Mark Madden: Stuck in salary cap purgatory, Penguins have to play better to keep playoff spot

It’s difficult to draw a bead on the Penguins.

The Penguins mostly look like excrement on skates lately, but have points in each of their last six games (3-0-3). They’re in the Eastern Conference’s second and last wild-card berth, but only two points ahead of hard-charging Buffalo, which has five straight wins and youth on its side. (The Penguins don’t.)

The Penguins had a 12-1-1 streak from Nov. 17-Dec. 15. But they’ve also had seven- and six-game losing streaks.

The Penguins must do better than tread sludge to keep their playoff spot. Five teams are within eight points of them, including Philadelphia (!). Not all those teams will join them in backstroking through mediocrity.

But there are no adjustments to be made.

They’re in cap purgatory, so likely won’t make a significant trade. They want to play their way, and that’s it. Their best strategy is to stay healthy, and they haven’t.

Old teams don’t suddenly surge with adrenaline late in the season. We think of Bryan Rust and Jake Guentzel as young. But they’re 30 and 28, respectively.

It’s a shame GM Ron Hextall really can’t make a trade. Perhaps he’s OK with that. It would interrupt his nap.

Trades provide energy, however artificial and temporary. The Penguins need that, if nothing else.

Beyond situational momentary frustration, the Penguins seem content with where they’re at. They believe things will straighten out, because they always do.

Until they don’t. Anyway, define “straighten out.” The Penguins haven’t won a playoff series since 2018.

It’s hard to point fingers, because the Penguins’ decline is happening organically. They’re stale and aging out. They kept the old gang together, and can’t be blamed for that. Trying to reload in, say, 2018 or ‘19 by trading a member of their core offered no guarantees.

But this did, and it’s playing out. Like it did with Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles.

The contracts given Jeff Carter and Kasperi Kapanen have the Penguins in a bind. Too long, too much.

Carter signed a two-year extension with a cap hit of $3.125 million in the middle of last season. Kapanen inked a two-year pact carrying a hit of $3.2 million this past offseason.

Kapanen’s contract is particularly galling. It’s impossible to believe Kapanen got many other offers, if any, and certainly none for two years. Hextall bid against himself. Kapanen has been useless beyond the occasional flash, a first-round pick gone bust.

Carter, 38, is just too old, out of gas, a shell of the good player he was. He has no points in nine games. Yet he dresses every game, plays his usual minutes and is on the ice in high-leverage situations. “Veteran respect” is one of Mike Sullivan’s coaching weaknesses. (See Marleau, Patrick.)

It’s amazing the Penguins protected Carter in the 2021 expansion draft. No way Seattle takes him. The Penguins might still have Brandon Tanev or Jared McCann. McCann has 23 goals for the Kraken. He’d obviously be a better third-line center than Carter, and he’s just 26. The Penguins wouldn’t have re-signed Carter. But…#BuddySystem

Carter and Kapanen wreck both the Penguins’ cap and their third line. They’re not third line-style players. When they don’t produce, they don’t help. They don’t suddenly morph into checkers.

What were the options? Don’t know. They were never considered.

What are the options now? None. Play it as it lays.

It would be good if the Penguins started games better.

Thursday’s shootout loss at Washington followed a familiar script: Come out flat and fall behind early. The Penguins allowed 22 first-period shots. Only goaltender Casey DeSmith’s excellence (!) kept their deficit at 1-0 going into intermission.

It would be good if the Penguins managed leads better, too. But they won’t. They play their style for 60 minutes, very rarely adjusting to score and situation.

Legendary coach Scotty Bowman sometimes had each of his lines playing a different system. It’s doubtful he’d have defenseman Chad Ruhwedel joining every rush.

At least Danton Heinen has found his touch. He scored at Washington, giving him goals in two consecutive games after going 34 without.

Don’t laugh. The Penguins’ bottom six has been largely impotent. It’s a big part of the Penguins’ problems. Any bottom-six goal is like manna from heaven.