Kovacevic: There's absolutely no way Hextall can keep his job now, countless massive mistakes later

Fire Ron Hextall.

As in, unconditionally.

Meaning that, even if these fatally flawed Penguins were to somehow find yet another second life and sneak into the Stanley Cup playoffs, even if they were to take Boston by storm and bounce the greatest regular-season team in NHL history, even if they were to stun further into the next round ... this general manager must be fired.

No questions asked. 

Turn in the keys.

There's the door.

I don't write columns like this casually. I don't take the subject matter that way, whether it's aimed at a GM, a head coach, a manager, even their assistants and specialists. In a lifetime of journalism, a decade and a half of that doing columns, I've penned no more than a handful.

But also in a lifetime of doing this, I'm quite comfortable in assessing that I've never encountered this scope of outright incompetence on the part of any team executive.

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Want to talk about Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena?

Hey, sure. But know beforehand that this stance wouldn't have been altered with a W anymore than it will after ... my God, they really did lose to the Blackhawks, didn't they?

Yeah, they did, by a 5-2 final.

To an opponent that's currently 31st in a 32-team league's overall standings. To an opponent that'd won once in its previous dozen games. To an opponent that's outwardly, almost openly tanking to improve lottery odds of taking the wunderkind Connor Bedard first overall in this summer's NHL Draft. To an opponent that'd played the previous night in Chicago. To an opponent whose management, after that welcome loss to the Wild, went a step further in replacing several of those players with recalls from the Rockford IceHogs ... to further ensure they'd lose here.tenure 

And maybe above all, to an opponent that'd ironically get the tiebreaking goal in the third period from Buddy Robinson, a 31-year-old AHL lifer who's now got four NHL goals over 62 NHL games to his name, or one for every billion bus miles in the minors.

Why was old Buddy called up Monday in the final week of a long-lost season in a situation where most teams prefer to see their prospects?

Mm-hm.

That, my friends, was this opponent.

And that, all by its lonesome, should be more than enough to call for the end of Hextall's tenure here, given the context that the Penguins forfeited control of their destiny to make the playoffs for a 17th consecutive season and extend the longest such active streak in professional sports. Now, with the Panthers clinching, they're right back to waiting, watching and hoping, this time that the giddy-all-over-again Islanders will lose in regulation Wednesday night to the Canadiens in Elmont, N.Y. 

Oh, the joy from that direction:

Sound familiar?

And that, to take all this further, was why I was stone-cold out on this team as far back as two weeks ago. Because so much had already gone so wrong, so many perilous patterns had been established, that this wasn't going to go anywhere ... even if it went somewhere. Even if they'd finally begin putting forth the fire, the collective effort that'd be needed to overcome this roster's shortcomings.

Well, they did. Competed really hard for a couple games. Beat the Wild. Beat the Red Wings. 

Competed hard in this one, too, but ****ed around for far too long and found out.

I asked Evgeni Malkin, after his tying goal in the third period had brought a momentary stay, what might've been if the Penguins had looked anything like this for the first 75 or so games:

"It's hard to say right now," he'd reply, and that, by the way, was the most common reply I'd hear all around that room. "It's a hard season for everybody. We played up and down all year. I think the last four games, we've played so much better, you know? Played better defensively. Played smarter."

Slight pause there.

"But we should play better all year. Like 100%. Coach always says that two points in October is huge. Two points in November, December ... they're just like points in April. But ..."

Another pause.

"It's not over, we hope. But ... it's, like, hard to say anything right now."

Right. Happened with Rickard Rakell, too:

"I mean, it's so disappointing," he'd reply. "We had it in our own hands. But we couldn't get the job done. Now, it's not up to us anymore. It's a huge disappointment."

He shouldn't include himself. In addition to setting up Geno for that lone goal with a sizzling shot-pass ...

... he's been just wonderful all season.

Which, it's worth underscoring, gives him a genuinely unique distinction on this roster: Hextall didn't screw up in acquiring him.

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Yeah, Rakell for a second-rounder. That's good. Same goes for the related act of retaining him over the past offseason to a long-term contract.

