An overtime loss to the lowly Ottawa Senators Tuesday night saw the Penguins playoff chances actually make a jump going from 5% to 7% according to Latest Money Puck Odds. Losers of four straight and seven of eight, Pittsburgh’s odds at the #1 pick are currently about the same as playoff odds which gives this organization a good dose of reality.

However, this is not comedy in that the Penguins power brokers in the organization actually went into this week believing if they could run up some wins against the lowly Senators and Sharks and beat a team in front of them in Detroit Sunday night, there was a chance to build up some momentum to play some meaningful hockey over the next two weeks or at least get where the Capitals are right now in having something to play for.

Reality is there wasn’t going to be an easier season for this aging core to get back into the playoffs than this season with how many mediocre teams are bunched up. That’s why where the Penguins have plummeted is a little on the embarrassing side.

With the goaltending they’ve gotten from Tristan Jarry this season, Pittsburgh’s greatest play weeks or months ago was always going to be a coaching change to get that coaching bump every team has gotten this season except Ottawa. Took a little bit but the Islanders are the latest team to get the coaching bump and are now sitting in the last wildcard spot and four points behind the Flyers for third in the division.

There’s no bigger elephant in the room than Mike Sullivan’s future. The organization has been steadfast Sullivan was going to be granted the To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Sidney Crosby would have a lot of push back on playing for another coach.

Still, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Adjustments is what made Mike Sullivan do The Greatest Coaching Job in Penguins history during the 2016 Run and some close to the situation have argued Pittsburgh winning in 2017 was even more so because of sheer ‘will’ and coaching with neutral zone alignment changes + Matchup Luck than the Penguins winning strictly with talent. Sullivan was so great in the early years of adjusting to his personnel. That’s what’s made the last couple years so stunning where he seems to have fallen into stubborn trap veteran coaches after a while almost always do. If there’s a time to experiment, it’s certainly now and there’s little changing with this team systematically and how many more players are going to come here and have some of their worst offensive seasons?

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PLAYERS BUZZ

As many are going through the motions, Bryan Rust sure hasn’t quit on the season yet even if the veteran forward was critical of himself on the first goal against. 7 shots on goal vs the Senators and has 13 shots on goal since returning to the lineup.

— A smaller crowd of scouts feel a coaching system/change could benefit Ryan Graves next season? Hard To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Talent evaluator on Kris Letang who feels ‘father time’ is creeping up mentally on Letang which is common for older players when it comes to awareness/reacting to the play: ‘To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— More Bad Core News of Wearing Down? No one wants to have the conversation with Evgeni Malkin but to get the most out of him moving forward he needs to move to the wing and become a playmaking type of winger. The 5 vs 5 tape continues to be bad…… Is Sidney Crosby at age 36 starting to look gassed with a month to go in the season after carrying the load all season? One individual close to the situation says ‘No’ and that on the surface it’s more no Jake Guentzel for the last month in that the Crosby line has to work much harder for goals so things look tougher for him, but no denying explosiveness in his game has taken a slight step back of late, while word is Erik Karlsson has been playing through an To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— The Penguins are only allotted a certain amount of roster recalls the rest of the way. Barring injuries, do not expect the Penguins to start sitting 3 to 4 veterans down the stretch even if they’re totally out of it. The organization plans to remain respectful to certain veterans who are still pulling their weight and also value a playoff run for Wilkes Barre. Vasily To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!