The Stanley Cup banners hanging in Pittsburgh and Washington aren’t accumulating mud but. The Penguins gained their third, fourth and fifth championships in 2009, 2016 and 2017, whereas the Capitals hoisted the Cup for the primary time in franchise historical past in 2018.
Still, the core gamers from these title-winning groups aren’t getting any youthful: Sidney Crosby celebrated his thirty sixth birthday Monday and Alex Ovechkin turns 38 subsequent month. The Penguins’ 16-year playoff streak and the Capitals’ eight-year playoff streak ended final season.
The strikes made this summer season present each groups are prepared to sacrifice some future success to maintain successful now. Pittsburgh over the weekend traded a number of gamers and two excessive draft picks to land Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson, a deal that got here on the heels of Washington signing energy ahead Tom Wilson to a seven-year contract extension.
New Penguins normal supervisor Kyle Dubas and longtime Capitals GM Brian MacLellan are attempting to jam open their groups’ contending window so long as attainable — a troublesome process within the NHL within the wage cap period.
“It is challenging,” MacLellan stated. “We got some young guys that are still coming, but our goal is to remain competitive. I think it’s a tricky balance, but we’ll see if we can pull it off. I think it’s important for Ovi, for all our veteran guys that we remain competitive, give them a chance to compete.”
In changing Ron Hextall and Brian Burke — they have been fired after Pittsburgh missed the playoffs for the primary time since 2006 – Dubas took a giant swing at upgrading instantly by getting Karlsson from San Jose. Perhaps extra vital than what he gave up is the $10 million yearly the Penguins have dedicated to the 33-year-old Swede over the following 4 seasons.
Dubas isn’t nervous about sending a message to veteran leaders like Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang or coach Mike Sullivan. But it speaks volumes concerning the course the staff goes in, with no signal of a rebuild in sight.
“I think it’s just the affirmation that we believe that they have a chance to contend and compete for a championship, and there’s a lot of work that has to be done,” Dubas stated. “Obviously, the team missed the playoffs last year and there’s no dancing around it and we’ve tried to supplement as best we can.”
MacLellan, in contrast to Hextall, offered on the commerce deadline when it was clear Washington was prone to miss the playoffs. He, too, has tried to complement the core that continues to be from the Cup run, signing winger Max Pacioretty and buying and selling for defenseman Joel Edmundson.
Pacioretty turns 35 in November and Edmundson is 30 – the identical age Wilson will likely be when his new $45.5 million contract kicks in for the 2024-25 season. Nicklas Backstrom is nearing 36, T.J. Oshie turns 37 in December and John Carlson 34 in December.
The Capitals suppose that have is usually a profit in making an attempt to get again into the playoffs.
“There’s a lot of winners in that room, and when you don’t make the playoffs, it’s a failure,” Wilson stated. “We’re hungry, we’re excited to get back at it and get this thing moving back in the right direction.”
The timeline is obvious. Ovechkin is signed for 3 extra years and is in sizzling pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s profession targets report, at present 75 behind a mark that lengthy appeared unattainable to strategy.
Wilson’s deal carries him 4 years past Ovechkin with the expectation he’ll grow to be the face of the franchise and succeed his longtime Russian teammate as captain. But it additionally locks him in at a $6.5 million cap hit via 2026 to contribute to the Gretzky chase and maybe one other playoff run or two.
“We’re going to keep pushing,” Wilson stated. “A good team and a team that’s winning games means he’s scoring goals, and we’re checking both those boxes at the same time.”
The Penguins, with Malkin 37 and Letang 36 like Crosby, are decided to win sufficient video games to stay a perennial playoff staff. That’s no simple process within the Metropolitan Division making an attempt to maintain up with Carolina, New Jersey and the New York Rangers and within the Eastern Conference with younger Buffalo and Detroit among the many groups on the rise.
Getting Karlsson ought to be a lift, at the very least within the brief time period, as Dubas tries to silence the doubters who don’t suppose Pittsburgh can stay within the Stanley Cup combine.
“We have to go out and prove it,” he stated. “I think the doubts are fair. I think the criticisms are fair. Now we have our belief, and then it’s about us to go and execute it.”
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