Mark Madden: Ron Hextall needs to fix problems he created because the Penguins need a change

Up to this point in his tenure as Pittsburgh Penguins GM, Ron Hextall has done little.

Hextall has made two token deadline trades, doled out two awful contracts, retained lots of players, put the team in salary cap hell and won zero playoff series.

That’s a lean two years. Hextall is said to be patient. Maybe he’s lazy.

But now Hextall has got to do something.

Rarely does a team prove it stinks in a victory. But the Penguins did so in their depressing 4-3 overtime win against visiting Anaheim on Monday.

The Ducks sit last in the Pacific Division with a measly 29 points in 44 games. But the Penguins jumped through their usual hoops in attempting to lose, most notably conceding goals at 11 minutes, 16 seconds and 15:40 of the third period to turn a 2-1 lead into a 3-2 deficit.

But Bryan Rust scored with 25 seconds left in regulation, then Jake Guentzel netted the winner after 33 seconds in OT. Guentzel’s goal came after Anaheim botched a two-on-none.

The Penguins locker room was more buoyant than it should be after such a putrid display. That’s part of the problem. (Not that the two points weren’t needed.)

The Penguins failed to score five-on-three and went 0 for 4 on the power play. The Ducks got two man-advantage goals on four tries.

The Penguins’ defensive-zone coverage was rotten.

Save Jason Zucker, nobody plays with even remote ferocity.

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The Penguins are sloppy. They committed 12 giveaways to Anaheim’s five.

The Penguins’ bottom six is beyond bad. Jeff Carter and Kasperi Kapanen are empty jerseys. (They’re the guys who got the awful contracts.) Teddy Blueger doesn’t have to score 20 goals, but he can’t just score one.

As bad as all that reads, the Penguins often look worse. They’ve had losing streaks of seven and six games. Good teams don’t do that.

The Penguins are stale. Change and youth bring energy, and the Penguins haven’t had enough of either for a long time.

The Penguins were destined to go splat once they committed to keeping their aging core together to cement the bond of eternal brotherhood. Just maybe not this soon.

The Penguins need change. It almost doesn’t matter what that change is, though the bottom six is clearly the biggest problem.

That dressing room needs a jolt. If not via trade, then via coaching change. But they shouldn’t go there yet. (Mike Sullivan is top-notch. But does his message still register, especially when the group changes so little?)

Things are too comfortable. Even failure has become comfortable.

But if the Penguins miss the playoffs, things get uncomfortable.

New owners Fenway Sports Group didn’t spend to keep that aging core together so the Penguins could be absent from the postseason. That eternal bond could get broken in a hurry, no-movement clauses be damned.

The Penguins took the safe route by retaining the core three. Fenway Sports Group didn’t want bad PR by way of letting marquee stars scatter. The locker room wanted the team kept intact, and the Penguins have always been a franchise that listens to its locker room too much.

Hextall is shackled by the Penguins’ payroll being tight against the cap. But Hextall created that problem. It’s his job to fix it.

It’s Hextall’s job to make the team better. He hasn’t. He isn’t.

It might have been better to lose Monday. Those above Hextall might have demanded action.

The Penguins are average at best. They have 22 wins, 21 losses. (The “OTL” column in the standings is a disguise. The “L” stands for loss.) They’re tied for the final wild card in the Eastern Conference, a whopping 12 points off the lead in the Metro Division.

Problems have become habits. Blowing leads, like they did against Anaheim. Before Monday, the Penguins had allowed the first goal in five straight games. They too often concede goals in quick succession. They’re vulnerable right after they score and in the first and last minutes of periods. Dumb penalties. Minimal intensity.

The Penguins don’t play winning hockey.

The Penguins have lately been flooded with injuries and absences. But structure can compensate, and there’s little sign of that.

The Penguins’ “strategy” seems to be riding the storm out, not unlike REO Speedwagon, and hoping energy regenerates once injuries subside.

But do aging hockey players find a second wind in February?