honest truth about fixing team

Team: 2024-25 Pittsburgh Penguins

Initial Creation Date: Apr. 24, 2024

Published: Apr. 24, 2024

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

These are really the biggest problems with the penguins as I see it.

1st. They need a 2C.
Malkin is 38 years old next year. If this year shows anything, he just doesn't have the legs to cover center ice anymore. He's still a talented player and has a great shot. But he's not the center threat he use to be. They need to turn him into a scoring winger to get what's left out of his NHL career. He could be a 30-40 goal scorer with that shot. He needs to be put into a shoot first role on the wing and let a faster player with more legs take over the play making role.

2nd The 3rd pairing needs completely replaced.
If they resign POJ it should only be to use him as a trade piece. He could use a fresh start on a new team, because his time on the pens has shown him to be ineffective. They don't even trust him to PK. For as much as everyone hounds Graves, at least they trusted him to PK.

Ludvig somehow managed to get NHL ice time, that should never happen again. He was the worst defense man in Pit since Jack Johnson and it's not even close.
Maybe Ivany can develop into something. But between him an Rathbone I'm not sold. 7th defenders at best as far as I see it right now. They are 25 next year. They are hitting their peak years as defensemen and there isn't a whole lot to show for it. Ditto POJ on that. There aren't any excuses anymore. You either can or you can't. So far between the 3 of them they can't.
Time to move on.

3rd A lot of people want to move Smith out.
....and then replace him with a similar style 40 point winger. What's the point? Especially if Pit is retaining.
DeBrusk has been a streaky player in his career and frankly hasn't shown much more than Smith. The advantage of keeping Smith is his contract ends this year. Where if you sign a guy, you are roped in. This isn't a team that should get roped in right now. Flexibility is the key.
It's better to wait if things don't change next season. By mid season teams will look to make hockey trades. One expiring deal for another on guys that need a change might be a better fit.

4th Increase the bottom 6 offense.

I think this team creates depth by trusting it's younger players at this point. The 3rd line here has a lot more potential with Broz in the center and Bunting and Smith on the wings.
Giving the 2nd line a younger center should help jump start the 2nd line that was lacking all year. For a long time it's always been the "wingers" fault for no production on the 2nd line. Well they've changed wingers over and over and the problems persist. By adding two young players to the middle 6 it allows them to shift talent down the roster to find an advantage. Which should help the offensive capability of the 3rd and 4th lines.
The 4th line should have more potential here with Eller and Acciari able to help drive that line together as neither one had consistent help last year especially Acciari.

5th
They need a coaching change. I'm not sure how likely that is to happen, but it needs to. At some point next season this has to come to a head, as you can't fix what is broken when coaching is part of what is broken.

If the team is lucky maybe they get a player like Koivunen to really shine and help increase the potential of the roster. But I'm not counting on it. But if he started to show up and Rakell or Smith struggled that would help.

One way or another this team has to recognize it's age. It can't keep thinking 38 year old guys are going to drive play. They need to move into roles of support staff. Their best chance for staying competitive is to save their cap space and use it to build up in FA or trade. They need to be like vegas and get lucky on some big trades. Eichel Stone ....
It's time to save the cap and work on finding a 2C if Yager can't gill that role as it's clear the market right now isn't very good on finding a Center. But next year maybe they can make a run for Draisaitl or even a short term deal on Nelson. I think patients is the right way to go.