The Pittsburgh Penguins‘ highly ranked power play is suddenly a fumbling, disorganized boondoggle. Those players who fill the roster and performed at a high level all season are currently in the doldrums. And the Penguins, who fought through obstacles for much of the season, are being swallowed by a stingy defensive effort.
And the Penguins’ season is now hanging by a thread in a 2-0 series deficit to the Philadelphia Flyers.
There are a lot of questions bubbling beneath the surface of the swelling frustration. In eight seasons as a GM, Kyle Dubas teams have won just one playoff series. Indeed, only once in Dubas’s five seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs did the team advance past Round One, and in his first two seasons at the head of the Penguins organization, the team underachieved and missed the playoffs.
With some irony, the group of misfits, salary dumps, and bargain bin free agents that Dubas used to surround the Penguins’ star-laded core this season as he pushed deeper into his hybrid rebuild plan has remarkably outperformed the previous iterations.
The Round One series is not over, but it surely is not going well for the Penguins. While there may be some crowing and plenty of Canadian media chatter if another Dubas team cannot advance, that is probably the wrong tact.
A humbling Penguins loss should necessarily change some thinking about several players who overachieved this season, and the roles occupied by all players from top to bottom, but Dubas’s job for this season is done. He should get credit for assembling a situation that enabled so many players to reach greater heights against past expectations, and any blame should rest at ice level.
**Among those players who are awaiting Dubas’s decision on their futures, the performances of Evgeni Malkin, Anthony Mantha, and Stuart Skinner have diverged toward the opposite ends of the spectrum.
After 33 goals in the regular season, Mantha has raced toward ineffective. Malkin scored the Penguins’ only even-strength goal of the first two games, but he’s also been one of those forwards confined to the perimeter and part of the currently abysmal power play that is making the awkward disorganization of DC Comics movies look good.
Making the playoffs was supposed to bolster the cases for nice new contracts for Malkin and Mantha. However, a feckless loss could do more damage than any win could have helped.
After all, if the Penguins are brutally drummed out of the playoffs, what benefit would there be to trying again with the same players well into their 30s, or in Malkin’s case, turning 40?
The same could apply to several others who have not maintained their performance later in the season.
Skinner is another matter.
**Skinner’s next contract and future become a different situation, and if his stellar playoff performance continues, he could become the belle of the ball when free agency begins on July 1.
There are plenty of teams searching for help between the pipes.
Skinner has been brilliant in the series, shedding any wonders or doubt about his playoff mettle. He very much looks like a goalie with Stanley Cup experience, used to playing behind defensively scattered teams rather than a hinderance.
“I think there’s a calming factor with him and the way that he plays the game,” coach Dan Muse said. “And so I think that’s a part of his personality that probably does translate a little on the ice.”
Skinner will also be a free agent this summer, but his Penguins future should be an open-ended question. There are numerous reasons that Dubas should entertain Skinner’s desire to stay, not the least of which has been Skinner’s play since arriving.
To repeat a corollary, statistics and Penguins goalies just don’t mix. Despite Skinner’s astounding performances, he ranks last of 16 goalies in terms of goals saved above average after the first two games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“I mean, he was awesome from day one, just in terms of the personality, who he is. It’s very genuine,” Muse said of his goalie. “He’s a great teammate. He always got a smile on his face. I think just the approach that he takes to his day to day, it’s been outstanding.”
The stats on paper simply cannot measure how many great chances the Penguins allow and how many sterling saves the goalie must make to keep the Penguins close.
There is a future component to include in the Penguins’ decision. Next season should be time to grant an NHL roster spot to the Penguins’ long-term future at the position, Sergei Murashov. And the prospect’s readiness is exactly why Dubas should entertain a new contract for Skinner, if indeed Skinner will participate in another net share.
As a comparison, in 2024, the San Jose Sharks acquired highly regarded prospect goalie Yaroslav Askarov from the Nashville Predators for a package including a first-round pick. Like Murashov is now, Askarov was 22 years old at the time, but after two seasons has not yet claimed full-time starter status in San Jose, sharing the net with Alex Nedeljkovic this season.
It is very possible Murashov needs the same type of share and mentorship as he acclimates to the NHL. In that situation, Skinner would be a better choice than Arturs Silovs.
After all, Silovs is a rookie this season, has more work to do on his game, and his tone very much indicates he wants to be a full-time starter. Would Silovs be happy sharing with Murashov and perhaps falling to backup status? The guess here is no.
Skinner would be the right mentor and partner for Murashov. And if Murashov isn’t yet ready for a heavy workload, Skinner can handle being the starter.
Salary cap space won’t be an issue, but the wants of the players and the needs of the team will be. Skinner would be the right choice to stay if he’s willing to submit to the limitations and responsibilities of the role.
Tags: anthony mantha Evgeni Malkin kyle dubas stuart skinner
Categorized:PHN Blog