Ron Hextall says the Penguins' "win-now" mindset isn't changing.
And it sounds as if the players and coaches the front office will rely on to make that short-term success happen won't be, either.
Wednesday, Hextall offered a vigorous endorsement of No. 1 goalie Tristan Jarry -- whose subpar play was widely regarded as the primary reason for the Penguins' upset loss to the New York Islanders in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs -- and his potential, coach Mike Sullivan and his staff and the rest of the major-league roster, in general.
While there surely will be some personnel turnover before training camp opens in September, Hextall doesn't seem to feel that a major overhaul is called for to position the Penguins for a run at the franchise's sixth Stanley Cup in 2022.
"We're comfortable with our team," he said. "We had a real good regular season and played well in the playoffs. That doesn't mean we won't look to get better -- you always look to get better. If we can find ways to tweak things and get better, we will."
Hextall reiterated that "of course" the Penguins would like to add some size and toughness, but made it clear that he's content with the basic makeup of the group.
"We have a hard-working team," Hextall said. "We've got a skilled team. We've got a fast team."
It's a team constructed from a blueprint that bears Sullivan's imprimatur, although Hextall said the front office and Sullivan are "aligned" about what the team's on-ice identity should be next season.
"It would be nice (to add some size and toughness), but there's not a lot out there," Hextall said. "We'll look at what's there this summer and we'll make adjustments, but if we go into the next season with this group, we're comfortable."
That group includes Jarry, despite a decidedly subpar performance during his first playoff series as the Penguins' go-to goalie.
Hextall said flatly that "I felt like we deserved to win the first round of the playoffs." What he didn't say, at least directly, was that Jarry's showing was the most obvious reason the Penguins' postseason stay lasted only a half-dozen games.
He played poorly in a Game 1 loss, made a giveaway that led directly to the game-losing goal in Game 5 and looked completely out of sorts during a series-ending defeat in Game 6.
Hextall witnessed all of that, of course, but chose to emphasize Jarry's strong play for most of the regular season and the prospects of him elevating his game in the future.
"Tristan did a good job for us this year, from the time (president of hockey operations Brian Burke) and I came in in mid-February, through the end of the year," he said. "We had very good goaltending from both guys (including backup Casey DeSmith).
"Obviously, we saw what happened in Game 5 -- an unfortunate error there -- and then Game 6 wasn't the best, but I think we wouldn't have been where we were without Tristan. We all have to remember, Tristan is a young player. He's going to learn from this and he's going to come back better in September.
"We all learn lessons in life, and if you're going to be a goaltender in this league for a long time, you're going to have your ups-and-downs, as pretty much every guy does. You learn from it and get better, so we're confident Tristan is going to get better."
Hextall's offseason to-do list does not appear to include doing anything to change the veteran core -- Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang -- around which the team is built. The latter two are entering the final year of their contracts.
"We had a good year," Hextall said. "It certainly didn't give me pause to think about what we should do with this core. ... I expect to have these guys back next year, for sure."
It's guaranteed that not everyone from the 2020-21 squad will return, if only because the Penguins will lose a player in the expansion draft that will provide personnel for the new team in Seattle. Hextall said the Penguins have not finalized their protected list for that, but added that they anticipate losing "a pretty good player" to the Kraken.
Although the current roster stresses speed and skill, Hextall suggested that its generally modest size was not a significant factor in the loss to New York.
"The biggest thing in the playoffs is that you have to have a team that's willing to play through," he said. "There are going to be teams that want to play physical and run you, because they feel like that's the only way they can beat you.
"You have to have players who are willing to play through that and, quite honestly, I think we showed that in the first round, that we had a lot of players who were willing to play through the hard stuff, and the hooks and the holds and the interference and the hits and guys leaning on you. For the most part, I thought we did a pretty good job."
Indeed, Hextall made it obvious that he was reasonably satisfied with most of what he saw from his team during the Islanders series.
"I don't look at it like there were a whole lot of holes in our game in the first round, where we said, 'OK, we need to plug this hole,' " he said.
That explains why Hextall doesn't seem to feel any urgency to make major changes, be it with the Penguins' No. 1 goalie, players at any particular position or the coaching staff.
"There was a special drive to this group and chemistry that we like," he said. "We'll do everything we can this summer to get better at every position and we'll see what comes our way, but our goal next year is to come back and make the playoffs and hopefully, go on a run."
