Is Losing the Best Plan for the Penguins’ Future?

This is a blog. I’m not a journalist. These are just my thoughts.

Is losing now the best plan for the Penguins' future? Sorry, I had to ask it again because the Penguins are off to a hot start. They’re 6-2, which is a decent sample size. Not a huge one, but not a simple good 3-game home stand.

I legitimately don’t know what to make of this team. I am enjoying their brand of hockey, I am enjoying the winning, but is it what’s best for the future of the team?

People think I just want them to tank for Gavin McKenna, and that’s not true. I want the Penguins to do whatever is needed to win a Stanley Cup as soon as possible.

Whether that means winning or losing now, whichever gets the Penguins to a Stanley Cup faster is the route I'd prefer, and the one Kyle Dubas should pursue.

Perhaps I’m just more realistic, and that’s why I wouldn’t be satisfied with an appearance as an 8th seed and getting booted quickly.

So if this rendition of the Penguins is for real and has a shot to win a Stanley Cup, then by all means, go for it. Although I have my doubts about that coming to fruition.

I have my doubts that they are even a playoff team, but admittedly, the doubts are getting easier to erase from my mind as each win piles up.

But this is what it boils down to: a large portion of the fan base just wants to see Crosby and Malkin in the playoffs one last time. I simply do not want them in the playoffs just for the sake of being in the playoffs.

None of this is to call into question what Crosby and Malkin’s motivations should be, or are. I firmly believe that they are poised to win a Stanley Cup. I’m certain that Crosby believes every team he is on can be dragged to the Stanley Cup until they are officially eliminated.

So even if they get in as that lowest-ranked team, Sid and Geno are not going to see it as a bad thing; they’re going to have their gaze set solely on Lord Stanley, as they should.

I’m just, for once in my life, trying to be a rational sports fan. I’ve been a fan of this team my entire life. I want them to win more than anybody, but for the first time, I think I see the bigger picture.

I shared this a bit on the 2 For Talking podcast last week, but here’s my perspective, so follow along with me here.

The 2004-05 NHL season was completely wiped out by a lockout, but in late winter, there were whispers that the season could be saved. Gary Bettman had announced that the season was canceled, but Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky worked to get the sides to agree in principle to a collective bargaining agreement. After a 6 ½ hour meeting, the sides couldn’t agree, and the season was officially canceled.

When the initial news broke that Mario was trying to save the season, my mind immediately went here: “In a shortened season, with the right veterans signed, the Penguins could make the playoffs, who knows?”

I wanted more than anything to see Mario Lemieux in the playoffs one more time. I’m not kidding, I literally drove to the Mellon Arena that very day, and walked up to the box office window in hopes that I’d see someone there selling tickets.

What would have happened if my dreams of seeing Lemieux in the playoffs one more time had been realized? If the 2004-05 NHL season had been saved and the Penguins made the playoffs, they certainly would not have been in the draft lottery. Which means Sidney Crosby never comes to Pittsburgh, and everything we’ve enjoyed for the last 21 years probably doesn’t exist.

Sure, we had Marc-Andre Fleury and Malkin already. Could they have made it to and won a Stanley Cup without Crosby? Maybe. But here’s what wouldn't have happened if the Penguins missed out on Sidney Crosby because they scratched to get into the 2005 playoffs.

The Penguins… 

…don’t get Sidney Crosby first overall.

…don’t have a huge swell of support to get a new arena.

…don’t get a new arena deal.

…don’t make the Stanley Cup Finals in 2008.

…don’t win the Stanley Cup in 2009, 2015, or 2016.

…don’t stay in Pittsburgh beyond 2009.

Some of you may think I’m kidding, but I’m not. Without Sidney Crosby, the Penguins likely would not be in Pittsburgh right now. PPG Paints Arena is still the old hospital building. Mellon Arena is still standing, and a minor league team plays there.

As much as I wanted to see Mario Lemieux in the playoffs one more time in 2005, it wouldn’t have been worth it.

Does this mean that finishing in the lottery means the Penguins will get Gavin McKenna? Absolutely not. But they could use another star forward, and the top 5 in this upcoming draft look really promising. Plus, just in case the ping pong balls bounce the right way, you’d like to have the chance to take McKenna. 

So what’s better, a short playoff appearance, or possibly adding another generational talent who will be here for a decade or more?

When I was standing on Mario Lemieux Place outside the Mellon Arena in February of 2005, in my wildest dreams, I was picturing the arena surrounded by fans entering the gates for the Stanley Cup Finals. I could feel it; it could happen. 

What I didn’t know was that it would, I was just 3 years away from experiencing it. I’d just have to wait a bit, be patient, and accept the fact that it would be without Mario.

What would I have said if someone told me I’d have to give up seeing Mario in the playoffs ever again in exchange for what the Crosby era would bring?

Sometimes one era has to die for the new one to begin. There can be a passing of the torch, but there needs to be someone who can carry it with all the proverbial weight that comes with it.

I’m not sure if I would have chosen to be patient back in 2005. Can this generation of Penguins fans be patient? We’ll see. 

If the Penguins continue this pace and are an actual Stanley Cup contender, I am all for it. For real, I am. If they aren’t, then I am all for what gets them to that place as soon as possible, even if it means losing now.