We don’t know who the Pittsburgh Penguins’ next GM, president of hockey operations, etc. will be.

But here’s a situation that needs to be considered.

Penguins prospect (they don’t have many) Filip Hallander is no longer a Penguins prospect. His contract is expiring. He’s a restricted free agent as per the NHL. But said restrictions can’t stop Hallander from signing a five-year deal to play in Sweden. Which he did.

There could be many reasons Hallander did what he did. He is Swedish, so he’s going home. He likely got a lot of Swedish Krona. (One Swedish Krona equals 0.098 U.S. dollars.)

Or perhaps he felt blocked in the Penguins organization, where old gets older and young rarely gets a legit shot. As Hallander said, “If I had been allowed to play more in the NHL and had a great chance at it, then maybe I would have stayed.”

Hallander is 22. The Penguins selected him in the second round of the 2018 draft. He got traded to Toronto in 2020 and was reacquired in 2021.

Hallander played three games with the Penguins. His ice time totaled 16 minutes.

Hallander might not be good enough. That’s very likely what the Penguins organization would say.

But how would the Penguins know for sure? Hallander never got a real opportunity to prove himself at the NHL level. The Penguins just kept recycling old guys.

Some of the old guys are still good. You know the names. A lot aren’t. You know their names, too.

Why would Hallander stick around when washed-up Jeff Carter, 38, keeps getting contracts and ice time thrown at him?

Yeah, I know: Carter wins draws, plays special teams, intangibles, veteran respect, yada, yada.

But Carter had 13 goals and was minus-16 in 79 games. At one point, Carter netted just two goals in 31 games. Every time something went egregiously wrong, there’s a decent chance Carter was at the scene of the crime.

Carter was minus-4 in 8:28 of ice time during a 6-4 home loss to Montreal on March 14. Here’s guessing Hallander could have done better that night.

Hallander’s NHL ceiling is bottom-six forward. But the Penguins need more and better of those.

Coach Mike Sullivan has won two Stanley Cups coaching the Penguins. But those were six and seven years ago. Sullivan trusted young players in those Cup years but not since.

Sullivan must give youth a chance at the expense of older players who have outstayed their usefulness. If Sullivan continues refusing to do so, he will have outstayed his.

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