New York and there weren’t as many players quotes transcribed. I like going through the player quotes every year and providing my own responses to them. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to transcribe the videos so there weren’t as many to pull from for me this year.

There were some notable comments so let’s look at those before shifting gears to what Kyle Dubas had to say about the season




I think Mike Sullivan is underselling things. Kyle Dubas will touch on the Letang situation in his section. Letang was pretty banged up all year.



There’s playing the hot hand and then there’s starting Nedeljkovic in the meaningless season finale on Long Island. I can only interpret that as a big middle finger to Jarry. I understand riding the goaltender collecting standings points when you are in the midst of a final push towards getting into the postseason. That wasn’t the case on Wednesday night. I don’t know how Jarry riding the bench against the Islanders can be construed as anything but a negative on the coach’s/team’s perception of him as a player at the moment. Which isn’t great considering his contract.



I don’t agree with Rust’s assessment of himself. I thought he had a great bounce back season. He set a career high in goals and is usually one of the better players on the ice each time he’s dressed. Penguins would have been in rough shape without him playing like he did.



Right on. Michael Bunting was terrific in the final push this year. He will be an effective player moving forward for the Penguins and should provide Malkin with at least one consistent winger up for the task of performing.

Now let’s shift gears to what Kyle Dubas had to say this morning



Kris Letang gutted it out the entire season. I’m sure we will get more information on what he was dealing with in the near future. I still think he’s got a lot to give as a player and that is a testament to how he’s trained his entire career. For those entertaining an Erik Karlsson trade, I wouldn’t expect it given this news.



I don’t think Kyle Dubas is very pleased with how the season turned out for Jarry. I also think after giving him that contract extension his hands are tied. There aren’t many goalie openings around the league and what team would sign on for his contract? Dubas is basically calling him out without being over the top about it. The Baby Penguins are in the playoffs and I think all eyes are going to be on Joel Blomqivst then and in camp. He has the potential to be the next regular starter for the Penguins. When is the question.



I think people are going to have to accept that Mike Sullivan is coming back. I don’t think you have to like it, but they aren’t making that change right now. I don’t think you can run back this same exact staff and if they do there’s going to be a lot of blowback from a frustrated fanbase.



I don’t foresee a second and eighth overall pick in the Penguins future like the Kings had in 2020 and 2021, but I suppose with Jeff Carter moving on they are using the LA Kings approach in some ways.

I will take this time to congratulate Jeff Carter on an amazing career. The contract extension was a Hextall problem not a Jeff Carter one. Scoring a goal in his final game was a great moment and so was having his family and the Quick family there to take it all in. I really wish that extension hadn’t happened because the perception of Carter wouldn’t have been what it was. The reality was the contract was a really bad choice and hindered their ability to spend elsewhere and improve the team. Again, not a Jeff Carter problem. Congratulations on retirement.



I’m not very surprised. Jake was a huge part of this hockey club both on and off the ice. The trade, from a player perspective, looked like the white flag being waved. We are talking about professional hockey so I can understand the frustration, but they are humans and to think it wouldn’t effect the team at all was probably wishful thinking.






Kyle Dubas is clearly not happy with Ryan Graves. I don’t think anybody is. I thought he was a terrible fit for what this team needed and this contract is the kind of mid-tier contract mistake you just cannot make. I also think if both Colorado and New Jersey moved on from him without much of a fight that might be something to consider when committing the kind of money and term Dubas did for Graves. The Jarry and Graves contracts have not aged well after only one season and these are the types of deals you need the early years to pan out. Graves was not missed in the final stretch of the season at all. I also don’t think he’s magically going to use his size better or become a better facilitator with the puck. Not really sure there’s a path for this to get markedly better.



One of the least surprising things said. The Penguins want Sidney Crosby to retire a Penguin and they are going to let Crosby dictate the terms on it. This is 100% the right way to go about it. I expect to see an extension this summer.



I do think the power play was better after Michael Bunting was added to it. They actually utilized the bumper spot which was oddly missing for most of the season. My biggest concern moving forward on the power play is their breakout. I don’t have an issue with the drop pass strategy, but you need players who can skate for it to work. If you can’t skate around flat footed defenders it really doesn’t matter what breakout system you are using. The Penguins biggest issue was getting set up. Even when they started to look better in zone they were rarely in zone long enough to get results. Any time the PK iced the puck the power play might be over due to their atrocious breakout.



I don’t agree with the assessment on Malkin. I do think Malkin showed more signs of aging this year than at any other point of his career. I also think we saw a very functional second line center after the acquisition of Michael Bunting. I think Reilly Smith and Rickard Rakell are the ones who deserve the magnifying glass. Smith in particular didn’t seem very engaged out there. Malkin needs more help these days and Smith and Rakell didn’t exactly provide it, Bunting did.



I’m fine with this. Dubas is ultimately calling the shots regardless of job title. Having Doug Wilson, a longtime GM himself, can help with the responsibilities of the job.



I, like many others, thought Karlsson’s first season with the Penguins would have yielded a bit more than it did. I still think the trade is a huge win considering the contracts the Penguins were able to dump. I also think some better finishing makes Karlsson’s point total jump next year. I agree with Dubas’assessment of Karlsson later in the season. I thought he was way more aggressive with his choices in both shooting and skating. I want more of that. I realize he had some abhorrent mistakes, specifically the Red Wings game, but I still think Karlsson can be a game breaking player if he pushes the play like he’s capable instead of deferring. I think now that he won’t be the new guy we will see more of that.

So that’s that. A lot of information to sift through and a lot of time to do it now that the Penguins don’t play against until October. There’s a lot of work to be done and it won’t be easy. Such is reality at the end of the competing window.

Thanks for reading!
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