Mark Madden: Whether Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang stay or go, Penguins' offseason looks bleak

If you’re not concerned about the Pittsburgh Penguins’ offseason, you should be.

The chances of retaining Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang seem slim. The Penguins don’t appear to much want the former and won’t offer more than three years to the latter. (Letang wants five.)

Fanboys feel that parting with Malkin and Letang would be inexplicable. Allow me to explain it: They’re both 35, and the Penguins haven’t won a playoff series since 2018. Perhaps it’s time to move on.

But it’s not that simple.

New owners Fenway Sports Group didn’t spend $900 million to rebuild. They want to win. So does Sidney Crosby.

If Malkin and Letang depart, replacing them man-for-man with, say, free agents Vince Trocheck and John Klingberg would be nearly as expensive and might not make the team better. (Neither would take a three-year deal, anyway.)

It would be nice to use the cap space freed up by the departures of Malkin and Letang to sign several players. Get depth and youth.

But players facilitating that won’t be available. NHL free agency doesn’t work that way. You’ve got to draft those guys.

The Penguins have an absolute paucity of prospects. There’s not much beyond P.O Joseph and Sam Poulin, and their stars aren’t exactly shining bright.

These are difficult waters. Is Ron Hextall to be trusted navigating them?

Hextall has been GM 17 months, and I still don’t see a plan. (I know, he has trouble writing it down.) Jim Rutherford kept things moving. Hextall has allowed a stagnant team to become even more so.

During his tenure to date, Hextall made two cliched, token deadline deals that didn’t get the Penguins through the playoffs’ first round.

He illogically extended his buddy from Los Angeles, 37-year-old Jeff Carter, when other more important contractual issues (see above) fairly begged to be settled first.

Hextall had no trouble giving Brock McGinn four years. But he won’t give Letang more than three. (Letang will be a better player than McGinn in four to five years, just like now.)

Hextall kept Bryan Rust at a reasonable price. That’s the centerpiece of Hextall’s employment in Pittsburgh, and it isn’t enough.

Fenway Sports Group purchased the Penguins seven months ago and presumably did extensive due diligence prior. But what is FSG’s plan?

FSG should have hired elite management — their management — not long after purchase. This offseason is too critical to put in the hands of a holdover with a meager resume.

But that’s what’s happening.

The safest move is to retain Letang and maybe Malkin, too. It’s the devil you know. You would make the playoffs. Crosby would be placated. It’s safe. Hextall can’t mangle it. It would also be best for Hextall’s job security.

The problem with signing Malkin and Letang to a deal of three years or more isn’t having them at 35. It’s having them at 36, 37, etc. Hockey players don’t get better as they age. Old teams don’t win Stanley Cups.

The Penguins won’t win another Cup with Malkin and Letang. But they’re not going to win one for a while, anyway.

If Crosby is to win another Cup, it will have to be someplace else.

There’s no easy solution.

If Letang and Malkin walk, Crosby and the fan base get angry.

If Letang and Malkin stay, the Penguins do no better than a first-round exit for the next few seasons, then fall off a cliff. It would be a long way back to the top. The draft lottery skews the value of finishing last. The Penguins won’t luck into another Crosby.

When the Penguins badly decelerate, will the fans clamoring for Malkin and Letang to stay still buy tickets then?

Time is ticking. The first day of the NHL Draft is next Thursday. Lots of deals get made at the draft. The Penguins need to make some. Then free agency starts July 13.