And I suppose one could include the retention of Geno and Kris Letang to ensure that the iconic Core, along with Sidney Crosby, would stay together. At bargain rates, no less. 

But man, that's the whole list of positives, huh?

I didn't think the Seattle expansion draft debacle could be topped, I swear. I didn't foresee anything bottoming out below protecting a 36-year-old Jeff Carter and Teddy Blueger over Jared McCann and Brandon Tanev. I didn't think it'd be fair to even dare envision something worse, and I felt that way well before McCann wristed home his 40th goal of the season on this same night:

McCann, a great kid who's got eventual captaincy in his blood, has 70 points. Tanev, every bit the energy guy that Jason Zucker is, only far more physical, has 16 goals and 19 assists.

Imagine if both were still here.

And if Carter weren't. His acquisition two years ago to this date was fine. Conditional picks for a rental, and he was outstanding for that specific purpose. But carrying it to the extreme, Hextall then gave Carter a two-year extension worth $6.25 million, after which, coincidence or not, he's cratered to the extreme. He's now among the sport's least effective forwards in any capacity -- other than faceoffs, as we all know -- and what's worse, he was also given a loophole-proof no-movement clause.

For real, he's here yet another year to doze off at the defensive point on the goal that broke the Penguins' season.

Signing Brock McGinn to a similarly excessive contract out of free agency -- four years, $11 million -- was almost as bad as believing he'd be some sort of replacement for Tanev. McGinn hadn't scored in months and, heck, he was barely breathing by the time he finally forced Hextall to stop looking like a fool and move him out this winter.

But then along comes the signing of Kasperi Kapanen to a two-year, $6.4 million extension this past offseason, even though Kapanen's value on the open market likely was a third of that. And no one anywhere would've offered the extra year.

So when the Blues came along late this season and claimed Kapanen off waivers, a veritable act of the hockey gods that freed up roughly $5 million in cap space right before the NHL trade deadline, Hextall promptly -- and presumably without a shred of planning, scouting or anything intelligent -- picked up the $5 million annual cap hit of Mikael Granlund for this year and two more years. And as if to cement the move's stupidity with a symbolic cherry, he sent the Predators a second-round pick.

Behold the post-trade output, courtesy of a long scroll through a slew of eggs:

ESPN

And I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Granlund's one goal in 20 games with the Penguins was the critical fifth one in a 5-1 blowout of the Flyers. 

Hockey fans in Pittsburgh are stuck watching this for two more years. Really, really stuck. Because no GM's going to take that contract under any circumstance.

Unless, hey, maybe Hextall gets another GM job somewhere else.

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This isn't to isolate blame on Hextall. For one, I'm not into that in covering any team sport. For another, there's legitimately plenty to pass around.

Where was the locker-room leadership?

I have a hard time citing anyone other than players for barely registering a pulse in Detroit a few days ago. For whatever reason, amid many examples, that's the one that sticks out for me, maybe because I was there covering. They emerged comatose for close to 40 minutes, then threw it away at the end. And as Geno noted in his response to me above, those two points would've been worth the same as these.

That's when the veterans leaders, and yeah, I'm including Sid in this setting, need to be the difference. It didn't happen.

I have a hard time citing anyone other than the head coach for Mike Sullivan's many shortcomings over this season. His visible, even vocal attachment to far too many terrible players was almost as embarrassing as the continuing propensity for instantly burying anyone who might dare to be both young and promising. Even in this game, even with the season on the line, he rolled all four lines in the third period and had Carter on the rink -- and again, largely responsible -- for the backbreaking goal.

I believe in this coach. I believe in the person. But he can be much better than this, and there should be pressure on him to that effect.

I have a hard time citing Brian Burke ... because I don't know what he's allowed to do. I swear. He has the title of president of hockey operations, but he's been in complete lockstep with both Hextall and Sullivan. I'm talking every little thing. No exceptions. Not on or off the record. Everything that everyone does is A-OK by him.

