Michael O’Grady | sports editor

The predictable yet dismal playoff exit for the Steelers two weekends ago did little else but exemplify what the city’s standard-bearers have become: flat, bland and uninspiring. Six Super Bowl victories mean nothing to a football-crazed city when the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since before President Trump was sworn in — the first time around. The loss is the latest abject failure in a half-decade that has been full of abject failures for Pittsburgh sports.

Elsewhere on the North Side, Pirates CEO Travis Williams said Owner Bob Nutting “cares about winning” at PiratesFest last weekend. If “winning” is to mean “winning 80 games once every decade,” then Williams is spot on. No one in Pittsburgh is looking forward to baseball season and seeing just how badly Nutting and his Bucs waste Paul Skenes.

All that’s left is the Penguins, who are stumbling through their season with a geriatric roster. Clearly, the glory days of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin parading with Stanley Cups down the Boulevard of the Allies are over. Through 49 games, they’ve amassed 48 points, good for 13th in the Eastern Conference, and they also boast the worst goal differential in the East at -32. If the season ended today, the Penguins would finish behind the Philadelphia Flyers in the standings, which is never a good sign regardless of the latter’s record.

Reports have surfaced that GM Kyle Dubas is ready to sell off anybody of value who isn’t under a no-movement clause, which likely means the end of Matt Grzelcyk’s and Anthony Beauvillier’s short Penguins careers. It could also signal exits for more important players like Marcus Pettersson or Rickard Rakell, both of whom only have a certain number of teams on no-trade lists.

If or when these trades are made, I don’t think Dubas will be wrong for making them. After all, I’ve written in the past that the Penguins’ best bet is a quick rebuild to try and accommodate Crosby’s last seasons in Pittsburgh with young talent. However, with the way things stand right now, I think it would be smart of Dubas to wait a few weeks and gauge if he’s really dedicated to selling this season.

An opportunity has presented itself for the Penguins, not because they earned it, but because the East has been woefully mediocre. In the Metropolitan Division, Washington, Carolina and New Jersey are more-or-less locks to finish in the top three. The rest of the Metro and most of the Atlantic Division as well are sludge who are all vying for two wild-card spots.

Boston, normally a contender, is teetering between decent and checked-out. Ottawa and Montreal are both upstarts who are hot at the moment but could fall back to Earth. The reigning President’s Trophy winner New York Rangers are shockingly on par with Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and all three have been worse than Columbus. It’s possible Tampa Bay enters the mix if one of the Atlantic teams passes it.

Assuming that doesn’t happen, what stands out to me about this group of teams is that except for maybe Boston’s David Pastrňák, Crosby at 37 years old would still be the best player on all of them. Yes, the hockey world is enamored with 39-year-old Alex Ovechkin’s resurgence on the first-place Capitals, but that’s what it is: a resurgence. Crosby remains quietly averaging more than a point per game, his 20th straight season of doing so.

The Penguins roster is old and worn down, but I don’t believe it’s unreasonable to think they can’t take a late charge into a wild-card spot around Crosby. If the issue was goaltending, then Dubas already put Tristan Jarry on waivers. Alex Nedeljkovic or Joel Blomqvist now have a chance to settle in, get hot and steal a few games. As for skaters, I wouldn’t go as far as to say Pittsburgh should trade for a premium player, but there’s enough talent in the locker room to pull something off. Crosby, Rakell, Bryan Rust and even Malkin at his age are already more than what Ottawa, Columbus or Philadelphia have on their rosters.

Pittsburgh would also need more from both Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson if this were to happen. Mike Sullivan should explore reuniting Pettersson and Karlsson, the Penguins’ best possible tandem, on the first D-pairing. Grzelcyk is playing well enough to provide a spark for Letang, like he continually did for Charlie McAvoy in Boston.

Winning just three of 10 games in January so far doesn’t inspire confidence, but Pittsburgh is racking up overtime loss points, which is how the Islanders clawed their way into the playoffs last year without much offensive talent. Get enough wins with the OT losses, and the points pile up fast.

Maybe positioning themselves for a run just for an early playoff defeat isn’t smart long-term for the Penguins, and I can’t disagree with that. It would be a risky gamble, and nine times out of 10 I think the correct option would be to trade Pettersson, Rakell and more. But given the state of sports in the city and Crosby’s increasing age, it would be nice for Pittsburgh to get excited about somebody in this town, if only for a few months.