Rebecca Jozwiak | staff writer

For the first time since the 2003-04 and 2005-06 seasons, the Pittsburgh Penguins have failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for two consecutive years.

After a 16-year streak of making the playoffs that earned them three Stanley Cups out of four trips to the Cup Final, recent seasons have been rather lackluster for the Penguins: the team has failed to advance past the first round in playoffs since 2018, with only six total playoff wins in the decade. To put that into perspective, the Penguins won seven playoff games in the 2013-14 season alone before being eliminated in the second round by the New York Rangers, which at the time was considered an early exit for Pittsburgh.

Although the past two years have been rather disappointing for the organization, the Penguins still retain the core three players their success was built around, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.

Crosby, who has been with Pittsburgh since being the first overall pick in the 2005 Draft and the only one of the three still playing at an elite level, was the center of attention this offseason for the Penguins. With free agency beckoning, whispers about his future slowly got louder, albeit mostly outside of Pittsburgh.

Those rumors were squashed on Sept. 16 when Crosby signed a $17.4 million contract extension to keep him in Pittsburgh through the 2026-27 season. Though the team wouldn’t be able to compete without him, Crosby’s age poses a vital question: are the Penguins putting too much faith into their older players?

While the “Big Three” continue to be the main faces of the Penguins franchise, even while Malkin and Letang are in the sunset of their careers, the Penguins are still projected to have the oldest roster in hockey for the second consecutive season. Erik Karlsson, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell and newcomer Kevin Hayes will all be expected to contribute despite being on the wrong side of 30.

Penguins General Manager Kyle Dubas spent his offseason making low-risk, high-potential moves. He traded with St. Louis for the former Flyer Hayes with the assurance that Philadelphia will retain 50% of his contract. Longtime Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was signed to a one-year deal after a lost final year with the Bruins. Anthony Beauvillier was an explosive winger for the Islanders before underperformance and injury saw him spend time with three different teams in 2023-24. He joins Pittsburgh on a one-year contract.

Dubas also made an intriguing swap with Winnipeg for 20-year-old Michigan and World Junior standout Rutger McGroarty, the 14th overall pick in the 2022 Draft. 2023 first-rounder Brayden Yager was moved to get him, but the Penguins couldn’t pass on McGroarty’s upside after hearing of his dissatisfaction with the Jets organization. He has been practicing with the bottom six so far, so there’s a real potential that he sees significant action in his first season out of college, a rarity in the Penguins organization.

Three major substractions could all be argued as victories for the Penguins. Jeff Carter retired shortly after the season ended. Reilly Smith was traded to the Rangers after just one underwhelming year in Pittsburgh. P.O. Joseph signed with St. Louis; his young career never really got going in the black and gold even with his close relationship with Letang.

With all the roster changes and the continuing fallout from the Jake Guentzel trade in March, the Penguins are still figuring out who is playing where. Crosby and Rust are guaranteed first-liners, and it looks as if Beauvillier will play with them at the outset. Malkin centers a second line of Rakell and for now, Michael Bunting, who was a home run of a return in the Guentzel trade. The bottom lines will look similar to last year’s mish-mash as Lars Eller, fan-favorite Drew O’Connor, Valtteri Puustinen, Noel Acciari and Jesse Puljujärvi all return, the latter two getting multi-goal games in preseason play.

Grzelcyk and Letang appear to be the first defensive pairing, dropping Karlsson next to Ryan Graves, though Karlsson is dealing with an injury and might not start on opening night. Marcus Pettersson stabilizes a third pairing alongside the ‘other’ Sebastian Aho.

The Metropolitan Division is always tough, and Pittsburgh appears to be one of the teams who will be trying for a wild card spot. A new Penguins campaign begins with a visit from the hated Rangers on Wednesday night.