Mario Lemieux handpicked Burke -- not Hextall, incidentally -- with the objective of having a check-and-balance person in the process. But if he isn't showing any sign of being that, then maybe he isn't needed at all.

And I have an even harder time citing anyone with the Fenway Sports Group, since I can't be fully certain they exist. Tom Werner, who was supposed to be the point man in Pittsburgh, and the only one from the company I've met, made it to two games all season. And this, with everything on the line on a single night, wasn't one of them.

Tell me this: How can Hextall be fired if there's no watchman on duty?

Tell me this, too: If FSG's not interested in what's happening -- I've been told that it was the developable Civic Arena property that pushed them across the sale line, for what that's worth -- then aren't we all just wasting our time here?

Bleak stuff, I know. Speaking only for myself, I've never been more down about the fate and future of the franchise. 

And yet, I'll insist that all of this could've been addressed by having a GM who wasn't engaging in ... well, outright incompetence.

One could've pulled a random season-ticket holder from the seats, spotted them Sid and Geno each putting up point-a-game seasons, spotted them four top-six wingers who'd all post 20-plus goals, spotted them a vibrant Letang ... and all this random season-ticket holder would've had to do from there is to address depth needs at forward and in goal.

That's it. I'd even settle for this defense corps. But give me third and fourth lines that skate and scrape well enough to claw out possession and wear down opponents, and I might not even need the goaltending depth. Because that all by itself would've bought more time in the attacking zone, less pressure on the defense and in the crease. And it wouldn't have cost anywhere near the hideous amounts Hextall was paying players who didn't fit this mold at all.

Think about this game: Blackhawks should be weary from playing the previous night, so the plan in a desperate situation could go old-school and just bash them into submission in the opening 20 minutes, goals be damned. Make 'em wish they hadn't come. Then, once their tongues are wagging, finish 'em off.

Who on this roster was going to do that? Granlund? Carter?

Goals were never needed from those lines. Grit was. Energy was. Sullivan's repeated references to Zucker as the one "who drags us into the fight" should've been a point of shame for everyone on those lines and, chiefly, for Hextall.

Stop this. Stop it now.

Sid's going to turn 36 in August, Geno 37 in July, Letang 36 in a couple weeks. I can't fathom that everyone in this equation could be so fortunate that there'll be another season like the one those three just had. But in the event that there will be -- and I'll reiterate until it's no longer applicable that every year that Sid's here is a year that the Penguins must pursue the Cup -- there needs to be a change at GM.

Anyone around to make that happen?

Hello?

JEANINE LEECH / GETTY

Sidney Crosby's backhand on a mini-breakaway goes into the pad of the Blackhawks' Petr Mrazek.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PPG Paints Arena:

1. Andreas Athanasiou, Blackhawks C
2. Petr Mrazek, Blackhawks G
3. Evgeni Malkin, Penguins C

THE INJURIES

• Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov was activated from long-term injured reserve and played for the first time since March 12.

• Forward Drew O'Connor's out with a head injury. He's skating with the team.

• Forward Nick Bonino's on long-term injured reserve with a lacerated kidney. He's skating with the team and can be activated at any time.

• Defenseman Marcus Pettersson's on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury. He's skating with the team but can't be activated until Thursday.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Mikael Granlund - Ryan Poehling - Alex Nylander
Danton Heinen - Jeff Carter - Josh Archibald

Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
P.O Joseph - Jeff Petry
Dmitry Kulikov - Jan Rutta

And for Luke Richardson's Blackhawks:

Tyler Johnson - Jonathan Toews - Jason Dickinson
Anders Bjork - Andreas Athanasiou - Buddy Robinson
Austin Wagner - MacKenzie Entwistle - Joey Anderson
Jujhar Khaira - Joey Anderson

Caleb Jones - Seth Jones
Wyatt Kaiser - Connor Murphy
Andreas Englund - Ian Mitchell
Nikita Zaitsev

THE SCHEDULE

There's a practice Wednesday, 12 p.m., in Cranberry, Pa. The next night, the regular season ends in Columbus, Ohio. I'll be at every game the rest of the way.

THE MULTIMEDIA

THE CONTENT

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