Penguins' 16-year playoff streak comes to an end

Penguins' 16-year playoff streak comes to an end

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Pittsburgh, Pa. (93.7 The Fan) – The longest running playoff streak for any of the teams in the four major North American sports leagues is over.

AT&T Sportsnet’s Jay Caufield told the "Cook and Joe Show" on Wednesday he never thought, even with all of the inconsistencies this year, they would have lost to the last place Blackhawks at home. He said it’s not just the cliché of "the points you gave up in October," rather it’s a whole team construction issue.

“No matter you want to rip apart on the roster and the things that are wrong, they still should be winning these games and still comfortably within the playoff number,” Caufield told Ron Cook and Joe Starkey on 93.7 The Fan. “It’s crazy to me. With Sidney Crosby still performing the way he has. A lot of other things got ya. The injuries with the goaltending, the up-and-down play of the goaltending, special teams going sideways-all of that comes into play and now you are on the outside.”

As you look ahead to next year, Caufield said there are numerous holes that have to be made up this offseason, and they’ll have to do it with limited salary cap room. They’ll also have a few albatross contracts to deal with:

- Mikael Granlund: Five points (1+4) in 20 games, $5 million
- Jeff Carter: 38-years-old, a minus-16, $3.125 million
- Jeff Petry: 35-years-old, 31 points (5+26) but inconsistent, $6.25 million

They have just over $63 million already committed to next season, according to CapFriendly, and that’s with free agents Tristan Jarry and Jason Zucker, as well as restricted free agents Alexander Nylander and Drew O’Connor. Plus, after next season Jake Guentzel becomes an unrestricted free agent.

“They are multiple moves away,” Caufield said. “You even hear players, Evgeni Malkin saying they were faster than them. They are not built properly, they are multiple moves away. They are multiple players away to compete.

“Look at New Jersey, the speed and they are heavy. The Penguins don’t have that. They don’t have what it takes to compete. Plus, you have to settle your goaltending.

“There is a new generation of player - they’re fast, they’re big, they’re strong, they’re skilled. The Penguins don’t have that kind of thing. Mrazek had 8-10 big saves [Tuesday night for Chicago], but the rest he could see everything. They don’t have bodies to get in front.”

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Team construction is fascinating to me.

There are teams hurting, and I really really hope Adams is aggressive and takes advantage of that.

The management paid the price for not making the playoffs. President of hockey ops Brian Burke, GM Ron Hextall and assistant GM Chris Pryor were all fired today.