The Penguins are mired in a seven-game losing streak.
They still have the same flaws they had a year ago, they still have the same inconsistency in goal, and they still struggle to protect leads.
Are we all still excited that they decided to "get the band back together for one more run?"
I get trying to milk a semi-dynasty as long as possible, but this cow is officially out of milk. If there isn't a serious discussion within the front office about the Penguins being aggressive sellers, then the front office is being willfully ignorant of just how done this core group is.
This should have been done in the offseason, but for whatever reason, not only was the group broken up, the front office doubled down and locked up some of the oldest and most expensive players for a few more years.
I get there is a desire to capture lightning in a bottle and hope that the old crew had one last run in them. I get that there are season ticket sales to think about and tearing a team apart doesn't help.
But bringing this group back together has set the Penguins' rebuild efforts back at least two seasons.
Sidney Crosby is signed through 2024, and while he is the one guy that the team absolutely should keep around, the fact is he eats $8.7 million of the salary cap.
Evgeni Malkin was handed one of the silliest contracts I can remember, as he will make $6.1 million a year through the year of 2025. I thought it was a joke when it was signed over the summer, and the more I look at it, the worse it looks.
Jeff Carter has only two goals, and he also has two years (counting this one) left on his contract.
Malkin and Crosby are productive, Carter not so much. All three of them are old and will become increasingly inconsistent because that's what age does.
The next two seasons, however, the Pens have about $18 million tied up in these three aging centers.
You add those three salaries to Kris Letang's contract, which seemingly runs through 2056 (it is actually through 2026) and at $6.1 million per year, and you ask yourself: What could the Penguins be doing with $24 million per year if it wasn't tied up in fading stars?
I mean, was the plan to run a retirement home or a hockey team? Was this some twisted version of a golden parachute in retirement for these guys?
The additions to the team have added very little, but they all cost something and it all adds up. Bad spending for bad contracts makes for a very long, painful and not particularly easy rebuilding process.
There is some good news. The goalies combine to make only $5.2 million, and Tristan Jarry can become a free agent after this season and Casey DeSmith can become one after next.
The bad news is they are that cost-effective (i.e., cheap) because both are middling goalies in the NHL at their ceiling. And looking where they are statistically, they are right now among the worst goalies in the NHL.
But who is surprised by this? Why is any of this surprising?
Jarry has never proven he is capable of being a legitimate starting goalie on a playoff team. DeSmith is a backup, and that's what he has always been.
The Penguins are old in the wrong places, average at the most important position, and have a coach who appears to be trying to use the same formula he used five or six years ago when the stars were still in their prime.
And the trio of stars — the core, whatever you want to call it — want to play a certain way and don't like to deviate from it, which is why Sullivan's hands are probably tied.
Again, you have an expensive aging core of players, mediocre goalies and a stubborn coach ... what in the world did you think was going to happen?
I'm sure this group will figure it out for stretches, win a lot of games and give false hope to the few among the loyal followers who believe there is one last run in them. But that is mostly pie in the sky stuff, as this team is going to be lucky to make the playoffs.
They will then have wasted yet another precious year of trying to rebuild, and that's not a year the team can afford to waste.
