Kovacevic: No, really, what's to be expected now from these Penguins? taken at PPG Paints Arena (DK'S COLUMNS)

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The Red Wings' Simon Edvinsson is congratulated on his overtime goal by Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat.

DK'S COLUMNS

Kovacevic: No, really, what's to be expected now from these Penguins?

By Dejan Kovacevic

Nov 14, 2024 โ€ข 3:00 am

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On the same Wednesday night at PPG Paints Arena that Evgeni Malkin's recent 500th NHL goal was celebrated in a pregame ceremony, he'd create chances galore to score more.

Including this mini-break in overtime:

Only to casually poke at Alex DeBrincat on the counter-rush, and only to casually glide through his team's low slot in a sweat-free concession of Simon Edvinsson's winner:

Red Wings 3, Penguins 2.

And to think, it started out so nicely, with the entire Malkin family on hand, Vladimir and Natalia having flown 20 hours from Russia to attend, young Nikita breaking down in tears, and even his dad maybe shedding a drop or two:

Evgeni, Nikita, Vladimir and Natalia Malkin, plus Tom Werner of Fenway Sports Group.

JOE SARGENT / GETTY

Evgeni, Nikita, Vladimir and Natalia Malkin, plus Tom Werner of Fenway Sports Group.

Really, a nice scene, the whole thing:

โ€œItโ€™s good for my family," Geno'd say after the game. "My parents had a long flight to be here. It's everything for them. They did everything for me growing up, and now I do a small thing for them. My son was a little emotional, too. Iโ€™m proud of him. It's tough tonight, but I understand whatโ€™s going on. I knew it would be emotional, but Iโ€™m glad theyโ€™re here, whole family.โ€

He then expressed gratitude to the Penguins for putting it all together.

โ€œI want to say thank you to Pittsburgh organization because they do a really good job for me every year and every day. Itโ€™s my second home here, and Iโ€™m glad to be here. It doesnโ€™t matter if we win or we lose. Itโ€™s, like, I want to be here. Always together, with Sid, with Tanger."

Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang, of course.

Also a nice sentiment.

And it's there that he'd steer off a bit, seemingly sewing into a single thread the Penguins' 6-9-3 start, that 7-1 slaughter by the Stars two nights earlier, and then Kyle Dubas dumping Lars Eller to the Capitals for draft picks, Geno'd add, "We understand itโ€™s a tough time right now. We traded Lars yesterday. Again, I want to stay together. We played hard tonight, and we'll fight every game. Tough time, but we are together."

Nicest of all, arguably.

And ... uh ... anyone else not feeling it?

As in, any of it?

As in, what's even the objective around here anymore?

I mean, if everyone's being honest with themselves -- and I very much get why that'd be a challenge in the context of all that this Core's brought to the franchise and the city, never mind being exemplary humans throughout -- the pattern in place on this particular evening's now a painfully familiar one:

1. Celebrate a milestone
2. Lose, often with a lax overall effort
3. Plea to 'stay together'

Look, I love these guys. All three of them. It's a special point of pride in my own career to have covered them through all this, to have gotten to know them and appreciate them in all ways. That'll never change.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't stress here -- emphatically -- that the decline we're witnessing has a whole lot less to do with the Core than it does with the many messes left behind by Ron Hextall and, in turn, some of the struggles Dubas has encountered in trying to clean them up while also keeping the team competitive around the Core. Because Sid, Geno and Letang remain plenty capable of contending for another Stanley Cup, provided a competitive supporting cast.

But this, my friends, isn't that.

And that's doubly true among the defensemen.

Sure, there's been more to it, depending on the occasion, but these guys have, collectively, performed as poorly as any group of defensemen I can recall since 1983-84, the 16-58-6 season that'd get Mario Lemieux drafted here. Even with Marcus Pettersson recently rising upward toward his form of a season ago. Even with Ryan Graves having been a mildly pleasant upgrade over where he was.

Let me ask a question, and I hope this doesn't get taken personally: What could compel Mike Sullivan and/or David Quinn, who handles the defensemen during games, to send Matt Grzelcyk onto the ice for 28 shifts, second only to Letang's 30?

That happened here, I swear. As did time on the power play. And penalty-killing. And so help me God, he was out there for the three-on-three overtime, not coincidentally contributing to Detroit's winner in his own inimitable way.

Check out this angle from behind:

It's one thing to be a small defenseman, which Grzelcyk's always been at scarcely 5 feet 10, but it's quite another to keep shrinking and shrinking and shrinking upon a zone entry. Even at three-on-three, there's no reason to completely back off Patrick Kane, never mind finding that oddly irrelevant place to the right of Alex Nedeljkoviฤ‡, then just ... I don't know, planting himself there.

It's hardly out of character: Grzelcyk's been on the ice for more five-on-five, high-danger scoring chances by the opponent -- 81 -- than any defenseman in the NHL. And suffice it say his advanced metrics weren't any prettier in his final season in Boston, which is why the Bruins made him a healthy scratch throughout the most recent playoffs, and which is why, I'd imagine, Dubas thought Grzelcyk would be worth a $2.75 million salary out of free agency.

But here he is, game after game, logging 20-plus minutes and doing nothing other than getting bumped up to both higher and additional responsibilities. Which is saying something considering he was handed top-pairing duty on Day 1 of training camp.

This was his opening shift:

In order, there's a backhand giveaway on a weak clear, a few seconds of nothing at the net-front, yet another giveaway up the other wall, a rescue from Sid ... and then he can't even catch the soft return pass from Sid.

I can't.

But I also can't with Erik Karlsson. And infinitely more important, neither can Johan Garpenlรถv.

If that latter name rings a bell, Garpenlov was a serviceable winger in the NHL for several teams through the 1990s before becoming Sweden's national coach and general manager. So be certain that voice resonated overseas when Garpenlov told that country's Radiosporten that Karlsson shouldn't be part of Sweden's entry in the NHL's 4 Nations Face-Off Feb. 12-20, and for this reason: "His shortcomings in the defensive game are too great in such a short tournament. Every match is so important, and then you can't afford to make these big mistakes like Erik Karlsson unfortunately does.โ€

I'll spare everyone the search: The Swedish term for ouch is 'Aj!'

Letang's been lousy, too. I'm not letting him off. Nor am I forgetting that Jack St. Ivany's been a sophomore disappointment to date. I'm just running out of keystrokes faster than any of them are accumulating minuses.

So, what happens next?

What does Dubas do with the couple million in cap savings from the Eller trade?

What could the Penguins conceivably offer to acquire a defenseman via trade?

Would they even bother doing that, having already reduced a roster that wasn't going anywhere with/without Eller?

Is this a rebuild or a retool or what?

If it's either of those, how to align that with Dubas, as our Taylor Haase reported exclusively this week, telling other teams that everyone but Sid could be had in a trade ... albeit only for existing NHL players?

If it isn't either of those, then ... like, what's this that we're watching?

And if we've got little use for what we're watching, then how might Sid be seeing it?

And if Sid sees it the way so many of us are ...

Yeah, I can't with that, either.

โ€ข I'll be traveling to Columbus late Thursday to cover the Penguins' game there Friday night against the Blue Jackets.

โ€ข Lots more on our Penguins Feed.

โ€ข Thanks for reading my hockey coverage.

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