THE GLORY DAYS

Charlie Schmiedchen

The Pittsburgh Penguins are a good hockey team. They aren’t the best in the league, but they certainly aren’t the worst. This season was a solid one for them.

They made the playoffs, finishing with 46 wins for 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division. For the Penguins, this isn’t new. Pittsburgh has consistently made the playoffs for over a decade now, being known in the NHL for being a tough opponent.

The Penguins organization wasn’t always like this though. There were a few times when the club almost declared bankruptcy and even came close to relocation.

During the 23 seasons that the club played between 1967 and 1990, the team only won 4 combined playoff rounds. They grabbed back-to-back Stanley Cups the next two seasons of course, with their plethora of superstar forwards, including Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, and Ron Francis.

Unfortunately for them, they didn’t have much to show for the next decade and a half, until the drafting of the next big thing in 2005: Sidney Crosby. With Evgeni Malkin joining the team the previous year, and Kris Letang being picked in the second round, Pittsburgh was building something special. To make things better, star goalie Marc-André Fleury, a key piece in this Penguins rebuild, was drafted first overall in 2003.

After a few years of playoff pushes and a heartbreaking cup final loss the year before, the Penguins finally captured their first cup in almost 20 years against the Detroit Red Wings in game 7 of the 2009 finals. This was the start of a new era of Penguins domination in the National Hockey League.

Through the 2010s, the Penguins were a top contender in the league each year, with captain Crosby and his star teammates showing no mercy to opponents.

They captured back-to-back cups again in the 15-16 and 16-17 seasons. Those were the glory days for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Times have changed. Since their 2017 Stanley Cup, the Pens have won no more than 1 playoff round. Despite playing well in the regular season, it looks like the team has lost its playoff touch.

Sidney Crosby is turning 35 this year. He hasn't been the league's top player in a few years. Malkin and Letang’s contracts are up. Fleury has been gone for years now. Things aren't looking too good for the penguins.

It will be interesting to see what the Penguins organization does over the next few years. With one of the worst prospect pools in the NHL, this core is all they've got. And it might be gone before next season. This doesn't mean that it's time for an all-out rebuild, the team should fold, trade all their stars. What it means is that the glory days are over.