Mark Madden: Penguins' mangled defense needs a shakeup, but can management pull it off?

The Pittsburgh Penguins have lost three in a row, looked bad doing it, and are currently not in a playoff position.

They finally got their starting goalie back after a month out, but he soiled the blue paint and blew Monday’s must-win home date with the New York Islanders. Tristan Jarry’s third-period implosion had flair and variety: Bad-angle goal, then an egregious puck-handling error that led to a tally from behind the net. Rustiness doesn’t excuse those botches.

But Jarry has to play. He’s their best hope.

The third line and fourth line stink. As in, a don’t-belong-in-the-NHL level of stink. The Penguins’ bottom six has multiple goals in just eight of 56 games. That’s very limited secondary scoring, to put it politely.

Teddy Blueger failed to convert a short-handed breakaway in Monday’s loss. Of course he did. Blueger has one goal in 41 games. But who replaces him?

The Penguins are what they are. They got who they got.

It’s a real rock-and-a-hard place situation.

The Penguins roster is badly flawed. GM Ron Hextall has done a terrible job. He has been in charge for over two years, and almost nothing has changed. This during a period that cried out for change.

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Owners Fenway Sports Group likely mandated re-signing Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin this past offseason. But having done that isn’t the problem, as previously discussed in this space. The core three is doing OK. Too much marginal talent has been assembled around them.

So what should the Penguins do?

There’s not much they can do. The season-saving big trade just isn’t out there. If it was, would you trust Hextall to make it? I wouldn’t trust him or mystery employee Brian Burke to wash my car.

The Penguins aren’t going to change their style or even tweak it. The Penguins would rather lose their way than seek a better chance to win playing another way.

Watch what happens Thursday when Edmonton and phenom Connor McDavid visit. The Oilers use the same approach as the Penguins, except they’re a lot younger, faster and better. The Penguins won’t try to slow down the Oilers. They’ll play right into the teeth of that buzzsaw.

Here’s an idea for a trade: Swap defenseman Brian Dumoulin for a third- or fourth-round pick.

Dumoulin, 31, is past his prime. He hasn’t been the same since injuries and surgeries.

But he has two Stanley Cup rings. His play has had a bit of an uptick recently. Contenders stockpile depth. Dumoulin now is reminiscent of, say, when the Penguins got Ron Hainsey in 2017.

Ty Smith comes up from the Penguins’ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm team and replaces Dumoulin in the lineup. (That happens next season anyway. Dumoulin is a free agent at season’s end.)

But that deal would get pushback from the dressing room because Dumoulin is an entrenched figure.

Hextall would also have to work with Dumoulin’s modified no-trade clause. There are 10 teams Dumoulin can refuse to be traded to. (Everybody but the stickboy has some kind of no-movement clause.)

Hextall mangled the Penguins defense this past offseason and in doing so perhaps exposed a disconnect between GM and coach.

Rightly or wrongly, coach Mike Sullivan wants all of his defensemen to activate, to join the rush.

Knowing that, Hextall shouldn’t have signed the relatively lumbering and unskilled Jan Rutta. You save that spot for Smith or don’t trade John Marino to New Jersey for Smith. Smith and Marino fit Sullivan’s mold.

Also knowing that, don’t trade Mike Matheson to Montreal for Jeff Petry. Matheson was good at joining the rush. Petry should join AARP.

Did Hextall and Sullivan talk before Hextall constructed that defense? Do they talk now?

I’m curious to see how the core three react if the Penguins continue to fade. If they wanted out, I’d have no problem. They’ve done their part.

But the organization gave those three players the wherewithal to make the playoffs 16 straight times and win three Cups. They did the most, especially Crosby. But they didn’t do it alone. Should they want out the moment the team is in clear decline?

Maybe.

Fenway Sports Group didn’t provide those opportunities. Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle did.

Hextall and Burke didn’t build those teams. Ray Shero did, and then Jim Rutherford.

FSG, Hextall and Burke haven’t cut the mustard.

It’s relatively early days for the ownership group. I’ve seen enough from the GM and mystery employee.