The best thing for the Penguins long-term would have obviously been a loss last night. The more they lose the better to try to increase the percentages for a Top-5 pick. Pittsburgh plays their cards right and with the goaltending they get, finishing with the fourth worst record in the NHL isn’t out of the realm possibility right now. But, it will be so Penguins that Thursday’s thrilling win see’s the aging core go on a little run here and Pittsburgh ends up with the eighth or ninth worst record in the league, instead of Top-5.

Still, at the end of the day the organization needs nights like last night every once in a while, especially on home-ice, where you have a game that had just about everything; The Alex Nedeljkovic meltdown, the thrilling comeback, to go with some of the aging core turning back the clock like Evgeni Malkin/Erik Karlsson did against the Flyers.

That was just a fun night and on par with the Buffalo game earlier in the season.

You look at how good Sidney Crosby still is, to go with the fact that Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson can still give you a great game here and there, it just adds to the disappointment that the nostalgia core will likely end their careers in Pittsburgh over the next couple years without winning a playoff round since 2018. Sidney Crosby hasn’t won a playoff round since his age 30 season. It’s house money when you got three Stanley Cups out of the deal, but looking back it’s going to be remembered as such a massive failure by this organization that Sidney Crosby’s early to mid- age-30 seasons were so mismanaged in critical areas.

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— The among praise for Mike Sullivan out of the Four Nations Tournament has been something. Around the league all you hear is how ‘elite of a coach he is’ was back on display when you have great talent around him. Some outside of Pittsburgh who have argued Pittsburgh should be as aggressive you can be this summer out of respect to Sidney Crosby, believe Pittsburgh doesn’t use Sullivan enough as a recruiter. Despite the collapse of the Penguins, Sullivan’s stock with executives and players (outside of Pittsburgh) is rising. Sullivan was looked at by Team USA players in that room as a coach they would love to play for and see why Sidney Crosby has no interest in playing for another coach in Pittsburgh. That said, it’s going to be another spring as the Penguins venture into some dark years, where it’s not going to stop teams To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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— Over the last 48 there’s been a lot of pump To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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— The center market is flooded right now with a slew of options available. But To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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— Pittsburgh has primarily shopped the 2025 Vancouver first-rounder (NYR) for a long-term impact To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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