The Penguins Tanking For Gavin McKenna Has Already Begun By Announcing Next Year Will Be Evgeni Malkin's Final Season In Pittsburgh
Joe Sargent. Getty Images.Evgeni Malkin is 38-years-old. He's a 3x Stanley Cup Champion. He's won a Hart Trophy, he's won the Conn Smythe, he's a 2x Art Ross Trophy winner. There's nothing left for Malkin to achieve in his career, so there's a solid chance that 2025-26 is his last year in the league.
Which also means the Pittsburgh Penguins are likely going to give him a chance to take one last run at a Stanley Cup next season. He'll be on an expiring contract, and would make any Stanley Cup contending team significantly better. The Penguins, on the other hand, are absolute dog shit. They haven't made the playoffs for 3 years in a row now. They haven't won a playoff series since 2018. The Crosby/Malkin/Letang era of the Pittsburgh Penguins is finally dead.
As a Flyers fan, you'd think today would be a joyous occasion. One in which I could finally exhale a sigh of relief. That finally, after two decades of torture, the Pittsburgh Penguins can no longer hurt me. But that's only until you realize what's about to happen here….
The Penguins are going to deal Malkin at the deadline because they are going to be horrific next year. They're only going to get even worse without Malkin in the lineup. Crosby will go play in the Olympics, and probably have to miss a bit of time after the tournament. The Penguins will end the season somewhere around 29th place in the league. And then just as you think the Penguins are dead forever, the lottery balls go their way and they end up with the 1st overall pick in the draft to take Gavin McKenna.
Crosby will still have another year left on his contract, so his final year as a Penguin will be ushering Gavin McKenna into Pittsburgh during his rookie year. They'll find another stud in the draft after that, and history will repeat itself. Lemieux and Jagr. Crosby and Malkin. Gavin McKenna and whoever. You know it's happening. I know it's happening. We all know it's happening, and there's not shit we can do about it. I don't know how the Penguins always manage to time up their downfall with generational superstars coming up, but holy shit is time always on their side.