Retooling with a core four with the average age of 36 isn't going to be successful. This team had one or two years to compete. They are failing this year so Dubas might give it one more attempt. Reality is most teams rebuild because they can't even pretend to compete. Which is where PIT will end up.

Problem is the core four guys are 36 and guys that age dont stay good or get better.

Penguins have few quality prospects but the assets they have with the most value to rebuild ARE THOSE FOUR OLD GUYS.

And the chances of the Penguins emotionally/historically trading Crosby or Malkin or even Lrtang is nil.

Theres a huge reason why Hextall and Dubas have collected a who's who of never-weres/has beens/never will bes, to cover the fact that their prospect pool is bad and their youngsters not that good.

Never weres/Has Beens/Never will Bes: Butcher, Nieto, Hinostroza, Acciari, Andreas Johnsson, Ty SMith, Pulijarvi, Bemstrom, Ruhwedel, Friedman, Johnstone, Zohorna, Nylander, Harkins, Phillips, Rathbone, Shea, Hellberg, etc..... No organization needs that many vets in the AHL or clogging playing time from quality youth, unless you don;t have any. Even in the above, do you think Poulin is a 2nd liner off the bat on a "contending team", or that Pickering is a 2LD? A contender cant afford playing these guys at the NHL level in big minutes for development. And if you're not a contender, why keep so many 35+ yr olds?

Ultimately its the path theyve decided to go down and its a path they're stuck to

remember 2016 when we won the cup against the sharks? what was the age of their core?

Marleau Thornton pavelski Vlasic burns VS Sid geno guentzel tanger karlsson

not sure about the exact age we can check, but I can definitely tell you that the pens one is much much much better

Their core four was Thorton, Pavelski, Vlasic, and Burns for an average age of 31- half a decade younger. Couture (26) and Hertl (22) played more than Marleau. Sharks had way more youthful top contributors compared to PIT.

Just curious, since you compared Pittsburgh to Boston, who's the Pastrnak or McAvoy (or even Carlo or DeBrusk) in their U25 roster that's going to bridge the gap from their current core?

Pittsburgh is a bottom 5 prospect group with a core group of Crosby, (36) Malkin, (37) Letang, (36) and Karlsson. (33)

Yes, it's absolutely that bad.

I think when people say "the future is bad" - they're talking post 87/71/58 and maybe 65. Like 3+ years from now. Not next season. And it will be bad

The core, while old, have been our best players and have shown they can still play at a good enough level. They just haven't built a great team around them. And honestly, it does come down to the PP. This is a playoff team at 5v5without a doubt

Not much reason to believe that Pittsburgh's will be in a better spot next season as that core continues to age...

Not saying they will be. I'm just saying when people talk about the Pens being *that bad* in the future - it's not next season. That's my point. The core - regardless of their age - have played very well this season. They haven't been the issue.