What Went Wrong: Another Early Exit for Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins' 15th straight playoff appearance did not last long; their 5-3 defeat in Game Six of their series against the New York Islanders brought an end to their season. For the Penguins, this marks the third straight season that they have failed to win a series, and in two of those occasions, they were defeated by the Islanders. Their 2019 and 2021 losses to the Islanders sandwich their stunning Qualifying Round loss to the Montréal Canadiens in the Toronto bubble in 2020. In fact, the Penguins have won only one playoff series since winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, and in three of their last four seasons, they were defeated by teams coached by Barry Trotz.

It seemed like things would be different and better for the Penguins this year. The team ended up finishing in first place in the makeshift East Division in a season that saw their longtime General Manager, Jim Rutherford, suddenly resign. It looked like the Penguins would be a force to be reckoned with, but in the end, the team still ended up falling to the Islanders. One factor was defense, mainly Tristan Jarry in net. Jarry was shaky all series, and the pinnacle of his inconsistency came in Game Five, as his error in playing the puck led to Josh Bailey scoring the double overtime winner.

Another factor: the lack of Crosby. Sidney Crosby only racked up two points all series, a goal and an assist, with the goal coming all the way back in Game One. In fact, a lot of Pittsburgh's core players weren't really showing up. Kris Letang ended up leading with six points (G/5A), but second behind him? Jeff Carter. Carter, who was traded from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh, scored four goals in the series, proving that age is nothing but a number. The Pens also missed Evgeni Malkin for the first two games, but even his return didn't spark things; five points (G/4A) in four games. And as for Jake Guentzel, he also only had two points in this series, with his only goal finally coming in Game Six.

Plain and simple: a shoddy defense plus core players not producing equals an early playoff exit. So where do the Penguins go from here? What has to be done for the team to return to the glory they had very recently? An easy answer is requiring a goaltender, or simply making Casey DeSmith the actual starter. But even so, what about offensively. Is Kris Letang's time in Pittsburgh over? Considering that he'll be 35 late next season, it may be time for Pittsburgh to go younger at defense, and they may need to add another forward to go with Crosby, Malkin, and Guentzel.

But there's just one more thing to consider: Mike Sullivan. Should the Penguins move on from him? Sullivan became the Penguins' head coach in December 2015, and in his first two years, they won the Stanley Cup twice. However, with one playoff series win since then, and three straight early exits, it may be time to let go of Sullivan. The question is: will they? Because we've seen another Pittsburgh team hang on to coaches for a long, long, long time. We may see the same thing with Sullivan, though I doubt it'll be as long as any of the Steelers coaches. I would think that after this year, Sullivan would get one last chance--anything less than a Cup Final appearance will not be tolerated by the higher-ups.

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