What is next for the Penguins?

When Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang made their NHL debuts for the Pittsburgh Penguins early in the 2006-07 season, joining a second-year Sidney Crosby, it ushered in a new era of hockey for the franchise.

That era, even in its infancy, carried massive expectations for both the team and the individual players.

They were not just supposed to be good. They were supposed to be great. Crosby was supposed to be The Next One. Malkin was supposed to be a superstar of his own. Letang, as well as recent top picks Marc-Andre Fleury and Jordan Staal, were supposed to the foundation of a championship supporting cast.

Given how high the expectations were it seemed almost impossible for all of them to be reached. They not only met them, they may have exceeded them.

Since the start of the 2006-07 season, when Malkin and Letang joined Crosby, the Penguins have objectively been the most successful franchise in the sport. No team has won more regular season games (728), more playoff games (103), scored more goals (3,879) appeared in more Stanley Cup Finals (four), or won more championships (three; Chicago did match that, but nobody has exceeded it).

Individually, Crosby and Malkin have been two of the most productive and best players in the league, combining for four scoring titles, three MVP awards, three Conn Smythe trophies, and two Rocket Richard awards. For 16 years they have mostly been unmatched.

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It seems entirely possible that the era came to a close on Sunday night with their Game 7 loss to the New York Rangers.

The Penguins, on top of the NHL for so long, now find themselves at a crossroads. They have lost in the First Round of the playoffs in four consecutive years and now lost five consecutive playoff series going back to the 2018 postseason. Yes, they may have played well enough to win the past two series over the past two years, but they didn’t. And enough flaws started to expose themselves to prevent it.

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