Mark Madden: Plenty must go right for Penguins to find success in '22

The Penguins have made the Stanley Cup playoffs for an incredible 16 straight years.

They haven’t won a playoff series since 2018.

This season’s team should maintain the former streak.

Can it end the latter streak? Can it win a first-round series after losing four in a row? Can it do even better?

The organization thinks so. That’s why it re-signed core players Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin before they reached free agency, keeping Letang and Malkin together with Sidney Crosby for a 17th consecutive season.

That’s admirable and fairly unique in today’s era of free player movement. Whether it produces better results remains to be seen.

Malkin is 36. Crosby and Letang are 35. Old teams don’t win championships.

That’s not to count out the Penguins. But a few things must happen:

• The core three must stay healthy and produce. All three are still very good players, though Malkin needs to adjust his game a bit better as he ages. Specifically, Malkin needs to be smarter with the puck in the neutral zone.

Malkin has played 41, 33 and 55 games over the last three years, playing more than 70 games in a season just once since 2012. Crosby and Letang have had injury concerns, also. But they’re training fanatics. They give themselves a better chance.

There’s no complaint with Malkin’s production. He averaged over a point per game last year. But more games translate to more points. Duh.

Related

• New Penguins defenseman Jan Rutta knows a contender when he sees one
• Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith feels stronger than ever after multiple groin surgeries
• A more mature Josh Archibald returns to the Penguins

• Brian Dumoulin must bounce back from last season, arguably his worst and decidedly riddled with injuries.

The Penguins have reshaped their defensive corps for the better, adding size in Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta, both 6-foot-3.

But Dumoulin’s partnership with Letang is the foundation of the defense, with Dumoulin able to read Letang’s risk-taking and fill in the gaps. (Letang was excellent last year despite Dumoulin’s struggles.)

• Tristan Jarry must be one of the NHL’s five best goalies.

Jarry’s performance must go beyond stats. His league rankings were good enough last season: Sixth in save percentage (.919), sixth in goals-against average (2.42), eighth in victories (34).

But Jarry needs to steal wins, which he doesn’t do often enough. Jarry also still must prove his mettle in the playoffs after his debacle in 2021’s first-round loss to the New York Islanders. Injury denied him a legit shot at that this past spring.

• The Penguins need more bottom-six scoring.

Brock McGinn netted 12 goals last year. Kasperi Kapanen scored 11, Teddy Blueger nine. The Penguins need more, especially after the departure of Swiss Army knife Evan Rodrigues (19 goals).

Kapanen, a first-round pick in 2014, has proven he can’t score at a top-six level. What if he can’t score at a bottom-six level? Can he score at an AHL level? How about at a Finnish Elite League level?

• The Penguins need a Plan B. They’re no longer fast enough to rely on speed alone. They’re not the NHL’s fastest team or even close to that.

In Game 3 of last year’s first-round loss to the New York Rangers, they blew a 4-1 lead when the Rangers scored three straight goals. Danton Heinen gave the Penguins a 5-4 edge with 8:58 left in regulation. The Penguins saw out the victory by trapping and cycling the puck in the Rangers’ end, adding two empty-net goals to win 7-4.

The Penguins won Game 4 handily, taking a 3-1 series lead.

They led by two in Game 5. They led by two in Game 6. They led by one twice in Game 7. They never trapped again. They never won again.

These Penguins aren’t fast enough or good enough to always play as they prefer. They must adjust what they do according to score, situation and foe.

There are other lesser worries:

• The Penguins are elderly at center. Jeff Carter is 37. He has played fine since arriving in Pittsburgh in 2021 but could hit a wall.

• Winger Jason Zucker must stay healthy more and score more. Eight goals in 41 games doesn’t cut it for somebody making $5.5 million.

• Winger Rickard Rakell impressed after joining the Penguins at last year’s trade deadline. But he scored just four times in 21 games (including playoffs). A wing playing alongside Crosby or Malkin needs more goals than that.

The biggest concern may be lack of a Plan B. Especially given that on the rare occasion one was used, it worked. Do what’s needed, not always what you want.